RE: EBSCO & e-journal embargoes

["DuBose, Stefanie" <DUBOSES@MAIL.ECU.EDU>]

Of interest about embargoes.  However, I checked the EBSCO databases today
to see if embargoes were noted within the database while searching, and
they're not.  It seems like this may be some sort of update to come.

Stefanie DuBose
Collection Development/Serials Librarian
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353
(p)252-328-2598
(f)252-328-4834 
duboses@mail.ecu.edu

-----Original Message-----
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 12:34:40 -0400
From: Sam Brooks <SBrooks@epnet.com>
To: "'LIBLICENSE-L-request@lists.yale.edu'"

	The MARC records now indicate if the journal has an embargo, and
they indicate the length of embargo.  In addition, if a user is in the
database and clicks on the name of a journal, a journal detail page comes
up that describes the journal, including coverage information and
applicable embargo information.  In addition, our journal coverage lists
clearly state the embargo period for any journal that has one.  As far as
I know, we are the only vendor that does all of this, yet we are certainly
not the only vendor with embargoes.  If EBSCO has an embargo period on
journal, our understanding is that other full text database vendors have
that same embargo or no coverage at all for that journal.  In many cases,
the journals that are embargoed in EBSCO's databases are "halted" in
competing databases. This means that the journal is not ceased but the
full text coverage has stopped completely.  With embargoed content, there
is always new full text being added.  We are constantly adding new
journals to our databases, some with embargoes and some without.  In
addition, we are in the process of expanding our PDF backfiles for many of
our most used full text titles back as far as 1965.  A lot of those most
used publications have embargoes.

	Why do embargoes exist in full text databases?  This is because
academic publishers want to participate in databases, but do not earn
enough revenue from these databases to replace their core business:
subscriptions (print and electronic).  Embargoed journals clearly have
research value (according to usage statistics), but protect publishers
from losing subscriptions and being forced to pull out of databases
completely (and quite of few of them have done this in the past few
years).  Our customers have generally told us that they would prefer to
have ongoing embargoed content with deep backfiles than no content at all.  
This is the choice. Academic Search Premier is the largest academic full
text database in the world (based on the number of full text peer reviewed
journals), and as a result, it has a much higher number and much higher
percentage of embargoed journals than any of our other databases.  
However, while competing databases have literally hundreds of journals
that have been halted or removed completely, this database has been
largely immune to that problem. I would imagine that anyone who is
concerned about embargoes would be even more concerned about full text
journals that have been halted or removed completely from databases.  I
encourage you to do similar research in that area.

	EBSCO has been very upfront about this issue.  Its in our
brochures and prominently detailed in our title lists.  This is how you
were able to easily sort by the journals which have embargoes.  We want
librarians to have this information.

	Please feel free to contact me directly about any further concerns
on this issue.

Sam Brooks
Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing
EBSCO Information Services
EMAIL: sbrooks@epnet.com

____________
 	 
> From:	Donnelyn Curtis [SMTP:dcurtis@admin.unr.edu]
> Sent:	Tuesday, May 15, 2001 6:30 PM
> To:	liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Aggregator Embargoes
> 
> 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