Dear Colleagues…

Dear Colleagues:  While it seems almost surreal to be writing this – I am acknowledging over 50 years in the information industry, and within weeks of my 70th birthday – I often ask how this happened???

Over these decades I have witnessed and hopefully influenced many of the changes that we are all part of today.  Did I ever think I would find myself ‘tweeting’ or being a social media maven or learning more about the inner workings of a COVID world – certainly not.  I hope over these challenging times I have made your careers a little easier and provided help to you with your day-to-day environments.

It is time for me to re-focus my attention on my family – four and two footed critters alike and remember to take a deep breath.  You can always reach out to me should you want to brainstorm or just check in from time to time.  I will deeply treasure the many meaningful relationships these years have brought.  Unlimited Priorities has been a pleasure to own, and I will have fond memories of the many interesting/sometimes crazy projects we took on.

I will be around until mid-October should you need anything – remember – I am a Facebook addict so you can keep up with me and I look forward to reading about your adventures.  My email and phone number will remain the same so please – reach out at any time.  Many, many thanks for the memories – be well – and may your futures be kind to you – and please – remember to try and save a life today! Cheers, Iris (and John and the Pups!)

Thank you,

Iris

Iris L. Hanney
President
Unlimited Priorities LLC
1930 SW 48th Lane
Cape Coral FL 33914
239-549-2384
iris.hanney@unlimitedpriorities.com

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Establishing a Close, Collaborative Partnership Between Publisher and Vendor

Introduction

In 2014, Unlimited Priorities, specialist consultants for scholarly publisher Accessible Archives (AA), were seeking a provider of COUNTER usage and analytics. Following a recommendation by a Director at NFAIS (now NISO), they contacted Scholarly iQ (SiQ).

Together, AA and SiQ built a working relationship that serves as a valued example of creating a trust centred partnership between a publisher and a selected specialty vendor.

In this article, we explore and share three key components which cemented the close-knit AA and SiQ team. This team ensured continued compliance with the evolving COUNTER standards, exemplary customer support, as already established by Unlimited Priorities, and shared best practices and innovations which would otherwise be unavailable to most scholarly publishers.

Trust in Expertise

AA required a vendor who not only provided COUNTER compliant solutions but also was an expert partner who truly understood and supported the standards and requirements. Established in 2003, SiQ has unrivalled experience in COUNTER services and compliance, staying at the forefront of latest standards and guidelines as well as representing AA interests in the development of the standards. This includes SiQ’s active participation in industry working groups including COUNTER, NISO and CrossRef.

Additionally, SiQ as a committed specialist for the provision of COUNTER reporting and analytics with full control over proprietary solutions, is able to ensure that AA reporting services continue to align with changing COUNTER requirements in a cost effective, scalable model shared across multiple publishers.

SiQ’s knowledge, compliance and product roadmap demonstrated to AA their commitment to delivering solutions that would continue to meet and lead the specific needs of the publishing industry. It also ensures long-term compliance and avoids the threat of hitting a brick wall should a third party application not be able to support any change stipulated by the industry standards.

A current example of this is COUNTER’s upcoming changes for v5.1, where the Item rather than the Title will become the unit of reporting. Through SiQ, AA is already fully compliant for the provision of Item Master Reports meaning AA can be confident in continued compliance following this change. Other publishers will need to check their vendor’s status at the COUNTER Registry and either seek assurances or make plans to change vendor before v5.1 comes into effect at the beginning of 2025.

An Entente Exceptionnelle: Three  Components

Firstly, the foundation for the relationship between SiQ and AA was transparent communication. With open lines of communication, including direct contact with SiQ CEO Gary Van Overborg, both parties aligned to collaborate as partners rather than transactional entities.

This fostered a true partnership, inviting input from both sides whilst valuing the expertise and insights both SiQ and AA brought to the table. Through open channels and an environment of mutual respect and cooperation, SiQ and AA leveraged each other’s strengths for mutual benefit and customer satisfaction.

Secondly, SiQ’s rapid response and dedication to customer support meant that AA could rely on SiQ as closely as an internal team within AA, more akin to a single organisation than an external vendor. The tight working relationship created trust in reliability. A consistent, proven track record of delivering on promises ensured fast resolutions where a less responsive approach would have frustrated and hindered success.

