Silverplatter Web reliability

[Ann Frenkel]

Here is a list of results I compiled from the many responses I got from folks about the reliability of access of Silverplatter databases on the Web.  I heard from a great variety of large and small academic libraries across the country.  Thank you for your comments!

In general most experience has been that when libraries first started using Silverplatter products over the Web, response time was quite poor-slow and unstable.  They also indicated that at first there were problems with constantly changing access codes when additional disks were loaded at SP.  However, almost all libraries have indicated that this spring Silverplatter upgraded their servers and access has been reasonable and acceptable since.  Some of the complaints were based on problems caused by natural internet slowness (nothing to do with Silverplatter).  Libraries had good things to say about SP help staff.
 
Comments....
Yale University, Kline Science Library:
"We access both GeoRef and Inspec via the SP web interface.
We do not want to become involved with loading proprietary software.
The interface is quite stable and access is reasonable."

Univ. of Kentucky Medical Center:
"At first, our response time was really terrible [
 ] I had SP on the phone several
times a day for a few weeks.  To the staff's credit, they tried their best
to determine what was causing internet delays and apparent server crashes,
and it was obvious that the fault lay with our own campus connections and
ISP much of the time.  Before Christmas, our databases were loaded onto new
servers, [
] and since then, our service has
improved markedly."

Ohio State:
"My experience has been that the web access
is very unstable and slow.  In the afternoon we have had a lot of
trouble getting connected and sometimes the time lag causes incomplete
data to be transferred or the session to be lost."

Princeton University, Biology Library
"We have been doing this for over a year now. At first there were major
problems with response time, availability, and changing access codes when
additional disks were loaded at SP. However, for the last 4 months it has been working very well and very smoothly, and we will move additional databases to that mode of access as much as we can."

Northwestern University Library
"We started experimenting with SilverPlatter over the Web last fall, and our
first experiences with response time were terrible--as long as 20 minutes
to bring up a single screen [
] Fortunately, SilverPlatter has upgraded their equipment and response time now is quite acceptable."

University of Houston Libraries:
"There have been a couple of incidents recently where the Silver Platter
folks have had some trouble with their server and we had trouble accessing
one or more of the products we subscribe to.  These problems were corrected
pretty quickly though, and I imagine that's just going to part of the
equation when you give up the in-house CD's in favor of an Internet product."