Trials Management
We encourage all trials management to be based in Acquisitions. Doing so provides a single contact for publishers/vendors and creates a seamless tie between the trial and the eventual order. (Paperwork is sent to a single location, no instances of multiple contact names for vendor/pub records, invoices received and processed more efficiently, etc.)
Decisions about which products to test and the evaluation of user feedback are, of course, the purview of the bibliographer(s).
Trial set-up
- On request of a bibliographer, a member of the Acquisitions Digital Team contacts the vendor and arranges the terms of the trial, covering issues such as type of access, user groups, duration of trial, technical and order/billing contacts, license constraints, and how to handle user feedback if that is offered to users within the resource.
- A file is created to track each trial and is stored in a Trials correspondence area in Acquisitions. A temporary bibliographic record will be created in the library catalog.
When Acquisitions is notified that the trial set-up is complete, Acquisitions notifies the bibliographer. - The Trials form is completed by the bibliographer choosing to set up the trial in conjunction with the Acquisitions staff. The bibliographer decides if the trial information will be in the public or staff only trials space in the Library website, and whether a special news note is needed. If the bibliographer wants the trial record to show up in the eResources folders, the bibliographer will assign class numbers to the record and ask to have the record loaded into the eResources folders.
- Following feedback from users and budget analysis, the bibliographer notifies Acquisitions to place the order, or inform the publisher that we will not be pursuing an order at this time. The bibliographer edits the trials information form regarding the action taken. IF the resource is highly desired but cannot be purchased at the time, the resource description is added to the spreadsheet of desired resources and a priority is assigned. Acquisitions periodically checks the Trials file, in case trials have ended and no bibliographer decision has been received.
- If the decision is to order the resource, Acquisitions staff request license, invoice, etc., and enters order into the library catalog (or updates an existing record.) The bibliographer is informed of any conditions in the license that restrict user in any way, so the bibliographer can present needed information to the users.
- As with other digital resources, Acquisitions staff notify the bibliographer when the access is working. Once the resource is available, the bibliographer makes sure it is marketed appropriately, and that it appears in the correct folders in eResources.