ProQuest vs. EBSCOhost (and now, Silver Platter)

[Stacy Pober]

As some astute readers pointed out, I failed to include the actual
database names of our current ProQuest and proposed EBSCOhost service. 
I now have that information.
 
We currently get the following through ProQuest:  PA Research II,
ABI/Inform Global, ProQuest Newspapers, and indexing of AMA
publications.

The proposed EBSCO offerings are: Academic Search Elite, Business Source
Premier, Newspaper Source, and Health Source Plus.  

We currently get some other databases through SilverPlatter and other
vendors, such as ERIC, Medline, and PSYCinfo that are also offered
through EBSCO.  EBSCO also has a "Medline full text" option that
includes a small number (around 80, I think) of full-text medical
journals.  If anyone would like to discuss the pros and cons of getting
these databases via the EBSCOhost interface, I'd be glad to have the
input.  I'm leaning towards consolidating as many databases as possible
through the same front end, since students get this dazed look as you
explain how the syntax to search each database is different and how
they  might want to look in this one and this one and that other one...

I think having the ability to do a one-step search of the Academic
Search Elite and one of the subject databases such as ERIC would be
useful because it would in effect be adding some full-text to ERIC. 
OTOH, it would likely add a good number of false drops because of the
wider coverage and different vocabulary of the Academic Search database.
So I'm not sure if the advantages outweigh the drawbacks.  

Supposedly EBSCO is working on adding the ability to link directly from
the non-full-text databases to those articles that are available from
another subscribed database in full text.  So that a search in ERIC
would link to the full-text articles in Academic Search Elite but you
would not actually have to search the larger, less specialized database
to get those links.  Another feature that sounded interesting was the
ability to make durable links to full-text articles.  ProQuest currently
offers that through their Site Builder service, but this is an add-on at
additional cost.  According to the EBSCO rep I spoke to, they are
working on adding the same capability without additional charge.  (I
didn't ask when they expected to add this, so whether it's soon or in a
good long while, I dunno.)  

-- 
Stacy Pober, Information Alchemist
Manhattan College Libraries
spober at manhattan.edu
http://www.manhattan.edu/library/