Olwen's last point is a valid one. Our subscription agents are Ebsco, and I
experience exactly the same problems in sorting out access to e-journals.
Good to know I'm not alone in my pain though!
Helen Evans
Library Systems Manager / Rheolwr Systemau y Llyfrgell
Assembly Library Service / Gwasanaeth Llyfrgell y Cynulliad
Welsh Assembly Government / Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru
Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.
( 029 2082 5349 ) *** e-mail / ebost: [log in to unmask]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 16:16:16 +0100
From: Olwyn Reynard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Activating e-journals - Single user access
I agree completely with Sarah. I have asked Swets to make it clearer that
our subscriptions are for institutional access but I don't know whether the
fault lies with the publishers who are not picking this information up. I
think rather than Swets requesting online as part of the order process they
are simply getting notification of online availability attached to a print
sub and reacting to that without checking properly. It certainly wastes
massive amounts of time. (ours and theirs)
Often it takes several messages to the publisher before we are finally told
that we only have single user access. We are given complex activation
instructions requiring a customer name which is clearly intended for a
single person, or an email address, and publishers seem genuinely surprised
when we can't make it work on an institutional basis. I think small
publishers have often not thought this through before making online access
available.
I think Swets could help by requesting activation codes from the publishers,
and passing that on to us with their e-availability notification. At present
notification of electronic availability comes through to us and I usually
have to contact either Swets or the publisher to ask for the activation
code.
They could also request passwords for us. In the process of doing that it
might become clear to them that the sub is only for single-user access. At
present the notifications come through saying the publisher will contact us
but they rarely do.
Extra irritations this year have been repeat notifications for the same
journal
In fairness to Swets I don't get the impression that other agents manage
this any better....
Olwyn
Olwyn Reynard, Electronic Resources Librarian, Kimberlin Library, De
Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH
Tel 0116 2577865
email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Pearson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 May 2006 09:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Activating e-journals - Single user access
Hello there,
I'm sure this query / concern has been raised on the list before but I
thought I would check to see if anyone else has found a resolution to
this problem!
We regularly get access notifications from our subscription agent -
Swets - with the details required to activate / register new e-journal
subscriptions. However, when we go through the (often detailed and
complex) instructions, we discover the access is only available for a
single user at either one IP address or with a single user username and
password. We waste quite a bit of time discovering this and it is very
frustrating. Swets do not often supply advice on whether it is a single
user access or not. I suspect that they don't get this information from
publishers / access providers although I am currently waiting for more
information on the process. Clearly the access is often completely
useless to academic institutions if it is.
Has anyone found a way around this? We can find out whether e-access is
free with a print subscription but this is often offered as campus wide
access anyway. We could also stop processing access notifications which
are password authenticated rather than Athens or IP authenticated but
then also providers do make passwords available for campus wide use.
I would be interested to hear if anyone has found a solution to this
problem or if it is something that staff activating e-journal access,
accept.
Many thanks in advance.
Sarah
Sarah Pearson
E-Resources & Serials Coordinator
Information Services
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT
W. Midlands
tel: 0121 414 5825
email: [log in to unmask]
------------------------------
End of LIS-E-JOURNALS Digest - 17 May 2006 to 18 May 2006 (#2006-90)
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