[OPLINLIST] Fwd: The Economist: An important update

[Laura Solomon]

Email received from EBSCO this morning.  If you have questions, please 
contact OPLIN Support at support at oplin.org or (614) 728-5252.

Laura Solomon
________________________________________


Dear EBSCO Customer,

As you probably know, EBSCO has done a lot more than any other 
aggregator to preserve the stability of our full-text databases on 
behalf of our customers.  We have gone to great lengths to ensure that 
our customers have avoided losing access to any important magazines or 
journals, particularly when there is no other way to gain reasonable 
access to the publications.  EBSCO has done so at great expense, but 
without passing on those dramatic cost increases to our customers.

In the case of /The Economist/, there was recently a bid by the 
publisher for a semi-exclusive contract.  EBSCO did not think the 
required investment was justifiable, given that the cost would need to 
be passed on to our customers, so as of June 30, 2012, our coverage will 
become A&I-only (abstracting & indexing) for this magazine.  We wanted 
to give you a full year's notice.  In the end, our understanding is that 
two vendors (Gale and ProQuest) will continue to provide limited access 
(to a text-only version of the publication with no images), and the 
publisher (via EIU) will continue to offer direct, full access 
(including images).

As mentioned, EBSCO will continue to index and abstract /The Economist/, 
so if your library has a link resolver, users will still be able to get 
to the limited full text (without images) via Gale or ProQuest (with a 
subscription) or the complete full text with images via EIU (with a 
subscription).  If your library does not have a link resolver, 
EBSCO/host/offers a free CustomLink feature, which can also be used to 
provide links for this publication.

It is worth noting that this rare occurrence does not signify some sort 
of new trend; it is instead an anomaly and a conscious choice by EBSCO 
to keep costs manageable by not overpaying for a publication that is 
somewhat easily accessible via other means.

Sincerely,

Melissa D'Amato,

Vice President of Publisher Relations


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