CASE STUDY: How EBSCO Customer Service Helps Villanova University Library Provide Reliable Online Access to Users

The Problem

Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library’s journal collection is 80 percent electronic. With hundreds of databases and thousands of e-journals, dealing with multiple publishers and subscription vendors for access and subscription problems can be challenging. It is important to provide persistent and reliable access to e-resources, but it takes time to resolve access issues when publisher/title changes occur, which can cause delayed access for faculty and students. “Now that patrons expect instant access,” explains Susan Markley, Resource Management Team Leader at Falvey Memorial Library, “they also expect instant resolution to any access problems.” The library needed a partner to help activate online access and resolve access problems quickly.

Working with a Trusted Partner

Markley has worked in the library for more than 30 years and has been an EBSCO customer for more than 25 years. Her library subscribes to many of their large e-journal packages through EBSCO, taking advantage of tools such as EBSCONET^® to manage subscriptions.

Markley relies on her EBSCO Customer Service Representative, who makes responding quickly and accurately to inquiries a priority. “I like having one person,” Markley says. “I send an e-mail to EBSCO with a problem and someone gets back to me immediately, and they really follow through on problems.”

Continued attention from EBSCO has helped Falvey Memorial Library staff provide reliable online access to their online resources, creating a winning situation for both librarians and users. When unavoidable access problems occur, Markley says she trusts EBSCO to minimize any delay in access. “As long as I know someone is looking into it, we can explain to faculty that someone is working on it,” she says.

By depending on EBSCO to streamline communication to the library about access and subscription issues, Falvey Memorial Library staff can now focus attention on creating a better research environment for their users. Librarians are able to devote more time to managing the resources students and faculty need instead of spending time tracking down and resolving access problems.