RE: Aggregator Embargoes

["Tim Darlington" <T.Darlington@massey.ac.nz>]

Hi all

We discussed this with EBSCO late last year.  Their take on it was that
the embargoes were the price they had to pay to get the full text coverage
into their databases - on the principle that some full-text is better than
no full text, they're accepting the embargoes.  They try to emphasise that
the same embargo period will apply to any other aggregator that wants to
load the content, though this is not exactly a great comfort to us as
customers. Certainly it's hardly good customer service to then list
coverage as "to present" in their MARC records.

It's worth noting that most of these publishers mentioned have extensive
commitments to online full text provision via their own services, eg
SpringerLink, Synergy, Catchword, and we may need to look no further as to
why they don't want current full text available from aggregators.

Regards
Tim
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Darlington
Electronic Services Librarian
Massey University Library
Palmerston North
New Zealand

Ph:  +64 6 350 5670
Fax: +64 6 350 5605
t.darlington@massey.ac.nz
http://library.massey.ac.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Donnelyn Curtis
Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2001 10:30 AM
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