Aggregator Embargoes

[Donnelyn Curtis <dcurtis@admin.unr.edu>]

I just took a look at the title list for EBSCO's Academic Search Premier
and was shocked to realize that of the 2947 full text titles, 1460 (or
49.5%) have an embargo period of 3 months or longer. 1081 (36.7%) have an
embargo period of at least 12 months. For these titles, the full text
holdings statements on EBSCO's title lists and MARC records, which many of
us are putting in our catalogs and on our web pages, says "to present."

This is not only misleading to our users, but I'm not sure that all of us
are aware that some of our databases are losing their currency. It is a
trend that has crept up on us, or at least I was never informed. I haven't
had a chance to look at title lists for other aggregator databases to see
whether this is an industry trend or if it is limited to EBSCO.

The publishers whose journals are embargoed in Academic Search Premier are
familiar academic publishers: Carfax, Taylor & Francis, Blackwell,
Blackwell Science, Routledge, Oxford University Press, American Institute
of Physics, Springer-Verlag, Sage, Lauwrence Erlbaum, and several others.

Donnie Curtis
Director of Research Services
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries