EBSCONET Tips from Former Library Director/Turned EBSCO Information Services Trainer, Harriet Protos White

In 2009, I started a new role as a library director and encountered what, in my more than 20 years of library experience, seems to be a common occurrence — no handover. For example, I received no documentation about management processes of the library system’s serials subscriptions. No historical invoices, no vendor listing, no notes about renewal titles or due dates, no information about licensing or access for online serials — only a PC which had been wiped of files and emails. My assistant, a paraprofessional who had never worked in any other library system, knew nothing about the serials subscription workflow other than he received the print issues at the post office, put his branch’s copies out for customers, and mailed the rest to our other locations. I had to create a serials subscription workflow from scratch.

Whether or not you have encountered a situation like this, I know that for librarians, job handovers are rare. Situations happen, and people move. We hit the ground running in new positions and have no time to learn about historical processes prior to jumping feet first into the flow. For serials management, this can be frustrating.

What if there were one place you could access your serial subscription information? What if this place could provide serials and e-package order details, the licensing and registration information necessary to access online serials, offer a section for each stage of the licensing and registration process to record notes for specific titles, and place renewals all in one place to modify or cancel? A place where you could see historical information like service requests and staff notes placed on titles, to help you make renewal and purchasing decisions? You have that place in EBSCONET.

Here’s a brief overview of some of the ways EBSCONET provides historical records, title and order information, and stability in processes to help you and your team manage your serial subscriptions workflow and provide documentation to future team members:

• An Orders tab through which you can access multiple tools. Submitting service requests (claims for print, online access issues, title questions) is made simple in this tab, with all the information you need to create the request in one place and an easy-to-use service request form. Some of the other functions within this tab will help locate: 
  • Details for EBSCONET serials orders placed within the past seven years, as well as future orders.
    • Publisher packages ordered within the past seven years, as well as future orders.
      • Online orders and the ability to track progress towards activation. 
• A Renewals tab where librarians can:
  • Renew serial subscriptions in one cart, viewing title and order details and other information to help make renewal decisions.
    • Renew e-packages through a function which provides contract information and details for each package.
• A Customer Service Portal to track service requests, see the progress of requests, and communicate about requests with an EBSCO customer account manager or customer service representative — instead of having to search through emails, requests and related correspondence are kept in one easy-to-search repository.

EBSCONET can assist librarians now and in the future by preserving past and current serials and e-package subscription information and providing a stable serials subscription workflow. And, to find out what else EBSCONET offers and to see its full functionality, log in to your account and take a look at the EBSCONET Help documentation, available through the Help tab at the right of the functions tab bar. EBSCONET training is also available at EBSCO Connect, clicking on the drop-down menu for Tools and Resources, and selecting “Training.” Here, users will find training courses, training and support resources, and success tools to help manage serials subscriptions with ease and efficiency.