Statewide Database Licensing Project - Spring 2000 Trials
McGraw-Hill

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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.  

AccessScience@McGraw-Hill

The core content of AccessScience@McGraw-Hill is the online McGraw-Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 8th Edition. Added are the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, the McGraw-Hill YEARBOOKS of Science & Technology, 1998, 1999 and 2000 editions, a licensed database of more than 2,000 biographies of scientists, and weekly news features licensed from Science NewsTM.

The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology is widely recognized as the authoritative reference source, a unique product with no real competition for the quality and depth of the information. There are contributions from nearly 9,000 recognized experts in their fields, including articles by no less than 20 Nobel Prize winners.

The real value in the product, besides the searching capabilities and the daily updating, is the authority of the information and the content linking. There are more than 60,000 links just between the Encyclopedia articles alone, with tens of thousands of links between the other content. The licensed database of 2,000 biographies has been researched by our editorial staff, who have manually linked the biographies to the appropriate encyclopedia, research and term definitions, so that in addition to learning about the scientist, the end user can understand the field in which the scientist worked or had an impact on. The same is done with the News stories, so that users can get a deeper and more rounded understanding of whatever late breaking science development has occured. The authoritativeness of the content in the print format will be extended to the online product and will truly give the end user the most comprehensive, most reliable place on the internet to research science.

Subject Scope - AccessScience covers the entire spectrum of Science & Technology, breaking down the vast database of information into 20 main subject areas for easy navigation.

Full-text: Included is the full text of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 8th Edition. Virtually all the graphics from the print edition will be digitized and available on AccessScience by the end of the year 2000, with new artwork added every month. Target Audience - The primary audience is undergraduate college students and upper level high school students. A percentage of the material is accessible and useful to students in grades as low as 6th grade, provided they are guided. News writers, researchers and science enthusiasts have also been purchasers of the print edition. Pharmaceutical companies, engineering and manufacturing companies, aerospace companies, news organizations, chemical companies, government and military libraries, have all actively purchased many of the print or CD-ROM Encyclopedias.

Updates: AccessScience will be updated daily. Whether it's a new "news" article, updates to the encyclopedia content, new definitions added to the dictionary, there will be updating every single day.

 2. What are the hardware and software requirements for using all the features of the product?

A Java-capable brower is required (IE 3.0 or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher). There are no plug-ins required for this product

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?

Remote access IS included in the subscription price. We would primarily support the use of a proxy server, and limited user id/password access.

4. Please discuss any methods or assistance you offer regarding remote access patron verification and authentication.

At this time, we can only support proxy server and user id/password authentication. We need more feedback on acceptable or preferred methods of remote authentication as the product is used more heavily.

5. What end user delivery options, such as printing, emailing or faxing results, are available beyond just viewing results on the computer monitor?

Printing or emailing an entire article with the click of a button will be a feature available within the first three months of product availability.

6. What customer training is provided, and at what cost?

There is online context-sensitive help that will provide the end-user with assistance for whatever part of the site he/she is viewing. There is also online help. Group training for multiple libraries will be arranged upon request, but the product has been created and designed to be very simple to use, but with powerful results.

7. What customer and technical support is provided, including hours of operation.

24 hours toll free support in the US, 24-hour free email support, 7 days a week (non-toll free number for tech support outside the US, and the email support)

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 .

Statistics for use by an institution will be provided starting in July of 2000. The statistics will be reported daily on a website accessible only by the subscribing institutions' librarian contact, aggregated weekly and month. All efforts are being made to comply with the ICOLCs guidelines, but may vary to the extent that our programming allows us to capture specific information.

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. 

The price for AccessScience is calculated on a weighted FTE basis, with more weighting given to the audience expected to use the product more based on our research of the usage of the print. Here is the weighting and the cost: 

FTE Weighting - 

Here are the Annual Subscription Rates based on the weighted FTE's:

Because we understand that different libraries have different needs, McGraw-Hill will also be offering an optional simultaneous user based pricing model.

Price based on single user id/password issued $595 per simultaneous user

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.

We do not have a minimum participation level for a group buy, however the organization must have one central billing location, and a recognized membership to be considered eligible. We can only offer the consortia pricing on an FTE weighted basis.

For instance, XX technical school has campuses in 12 different states - we would allow them to combine the FTEs from all schools to get the best price. A school district could combine all their schools into one purchase order to achieve the best possible price. If a school district subscribes for all Grades 6-12 in their district, we will offer free access to the grades K-5, where teachers will get the most out of the access to the site. There are no existing customers as this is a new product, which makes it ideal for a group purchase.

Here is the pricing schedule for consortia purchases:

 

11.  Please indicate whether libraries from Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and/or Hawaii would be eligible to participate in the group buying process.

If we had a central billing point at each of the other state library consortia, then McGraw-Hill would allow all the groups to combine for the best possible rate. The more FTEs that get together, the lower the rate.

12.  Please provide name and contact information (toll-free telephone number, e-mail address, hours, etc.) should libraries wish to make further inquires.

Please call Rebecca Seger, Director of Library Sales, toll free 1-877-840-2297, [email protected] , 8am - 5pm EST if you have any questions or special needs.

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