Re: The American Diabetes Association

[Carl Anderson <ca25@drexel.edu>]

You might want to subscribe to the electronic version via Journals@OVID,
Tommy, if that's available in Sweden.  We have access to the January 2003
issue now; I don't know if there's any delay from appearance in print.  -

Carl

On Wed, 22 Jan 2003, [iso-8859-1] Tommy K�gner wrote:

> Has any one else had problems with the American Diabetes Association
> (ADA)? When trying to reach the online version of Diabetes we receive the
> message that our subscription has expired as of January 14. When calling
> our subscription agent they told me that they had sent the check to ADA
> October 17 and that the ADA had cashed it November 25. I also received the
> check number.
> 
> With this I thought it'd be fairly easy to have the ADA switch our access
> back on, but when calling them I received notice that our subscription
> hadn't been paid! I told them that they had cashed the check, gave them
> the check number, but no, there was nothing they could do. I was told that
> our agent had to call them to solve this problem. Our agent has called
> them but still no access even though it's been close to three weeks since
> I first contacted the ADA. Needless to say, none of my emails have been
> answered. One of the reasons, the ADA claimed, was that they receive money
> in bulk from our agent and that it takes them time to sort out which
> account belongs to which customer. Wouldn't the easiest way then be to
> have a grace period until they get these things sorted?
> 
> Last year we ordered the online version January 16 and got access to it
> early June! Word is that we will NOT receive a refund...
> 
> The ADA is an extreme case, that I know, but if there are any subscription
> agents reading this: What do you do in cases such as this? Our agent has
> told us that if they receive compensation from the publisher, we receive
> compensation. If they don't, we don't. What kind of contract do you have
> with the publishers? And what actions can you take, or what actions are
> you willing to take? I seems as if the libraries are relying on
> subscription agents with no contracts with the publishers, leaving us in
> the hands of a very lame duck.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Tommy Kagner
> Karolinska Institutet University Library
> tommy.kagner@kib.ki.se

Carl A. Anderson
Director of Electronic Resources
Drexel University Libraries
215-895-2771
Carl.Anderson@drexel.edu