E-Journal Access: A Collaborative Checklist for Libraries, Subscription Agents, and Publishers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many serials librarians can relate incidents where communication has broken down during efforts to establish and maintain access to electronic journals. Questions often arise about who is responsible for specific tasks, and who is to be contacted in certain circumstances. This article presents a “collaborative checklist” to address such questions and discusses the processes by which each of the major parties in the serials acquisition chain (library, subscription agent, publisher) contributes to the establishment and maintenance of access to electronic journals. The checklist comprises fourteen categories of tasks and the portion for which each party is responsible. Each category is meant to serve as a guide for designing a procedure for the particular task that is addressed, within the context of the whole process of establishing and maintaining access to electronic journals.