Note from the Washington State Library: In order to participate in the Winter 2002 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). If you want us to link to more than one product, provide a unique description for each product. Be sure we know what information belongs with each product. If there are special hardware or software needs, please make sure you include them in this description. When you provide a description of your product, please go beyond the typical advertising brochure text. We are hoping for a thoughtful, descriptive paragraph that will enable someone unfamiliar with your product to understand the nature and coverage of your product. The more concise the description, the better.

Britannica Online was first offered by subscription in the fall of 1994 and was the first encyclopaedia on the World Wide Web. Britannica Online 2002 contains the full text of Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest and largest general purpose encyclopedia in the world. With its 73,000 articles from the Britannica Print set, Britannica Online 2002 provides information for the general population for leisure, personal interests, general knowledge and lifelong learning.

In addition to the articles from the Britannica set, Britannica Online 2002 also includes Encyclopedia Britannica Intermediate, which contains an additional 38,000 articles geared for grades 6 and higher, as well as Britannica for Kids, with over 1,200 articles geared for students in grades 3-6.

Also included in Britannica Online 2002 are Merriam-Webster's 10th Collegiate Dictionary, Britannica Books of the Year from 1993-2001, as well as over 300,000 links from Britannica Online articles to Britannica-approved Internet sites. Britannica Online 2002 also contains 150 full-text periodicals offering current events coverage and content applicable in a research environment.

2. 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? If applicable, please discuss any methods or assistance you offer regarding remote access patron verification and authentication.

Encyclopaedia Britannica also allows unlimited remote access for Britannica Online subscribing sites. This is allowed when the subscribing site(s) is able to authenticate end users via various means designated by that site (i.e. barcode ID, library card # etc.) A description of how remote access is authenticated can be viewed at: http://subscribe.eb.com/bol/inst_remote.html

3. What customer training is provided, and at what cost? Please include "freebies" such as Web-based tutorials, end-user documentation tents, cheat-sheets, etc.

Encyclopaedia Britannica provides user training for large groups, on request, at no additional cost. Britannica Online 2002 also contains pop-up windows with search suggestions, and detailed help screens on every page of the database.

4. What customer and technical support is provided, including hours of operation? In your reply, please include contact names (if applicable) or name of department, the phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your support services. If you have toll-free access to these support centers, please make sure they are available here.

Encyclopaedia Britannica also offers technical support 24 hours a day, 7days a week at (800) 621-3900, or by email at [email protected]

5. Please describe the statistics you provide, and discuss whether your statistical reporting complies in part or in whole with the guidelines developed by the International Coalition of Library Consortia found at http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html

A web-based usage statistics system is available for all subscribers to Britannica Online at the following URL: http://www.eb.com/statistics. The statistics reporting does adhere to the guidelines set forth by the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC).

Statistics can be gathered on a daily, monthly, yearly or since subscription commencement for any single library, or libraries that are subscribing. Statistics can be reported as granular as the IPs that are provided, or for each username and password assigned. Consortia can view all the statistics for each library or system, but individual libraries or systems will only be able to view their own statistics.

Britannica will issue usernames and passwords for subscribing institutions to access their stats reports at any time over the Web. Britannica also provides a button that allows subscribers to easily download their stats report into an easy-to-use spreadsheet format.

The site displays daily and running totals of the numbers of Britannica URLs accessed as Queries ("Why is the sky blue?"), Documents (articles opened), and Other (images, etc.). Usage statistics are available for the IP addresses specified by the institution or by the Username/Password assigned in the Britannica cookie-based authentication.

6. 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: This question means - we want to know what your list prices are and how you calculate your prices: Based on FTEs? On buildings? On a combination, or on something else?)

If you cannot provide a standard price list that would enable each library to understand their cost to subscribe, then for each product you must tell us the list price that you would charge these hypothetical libraries.
a. Library A: A high school library with 750 students in grades 9-12
b. Library B: A public library that serves a population of 100,000 and has two branches
c. Library C: A public library that serves a population of 20,000 and has only one building, no branches
d. Library D: A community college library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students
e. Library E: A four-year academic library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students
f. Library F: A hospital library serving a hospital that employees 1,000 staff plus has 200 doctors attached to the hospital

An institution pays for its annual Britannica Online subscription based on its FTEs (Full Time Equivalent student enrollment). FTE is a common standard for measuring enrollment in K-12 and higher education. Basically the FTE is equivalent to the total enrollment of a school. Public Libraries subscriptions are based on their Total Population served.

The FTE model is also used for nonschool/nonacademic libraries.

Four-Year Colleges and Universities - 100% of fall enrollment FTEs
Two-Year Colleges - 75% of fall enrollment FTEs
Middle/High Schools (grades 6-12) - 100% of fall enrollment FTEs
Elementary Schools (grades K-5) - 75% of fall enrollment FTEs
Business and Government Libraries - 100% of employees with Web access
Public Libraries - 7% of the population served

Participants in the Washington State database trial can subscribe to Britannica Online through the BCR consortium, the (Bibliographic Center for Research). The subscription price through BCR is presently $.345 per FTE. After accessing the BCR site at http://www.bcr.org, click on "Reference Databases" to enroll
online.

Pricing for hypothetical library types

A high school library with 750 students in grades 9-12; $258.75

A public library that serves a population of 100,000 and has two branches; (100,000 weighted at 7% or 7,000 billable total population served, (7,000 x .345 = $2,415.00)

A public library that serves a population of 20,000 and has one branch; (20,000 weighted at 7% or 1,400 billable total population served, (1,400 x .345 = $483.00)

A community college library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students (5,000 weighted at 75% or 3,750 billable FTE, (3,750 x .345 = $1,293.75)

A four-year academic library serving 5,000 full-time equivalent students (5,000 weighted at 100% or 5,000 billable FTE, (5,000 x .345 = $1,725.00)

A hospital library serving a hospital that employees 1,000 staff plus has 200 doctors attached to the hospital; Billable population is 100% of employees with web access. If the quote is for staff only (1,000 x .345 = $345.00), for the 200 doctors only the cost is, (200 x .345 = $69.00). If access extends to all employees (1,200 x .345 = $414.00),

7. If a library subscribes to any of your products as a result of this trial, will their future subscription rates continue to reflect any savings or discount they may receive today?

Institutions that sign up for Britannica Online through BCR will receive benefit of their current negotiated price with Encyclopaedia Britannica for that subscription Year.

8. 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? How will you treat existing library customers with regard to a group buy?

No minimum participation levels exist for signup. Any libraries currently subscribing to Britannica Online will receive prorated refunds for the remaining time on their subscription, calculated from the date that this agreement would take effect.

9. Please provide the name and contact information (toll-free telephone number, e-mail address, hours, etc.) for libraries to make further inquires. (Sales representatives for our area preferred.)

The Sales Representative for Washington is;

Wendell Reeves
Account Executive
Encyclopaedia Britannica
PH; 800-621-3900 x 6552
Fax; 800-344-9624
Email; [email protected]
Hours; 8am to 5pm Central Standard Time