RE: EBSCO and ProQuest database content

[Sam Brooks <SBrooks@epnet.com>]

Dear Deborah,

I would like to see if there is anything I can do to improve your
impression of EBSCO.

First, regarding your previous posting in which you thanked Gale and
ProQuest for not pursuing exclusives; according to the publisher, Gale has
a co-exclusive for all 73 Gannett newspapers.  This is the largest
newspaper publisher in the United States.  Other vendors share
semi-exclusive licenses in cases such as the New York Times and Wall
Street Journal.  EBSCO would like to provide our customers with full text
for all of these newspapers, but because of other agreements, we can not
do so.  The only reason it is different with academic publishers is
because EBSCO is the natural partner for these publishers, so these
publishers are not likely to align themselves with companies who have no
financial interest in preserving and expanding their core business:
journal subscriptions.  Regarding the idea that EBSCO is responsible for
all of the turmoil in our competitors' products, it's just not true.  We
have tried to differentiate ourselves with academic publishers because
many of them have shared with us that they have had negative experiences
with these other aggregators and and we do not want to be perceived as
similar to those vendors that have lost content.  Juggling the needs of
libraries and publishers is not easy, but it must be done if we are to
have the best possible products in the long-term.  This is our goal.

Second, we are not inflating the number of peer-reviewed journals in our
databases.  If they seem "suspiciously high", I assume that means you are
impressed with the numbers.  They are not faked or exaggerated in any way.
Any journal which is not yet fully loaded in the database is marked with
an asterisk and the list shows at the top: "* indicates that this
publication was recently added to the database and therefore few or no
articles are currently available".  We are in the middle of a massive
expansion this Summer and the lists attempt to reflect what will be on the
products this Fall.  In addition, we clearly show which journals are
categorized as peer-reviewed, unlike our competitors' on most of their
lists (the two exceptions are ProQuest Research Library and Gale Health &
Wellness - I can't find peer-reviewed status on any of their other
products).  We had a librarian identify which titles are peer reviewed.  
She updates the list as we add more journals.  These peer reviewed
journals are where the lion's share of the embargoes exist.  Our
philosophy is that a deep backfile of PDF's and ongoing-but-embargoed
coverage of leading journals is better than no coverage or abstract-only
coverage of these journals.

I agree with you that comparative searches are a critical part of the
evaluation process.  For best results in EBSCO databases, trials should be
planned for October/November, since by then the majority of the titles
marked "*" will be loaded and in addition, many of the backfiles from our
expansion product will start to appear by then.

Lastly, regarding the study done by J.B. Hill, I thought it was well done.
My conclusions were a little different, but I do not dispute the facts
used. It showed Academic Search Elite as the clear-cut journal quality
leader in nearly every subject category measured, but #2 in full text
backfiles.  To enhance our products, we have begun the massive backfile
expansion project that is detailed in the May 15, 2001 issue of Library
Journal.  We are hoping J.B. Hill will do a follow up of the article once
our backfiles are expanded.  In addition, we would like to see Academic
Search Premier included in any future comparisons as well as Academic
Search Elite.

Regards,

Sam Brooks
Senior Vice President
EBSCO Information Services
EMAIL: sbrooks@epnet.com

-----Original Message-----
From: LENARES,DEBORAH A. [mailto:LENAREDA@apci.com]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 11:05 AM
To: 'liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu'
Subject: RE: EBSCO and ProQuest database content

Donnelyn,

Thank you for all this valuable information.  
One question:  do you know if each of the databases defines "peer reviewed"
in the same way?  The number of peer reviewed titles in EBSCO's Academic
Search Premier is suspiciously high.  Another valuable assessment tool is
performing a number of typical searches and evaluating the results both
quantitatively and qualitatively.

The members of the database selection committee of the Louisiana Academic
Library Consortium have spent much time over the past year comparing full
text databases.  Part of the results of the comparison are available in an
article by J.B. Hill of Southeastern Louisiana University in the latest
issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship available at
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/01-spring/article4.html The article
focuses on science titles in Bell & Howell's Research Library (Core and
Sciences modules), Ebsco's Academic Search Elite, and Gale's Expanded
Academic ASAP.

Deborah Lenares