© EBSCO The Role of the Subscription Agent Lynn Coulton – EBSCO

© EBSCO Topics to be covered The Information chain The Supply chain and its characteristics Serial supply ‘life cycle’ Electronic serial ‘life cycle’ Why agents/intermediaries exist The changing landscape ‘Agent’ Initiatives in the electronic environment 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 information chain Open Access Model?

© 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 25,000+ 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 © EBSCO The Subscription agent as intermediary

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

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

© 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 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 Order Pay Price Evaluate IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Access lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Provide Access Acquire Electronic resource life cycle License terms

© EBSCO 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 Order Pay Price Evaluate IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Acces s lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Acquire Provide Access Electronic resource life cycle License terms

© EBSCO 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 Publishers Trial use Assess need/budget Order Pay Price Evaluate IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Catalogue Portals/Acces s lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Acquire Provide Access Electronic resource life cycle License terms

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

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 25,000+ Organisations ?,000 So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist? Readers ?000,000 Libraries ?0,000 Titles 280,000+ Organisations ?,000 Readers ?000,000 Libraries ?0,000 Titles 280,000+ Organisations ?,000 Readers ?000,000

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 24,000+ Organisations ?,000 Agent So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist?

© EBSCO Authors ?00,000 Publishers 60,000+ Libraries ?0,000 Readers ?000,000 Titles 280,000+ Online Titles 24,000+ Organisations ?,000 Agent Simplify Add value Representing thousands of libraries to the publishers Representing thousands of publishers to the libraries So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist?

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

© EBSCO Challenges… …brought on by changes in serials supply The changing role of Intermediaries in the electronic world Declining budgets Price increases VAT New technology eJournal Management Linking & Open URL Authentication –ATHENS : Shibboleth Access v Holdings Outsourcing ILS integration Consortia Remote access Usage statistics –COUNTER : SUSHI Federated searching

© EBSCO ‘Agent’ Initiatives in the Supply of Electronic Serials Content Aggregation Services 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, Atypon, 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 Agents as Negotiators NESLI (now replaced by non agent NESLi2) EBSCO & California State University (Journal Access Core Collection) Corporate (global) licenses

© EBSCO EDI & E-commerce EDIFACT & X12 –orders, claims, check-in, financial, & management information. (More and more likely in Academic Institutions following Gershan) B2B business transactions –standards & protocols –integration with e-commerce platforms –( Ariba, SAP, Oracle and Commerce One etc). ‘Desktop’ (devolved) procurement 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) –Federated searching –Electronic Books as “content”

© EBSCO The Current ‘Landscape’ Familiar occupants – traditional territory –Publishers, libraries, agents, LMS vendors, Booksellers New, unfamiliar, parts of the landscape –Managing tasks associated with acquisition & delivery of electronic resources (journals / databases / eBooks) Electronic Resource Management modules –No familiar occupants – where to turn? Whatever the ‘container’, the content remains vital

© EBSCO So who pays? Agent (and all intermediaries) need resources to develop and deliver service(s). The need for profit –To ensure stability –To invest in new service developments –To deliver quality service 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 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 (% or flat figure)

© 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!’ –E.g. ‘named contact’ 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 The ‘Big Deal’ ? “… 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 – – (the letters responses were interesting too!) Followed up by: –An Orderly retreat from the Big Deal – is it possible for Consortia Jeffrey N Gatten & Tom Sanville – D-Lib magazine October 2004 – “…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 (Some) libraries resistance to renewing TBD Fragmentation of bundles ‘Bespoke’ (tailored) license Role of agent? –Detailed invoices –ILS integration & information ‘The Big Deal’ (phase two)

© EBSCO In a fragmented world of change …as the complexity of the industry grows – - the value the agent/intermediary 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 – Athens and Shibboleth Linking to fulltext Ensuring user can locate the resource Integration of e-journals, databases and opac Single intermediary library/publisher Licensing Customisable access profiles Library ‘branding’ Publication information Usage statistics Financial security Value for money Quality assurance Stability Order generation & checking Claim generation & processing ‘named’ contact for customer service Management reporting Outsourcing and processing services (consolidation) Innovative technology partnership Invoice flexibility Validated links Standards / interoperability

© EBSCO Staying up to date Association of Subscription Agents (ASA) United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG) Lib-licence tml tml Lis e-journals JOURNALS.html

© EBSCO Thank you! Questions?