I expect D to have a more thorough take (she always does!), but there's finally a more widespread outcry against Ebsco. A few of us commented about the exclusive rights to magazines and closing access to Ageline. There was also (rightfully) a kerfuffle about deep linking to HBS articles.
Now we hear from Meredith Farkas about exclusive access to military history journals and a more general piece by Sarah Houghton-Jan.
When I've posted something negative about Ebsco, I've gotten a phone call or e-mail from someone in management there. It's always been to solicit more information on the issue and to let me know they were working on it. I'm not sure that they ever did fix some of the things I mentioned, but I took it as a very positive sign. I'm not sure how to take it that they called Meredith's boss. That's odd.
Oh, and now that OCLC is getting rid of FirstSearch for a bunch of things - well, we might have to make the choice between Ebsco or not having those research databases at all. Ebsco has also purchased NetLibrary from OCLC, but there are competitors for that, so that might actually be a positive.
Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights! (to quote a famous song)
- Log in to post comments