EBSCO

IMPORTANT NOTE: EBSCO invoices, like GOBI invoices, are automatically loaded into Alma through the EDI system. They will not be automatically assigned to anyone at Schlesinger, however, so the Library Assistant must occasionally check for In Review Invoices under the "Unassigned" tab with the owner of Schlesinger Library and assign those to themselves.

Credits

When a title we subscribe to is discontinued mid-subscription or we cancel a subscription mid-cycle, or a title has a price change or the cost otherwise decreases, EBSCO will issue a credit memo for the refunded money. These will be loaded by EDI into Alma and also usually come as hard copies in the mail from EBSCO. The Library Assistant must keep the physical records of all credits for each financial year. The credits are not actually paid back to our funds in Alma, but are rather credits in the EBSCO system that we can then use against the costs of the next yearly EBSCO invoice. Unfortunately, any credits received between January 1 and the end of the financial year on June 30th will need to be deleted from Alma and then re-loaded at the end of the year to use against the big yearly invoice (any received July-December can just sit around in Alma and wait to be used on the end of year invoice). Yes, it would be easier if EBSCO could just account for these credits internally on their end, but that's not how it works currently, so we've invented these work-arounds.

1. If there are EDI credit invoices in the system at FYE, email HL_Finance@harvard.edu with the vendor code (EBSCOUS), invoice number(s), and total amount for each invoice. Ask them to delete the invoices, but make sure you have a record of them; you'll need to know the invoice number, amount, PO line(s), and funds.
2. You will need to get PDF versions of the credit memos from EBSCO by emailing Amie Caddell at EBSCO Account Receivable, acaddell@ebsco.com.
3. At some point after the start of the new financial year, you must manually recreate each deleted credit invoice in Alma. Make sure you enter the amounts as negative numbers to indicate that these are credits! This step ensures that the appropriate money is available to use in the relevant serials funds in order to pay for the yearly subscriptions.
4. The credit invoices should not be approved/processed until you are sending the big EBSCO invoice through to Finance. When the time to approve and submit the renewal invoice comes along, make sure to also send the credit invoices through in the same batch. Adding "CR" to the end of the invoice numbers is a good way to differentiate them.

Service

Our EBSCO account can be accessed through https://ebsconet.com/. New logins must be requested through our EBSCO rep (currently Julie Wilbur, jwilbur@ebsco.com). Our Customer Code is RB81572. 

The EBSCONET site is where missing issues can be claimed, order status can be confirmed, and title changes can be checked.

PDFs of missing credit memos or invoices must be requested directly from an EBSCO rep and cannot be downloaded through the Customer Service Portal.

Annual Invoice

Almost all of our current periodical subscriptions are paid for and processed through EBSCO. We are billed for these subscriptions in a once-yearly invoice that is usually loaded into Alma through EDI sometime in mid November. Processing this extremely large invoice requires a number of steps. Some key information is outlined here.

• IMPORTANT: The object reporting codes do NOT come through in the EDI load, so you have to go into each invoice line individually and add the 7023 code for Serials^Special Collections to every line. The invoice can't be correctly processed without this coding.
• IMPORTANT: The invoice includes a line for "Overhead" which is essentially the handling/processing/shipping for all our yearly subscriptions, but this should be paid on a serials fund with object reporting code 7023, NOT the usual shipping fund/coding. Check with the curator to confirm which serials fund to use on this line.
• No changes can be made to the invoice by the time we get it; if the curator decides that anything needs to be canceled, you still have to pay for it on the invoice, then request a refund/credit that will come through to be applied in the next year.
• If any new titles have been added since the previous year's EBSCO order, you will need to connect them to their Alma POL and also add the POL number as the "ILS" in the EBSCO system in order to fully link them.
• Check for any POLs where the funding information is blank and confirm with the curator which fund should be used to pay for those titles.
• Some POLs will show up with a charge of $0.00. This is either because they are "membership titles"/bundled titles that are paid on another line (i.e. we pay for a membership and the newsletter subscription is included or several publications are paid under a single title) or because they are titles that ceased between the time when the renewals were processed and when the invoice was sent. You can delete those invoice lines.