© EBSCO The Role of the Subscription Agent Today & Tomorrow Margaret Dunne EBSCO Information Services

© EBSCO Topics to be covered The Information chain The Supply chain and its characteristics Serial supply ‘life cycle’ Business characteristics of the supply chain Why agents/intermediaries exist The changing landscape ‘Agent’ Initiatives in the electronic environment ‘The ‘big deal’ Who pays? Meeting the needs of the community

© EBSCO The information chain Author Publisher Subscription Agent Library Reader

© EBSCO Author Reader ? Publisher ? Subscription agent ? Library  The ‘Open Access’ publishing model suggests just this! The information chain

© EBSCO The supply chain

© EBSCO The supply chain © EBSCO

The supply chain © EBSCO

The supply chain – complexity Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 14,000+ Organisations ?,000

Select & Evaluate options Catalogue records Ensure delivered Serials resource life cycle Order & pay Bibliographic changes Missing issues/no service Management Information Renewal criteria/decisio n The subscription agent as intermediary © EBSCO

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Administer Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO Trial use Assess need/budget License terms Order Pay Price Evaluate Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Access lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO Claiming User IDs Admin module information Preferences (store) Holdings lists Access restrictions View rights for use Administer Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO Provide Support Problem log Hardware needs Software needs Contact info Troubleshoot/ triage Administer Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Problem log Usage stats Downtime analysis Review problems User feedback Administer Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle

© EBSCO Electronic resource life cycle Claiming User IDs Admin module information Preferences (store) Holdings lists Access restrictions View rights for use Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Problem log Hardware needs Software needs Contact info Troubleshoot/ triage Usage stats Downtime analysis Review problems User feedback Administer Trial use Assess need/budget License terms Order Pay Price Evaluate IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Access lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Provide Access Acquire

© EBSCO Electronic resource life cycle Claiming User IDs Admin module information Preferences (store) Holdings lists Access restrictions View rights for use Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Problem log Hardware needs Software needs Contact info Troubleshoot/ triage Usage stats Downtime analysis Review problems User feedback Administer New processes introduced Trial use Assess need/budget License terms Order Pay Price Evaluate IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Acces s lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Acquire Provide Access

© EBSCO Electronic resource life cycle Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Title lists Administer Provide Access Usage stats Fulfillment reports Offer trial Marketing/ Sales License terms Order handling Invoices Pricing Acquire Hosting site IP Addresses Campus authentication Metasearch/ Z39.50 Durable URL Support Registration Subscription upgrades Claiming User IDs IP Changes Title Lists for packages Enforce License terms Title Changes Subscription problems Subscription problems Hardware problems Software problems Customer Service Technical Support Publishers

© EBSCO Business Characteristics of Serials Supply Acquisition Management Payment Multi Transactional & Low Margins & High Volume New Orders. Transition. Renewals. Cancellations. Customer Needs. Publisher Needs. Licensing. Access. Consolidation. Secure In-Advance. Prompt. Methods. Currency. Invoicing. Claims. Title/Frequency & URL Changes. Management Information. Quality Assurance. Archiving. Authentication. Usage Stats. Awareness Alerting/SDI. Catalogues. Database. Specimen Copies Quotations Inflation Forecasts

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 14,000+ Organisations ?,000 So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist?

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 14,000+ Organisations ?,000 So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist?

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 14,000+ Organisations ?,000 So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist? Agent

© EBSCO So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist? Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 14,000+ Organisations ?,000 Agent Simplify Add value Representing thousands of libraries to the publishers Representing thousands of publishers to the libraries

© EBSCO Simplify & Add Value? Economies of Scale Reduced Overheads through eased administration. Rights Management Currency Management Outsourcing/consolidation Licensing & Authentication Awareness/Alerting ILS Interfaces Abstract & Full-text Databases Electronic Linking Industry Knowledge & Expertise

© EBSCO Challenges… …brought on by changes in the landscape The changing role of Intermediaries in the electronic world Declining budgets Price increases New technology eJournal Management Linking & Open URL Access v Holdings Outsourcing ILS integration Consortia Distance learning

© EBSCO ‘Agent’ Initiatives in the Supply the Electronic Serials Information Aggregation Services Model Licenses Agents as negotiators EDI & E-commerce ‘ Software’ services & tools

© EBSCO ‘Traditional’ Text Aggregators Full text plus A&I –Potential one stop shop for user –Extra revenue stream for publisher Business model –Low entry cost for publishers –Aggregator does the work & takes risk –Recent volumes embargoed to protect subscription revenue? –Library widen content base & electronic availability EBSCOhost ‘databases’, Ovid, ProQuest & Gale

© EBSCO ‘Contracted out’ Hosting Aggregators Hosts full text in place of publisher –Restricted to contracted publishers Business model -publisher outsourcing service –charge to publisher –Publisher retains subscription revenue (existing model) MetaPress, Extenza, Highwire & Ingenta

