The Serials Agent Today & Tomorrow Peter Rushworth EBSCO Information Services

Topics to be covered Complexity of the Supply Chain Business Characteristics of Supply Chain Why Agents/Intermediaries Exist The evolving marketplace ‘Agent’ Initiatives in the electronic environment Who pays? Meeting the needs of the community

The information chain Author Publisher Subscription Agent Library Reader

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

Supply Chain Complexity Publishers over 60,000+ Titles 285,000+ Libraries 000’s Users 000,000’s

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

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Trial use Assess need/budget License terms Administer E-resource life cycle Libraries Order Pay Price Evaluate Provide Access Acquire

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor IP Addresses Register Proxy Servers Administer Catalogue Portals/Access lists Campus authentication URL maintenance Provide Access Acquire E-resource life cycle Libraries

Claiming User IDs Admin module information Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Preferences (store) Holdings lists Access restrictions View rights for use Administer Provide Access Acquire E-resource life cycle Libraries

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Problem log Hardware needs Software needs Contact info Troubleshoot/ triage Administer Provide Access Acquire E-resource life cycle Libraries

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Problem log Usage stats Downtime analysis Review problems User feedback Administer Provide Access Acquire E-resource life cycle Libraries

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 E-resource life cycle Libraries

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 E-resource life cycle Libraries

Provide Support Evaluate Monitor Title lists Administer Provide Access E-resource life cycle Publishers 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

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

So Why do ‘Agents’ Exist? USERSUSERS LIBRARIESLIBRARIES Simplify Agent Add Value PUBLISHERSPUBLISHERS AUTHORSAUTHORS

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

A Changing Marketplace ….an age of uncertainty…. The 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

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

Aggregation Services (Simple Uncluttered Access Through a Single Entry Point) Identification Acquisition Access Management Linking

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 pubs –Aggregator does the work & takes risk –Recent volumes embargoed to protect subscription revenue? –Library widen content base & electronic availability EBSCOhost ‘databases’, Ovid, ProQuest & Gale

‘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

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

Model Licences

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

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

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 (such as SFX type)

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

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?

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

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

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.

Who pays? 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

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

Publisher discounts 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 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.

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

In a fragmented world of change …the value the agent/infomediary brings to both publisher and user will multiply as the complexity of the information chain grows…..

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

Questions?