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(Note from the Washington State Library: In order to participate in the Spring 2000 Washington State Databases Trial, each vendor was asked to address questions the Statewide Database Licensing Committee felt were most critical in order for library staff to evaluate products and vendors. Please contact the vendor's representative, listed below, for additional information on this product.)
1. Describe the database product(s). Include information on subject scope, percentage of full-text, dates of coverage, target audience (including age ranges), and how often the contents are updated.
Ulrichsweb.com
Ulrich's is the premier serials reference source for the past 68 years, used by librarians, researchers, academics, and businesses. The Ulrich's web product provides users with essential serials bibliographic and access information that ranges from subscription rates to the latest web sites. Nearly 250,000 consumer and trade magazines, academic and scholarly publications, monographic series, newsletters, newspapers, electronic publications, 'zines, e-journals, and many other types of serial publications and services published throughout the world on all subjects, are profiled in detail. Ulrichsweb.com combines an extensive range of data with equally powerful indexing, searching, and browsing capabilities.
Monthly updates consistently add to the following elements and others: nearly 250,000 serials, including details on almost 55,000 ceased titles; Bibliographic information such as current ISSN, former ISSN(s) and former title(s) history, variant titles, editorial and classification data, start year, frequency; pricing, subscription, and distribution details; key personnel-publisher, editor, rights & permissions and advertising contact; access options-19 document delivery services, indexing services, 79 online full-text vendors--all with their journals lists completely flagged; annotations/brief content descriptions; Subject Classifications for nearly 1,000 main subject headings, hundreds of cross references; all titles subject classified under detailed subject headings and the latest Dewey Decimal Classifications; Complete contact information for 80,000 publishers and distributors from around the world with full contact detail; 59,034 e-mail addresses hot-linked; 54,036 URLs hot-linked; Abstracting and Indexing containing 322,164 indicators denoting coverage by over 600 abstracting & indexing services (A&Is); Reviews for nearly 8,000 records from Magazines for Libraries and Library Journal; Refereed status indicated and searchable for over 18,000 serials; Document Delivery Options for over 50,000 titles available for document delivery flagged for 19 leading Document Delivery Services, including the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC), UnCover, Ask IEEE, CINDOC, CISTI, Infotrieve, CatchWord, the German National Library of Medicine, and more; Document Types include 15 document type indicators (e.g., A&I service, academic/scholarly publication, newspaper, newsletter, consumer publication, trade publication, etc.) to refine searching. There are 23 indexes, all of which can be searched and browsed in three modes: Quick Search, Advanced (form) Search, and Professional Search (Boolean). Additionally, there is powerful Combine Search functionality, allowing a user to limit or refine searches.
2. What are the hardware and software requirements for using all the features of the product?
Ulrichsweb.com can be accessed from any Internet-ready computer with Netscape or Internet Explorer 2.0 or later.
3. Is remote access included for the subscription price? If there are additional charges or requirements in order to offer remote access, please describe. What methods of remote access are supported?
Typically there is a 15% surcharge for licensing remote access to Bowker products; however, for any subscriptions resulting from this trial, the surcharge will be waived entirely.
Remote access to ulrichsweb.com is available when the customer performs authentication of remote users. There are currently two options for remote users to access ulrichsweb.com: Referral URL and Proxy Server authentication. For a discussion on how Referral URL is implemented by the Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library (OH), see Tim Kambitsch's 2/22/99 document at http://dmcpl.dayton.lib.oh.us/~kambitsch/referral.html . For a detailed description of the three types of Proxy Server authentication (manual, automatic, and reverse) that can be utilized by an institution see Providing Remote Access to Library Databases: A Report from the PORTALS Technology Advisory Group (Draft, 1999 May 8) at http://www.portals.org/tagPORTALS2.htm. Bowker is investigating other methods of remote access.
4. Please discuss any methods or assistance you offer regarding remote access patron verification and authentication.
Bowker offers customer assistance through our Technical Support group. The toll-free number for Technical Support is 1-888-269-5372, then press 5.
5. What end user delivery options, such as printing, emailing or faxing results, are available beyond just viewing results on the computer monitor?
The current version (1.0) of ulrichsweb.com allows printing via your Internet browser's "Print" command. Version 2 , which will be released this coming summer will allow e-mailing and downloading of ASCII-delimited, CSV (comma-separated values) and MARC records.
6. What customer training is provided, and at what cost?
Ulrichsweb.com is designed with the novice end-user in mind, while also providing advanced functionality that is vital to the professional librarian or researcher. Although the need for training is minimal, each library included in the trial may receive a tutorial for ulrichsweb.com. upon request. On-site customer training is also available upon request for academic institutions, library systems, and school districts at no additional cost.