© EBSCO Gateway & Hosting aggregators Point and hosts full text –Potential one stop shop for user (headers/abstracts & full-text) –High usage –Avoids data ‘silos’ Business model –Low /No charge to Agents customers –Publisher retains subscription revenue (existing model) –Library widens content base & electronic availability –Pay for view –Linking EBSCOhost EJS & SwetsWise

© EBSCO Model Licences

© EBSCO Agents as Negotiators NESLI (now replaced by non agent NESLi2) EBSCO & California State University (Journal Access Core Collection)

© EBSCO EDI & E-commerce EDIFACT & X12 –orders, claims, check-in, financial, & management information. B2B business transactions –standards & protocols –integration with e-commerce platforms –( Ariba and Commerce One etc). Pay per View

© EBSCO Software services & tools Think of the ‘traditional’ role of the agent as an intermediary Apply that thinking to the electronic field Look to agent provide support in –License negotiation –Title management – A to Z listing –Link resolver services (Open URL)

© EBSCO Group purchasing brings the opportunity for economies of scale Electronic delivery can mean the sharing of resources Tendering improves the ‘transparency’ of the process –Providing the tender is framed ‘properly!’ Consortia purchasing: the tender process

© EBSCO The emergence of ‘The Big Deal’ ‘Bundling’ by publishers locking libraries into multi-year, no cancellation agreements Increasing proportion of library budget ‘ring-fenced’ Increased availability of electronic content ‘Off the shelf’ (one size fits all) license Role of agent?

© EBSCO (Some) libraries resistance to renewing TBD Fragmentation of bundles ‘Bespoke’ (tailored) license Role of agent? –Detailed invoices –ILS integration & information –Managing ‘bytes’ of information ‘The Big Deal’ (phase two)

© EBSCO The ‘Big Deal’ ? “The University of… and other research libraries are holding out, convinced that the Big Deal serves only the big publishers. Many other university and college libraries are also investigating their options, recognising – as we all do – that the push to build an all- electronic collection can’t be undertaken at the risk of; 1)weakening that collection with titles we neither need or want, and 2) increasing our dependence on publishers who have already shown their determination to monopolise the information marketplace.” Kenneth Frazier – Director of libraries U of Wisconsin. D-Lib magazine March 2001 – “…I was surprised to hear speaker after speaker declare that they thought that the ‘Big Deal’ was unsustainable and likely to go sooner rather than later Comment on the launce of the Ingenta Institute report “The Consortium Site Licence – is it a sustainable model?” September 2002

© EBSCO Who pays? Agent (and all intermediaries) need resources to develop and deliver service(s). Traditionally the agent’s income derived from a combination of publisher discount and library ‘service’ charge. The changes we are witnessing are forcing a revision to this traditional model.

© EBSCO Cost to organisation of placing an order… Cost to organisation of raising/paying an invoice… The need for profit –To ensure stability –To invest in new service developments –To deliver quality service Who pays?

© EBSCO Publisher discounts The high value title –Sub price (say) £1000 –Publisher discount to agent 10% –Income for agent £100 The low value title –Sub price (say) £50 –Publisher discount to agent (unlikely!) 10% –Income to agent £5 The importance of the ‘mix’ of titles

© EBSCO Does it cost the agent (or the library for that matter) any less to process the ‘low value’ title? Result is that the high value titles subsidise the low value ones (or the departments that subscribe to the high value titles subsidise the departments that subscribe to the low value titles) Publisher discounts

© EBSCO If a library decides to place such high value subscriptions direct with the publisher, then the subsidy is removed. The ‘mix’ is disturbed The consequence (in the long term) could be higher (agent) charges for libraries for the titles that remain via an agent. Publisher discounts

© EBSCO Alternative pricing models The need for transparency …and to be able to determine ‘value for money’ Cost plus models –Where the discounted price has an agreed mark-up added Low/no discount –Where those titles that do not generate enough revenue for the agent are marked up to an agreed level prior to terms being applied

© EBSCO In a fragmented world of change …as the complexity of the industry grows – - the value the agent/infomediary brings to both the publisher and the library grows

© EBSCO Meeting the needs of the community single point of access for E-journals single authentication per user session linking to fulltext ensuring user can locate resource integration of EJournals, databases & library catalogue single intermediary library/publisher licensing ‘customisable’ access profiles - flexibility library ‘branding’ publication information ATHENS usage statistics financial security value for money quality assurance stability order generation & checking claim generation & processing ‘named’ contact for customer service management reporting ‘outsourcing’ journal receipt (consolidation) innovative technology partnership invoicing flexibility ‘validated’ links

© EBSCO Thank you! Questions?