7. What customer and technical support is provided, including hours of operation.
Technical Support is provided by phone toll-free at 1-888-269-5372, then press 5; support is also available by e-mail at [email protected]. Currently, Technical Support is available Monday through Thursday from 9am to 7pm EST, and Friday 9am to 5pm EST. Bowker is working toward expanding Technical Support hours of availability.
8. Describe the statistics you provide, and discuss whether your statistical reporting complies with guidelines developed by the International Coalition of Library Consortia which may be found at www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html .
Bowker takes the ICOLC "Guidelines for Usage Statistics" very seriously, and is working toward fulfilling as many of those Guidelines as possible as the product develops. The current version of ulrichsweb.com does not provide for usage statistics. However, version 2.0, expected to be released this summer, will provide site location login numbers and percentages, average daily activity (logins by site location, searches by site location, browses by site location and detailed views accessed by site location), and average hourly activity (average number of searches by hour of the day).
9. Describe your pricing structure or formula for the product. If there are additional costs for retrieving full text, describe the pricing for this service.
Note to Washington Trial libraries: Please keep in mind that this pricing is confidential and is intended only for libraries within the scope of this trial.
Pricing for subscribers resulting from this trial is based primarily on simultaneous usage (SU). The Library decides on the number of SUs needed (e.g., 1, 5, unlimited, etc.). For unlimited SUs, follow the FTE model. Calculate your price and compare it to the minimum for your library type; the Library will be charged the higher of either the minimum or the FTE/SU price.
ulrichsweb.com, IP address verification
FTE pricing model-$0.29 per FTE
Per Simultaneous User model-$390 per Simultaneous User
Type of Institution FTE percentages Minimum price* Academic libraries 100% of Fall enrollment $950 Community college libraries 75% of Fall enrollment $950 Public libraries (1) 5% of the population served $550 Secondary schools (2) 100% of Fall enrollment $150 Elementary schools (2) 100% of Fall enrollment $30 Corporate & government libs 100% of employees with web access $1,300 * The minimum price applies for both the FTE and Simultaneous User models
(1) For public library system-wide purchases, $550 is the minimum for the entire system
(2) School districts pay 100% FTE of fall enrollment for all secondary schools in the District; elementry schools within the District are then eligible to be included at no additional cost. Minimum for a School District is $150 per secondary school.Examples (using hypothetical libraries provided as part of the State Trial questions):
Library A: A high school library with 750 students in grades 9-12
Unlimited SU Minimum price: $218
1 SU Minimum price: $390Library B: A public library that serves a population of 100,000 and has two branches
Unlimited SU 5% of population = 5,000 x $0.29: $1,450
1 SU Minimum price: $550
5 SU 5 x $390: $1,950Library C: A public library that serves a population of 20,000 and has only one building, no branches
Unlimited SU Minimum price: $550
1 SU Minimum price: $550Library D: A community college library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students
Unlimited SU 75% of FTE = 3,750 x $0.29: $1,088
1 SU Minimum price: $950
5 SU 5 x $390: $1,950Library E: A four-year academic library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students
Unlimited SU 5,000 x $0.29: $1,450
1 SU Minimum price: $950
5 SU 5 x $390: $1,950Library F: A hospital library serving a hospital that employees 1,000 staff plus has 200 doctors attached to the hospital
(Assumption, that 75% have Internet access.)
Unlimited SU 75% of 1,200 = 900 x $0.29 = $261, Minimum price: $1,300
1 SU Minimum price: $1,300
5 SU 5 x $390: $1,950
10. What is the minimum participation level (however you care to define it) that would be needed to allow participating libraries to receive a discount? What is the minimum discount for a group buy? Please clarify how you would treat existing library customers with regard to a group buy.
Each subscriber to ulrichsweb.com is eligible for 50% off the regular price of the print version of Ulrich's in print and/or the Ulrich's CD-ROM-there is no minimum participation level for this discount.
Each subscriber to both booksinprint.com and ulrichsweb.com will receive a 10% discount.
Group-buy discounts for ulrichsweb.com for this trial are based on the number of resultant subscriptions for academic institutions, public library systems, and school districts:
10 subscriptions = 5% discount
20 subscriptions = 10% discount
30 subscriptions = 15% discountExisting ulrichsweb.com and Ulrich's CD-ROM customers who discontinue their current subscription to participate in the group-buy, will receive a credit at Bowker for the pro-rated remaining balance of their subscription. The credit will then be applied toward the new ulrichsweb.com subscription at the discounted rate.
11. Please indicate whether libraries from Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and/or Hawaii would be eligible to participate in the group buying process.
Yes. Considering the total populations of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, and Oregon, Bowker is willing to include them in the trial and any subsequent buying group that is established. Discounts will be based on the buying group as a whole.
12. Please provide name and contact information (toll-free telephone number, e-mail address, hours, etc.) should libraries wish to make further inquires.
Peder A. Christensen
Bowker Regional Account Manager
phone: (877) 340-2400
fax: 727-771-2617
[email protected]
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