Finally, the commitment between SiQ and AA raised free, open communication about issues, challenges, performance, evaluation and improvement. Bypassing bureaucratic procedures so often enacted by vendors, encouraged direct collaboration, and through this faster issue resolution, product development and end customer satisfaction – a true win–win–win.

Enhanced Experience

Working with over 35 scholarly publishers and supporting over 200,000 librarian users, SiQ has been able to leverage over 20 years’ experience to develop solutions and best practices that enhance service value and experience for both AA and AA’s librarian customers.

For AA one of the key advantages SiQ brought to the partnership was extensive experience in working with similar customers in scholarly publishing. SiQ’s comprehensive understanding of the challenges, pain points and best practices proved invaluable from the very start, including the initial implementation:

“I have been in this industry for a very long time and I can say without qualification, never have I worked with a team that made the implementation of a project as easy as you have – everyone was a pleasure to deal with, you were uniquely sympathetic to our situation, you worked through all of our challenges with us to come to mutually agreeable solutions – this has truly been amazing.
I would be delighted to act as a reference for you at any time – your team is first class all the way – and very patient – helpful when dealing with the ‘slower’ learning school. Thanks so much for everything!!!!”

President, Unlimited Priorities LLC

Once implemented, mutual confidence reinforced and COUNTER compliance covered, AA were able to benefit from SiQ’s trusted advice to tailor best practices, custom reports and insights and use the flexibility of SiQ’s technologies to drive further evidence-based decisions from trusted, transparent data. The combination of established experience in understanding publisher challenges and opportunities across both SiQ and AA teams working closely together fostered growth and development for both organisations.

For librarians, the AA COUNTER reporting portal provides seamless access to their own COUNTER usage data in an increasingly intuitive and engaging environment. With optimised performance, help wizards, comprehensive documentation, free monthly librarian training sessions and in-built quick wins to pivot between COUNTER Standard and Master Reports, the AA COUNTER reporting service makes it easier for AA customers to access and manage their usage data.

“After giving myself a crash course and learning how the process worked I came to appreciate how straightforward the Scholarly iQ site is, especially compared to others I had to work with. In fact, my first successful SUSHI download was from Scholarly iQ.
I have used the Scholarly iQ site with other providers and have been pleased. I also appreciated the quick support I received from both Accessible Archives and Unlimited Priorities in response to my questions.”

Electronic Resources Manager, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries

Additionally, SiQ’s direct customer support has provided AA with the confidence that their librarian customers are treated with the same exemplary service and response times as they would expect from the Unlimited Priorities team. Prompt and helpful assistance from SiQ further builds trust in AA’s commitment to their own customer satisfaction, contributing to a positive subscriber experience and reinforcing loyalty to AA.

“I’m truly impressed! Usually I fire off these emails and (because of time differences) expect a reply back next day. Not only have you replied, but you’ve fixed the problem, within a couple of hours! You’re all wonderful … thanks very much!”

Cataloguer, Collection Services, Massey University Library

The SiQ team was to be an extension of the AA customer service, so a mutual value of customer focus and extreme responsiveness was a keystone of communicating a seamless, singular customer-led service.

Conclusion

Building a close, collaborative partnership between publisher and vendor requires an open trust-centred working relationship whereby both organisations align to not only mutually benefit but also bring advantages to end users. By leveraging specialist, dedicated services from vendors committed to and invested in the provision of these services, publishers like AA can ensure long-term solutions matching their evolving needs, receive and deliver exceptional customer service and benefit from the experience and expertise of a team which would otherwise be unavailable for a single publisher.

Ultimately the SiQ–AA relationship enhanced collaboration, improved performance, drove innovation and leveraged collective strengths to deliver a better service and experience for all parties. Whether you are a publisher or vendor we encourage you to consider how well-matched and trusted your valued business relationships are, and how they may better support each other.

About Accessible Archives, Inc®

Accessible Archives employs a team of digital technology and conversion specialists to deliver vast quantities of archived historical information, previously only available in microform, hard copy, or image-only formats. Our databases, containing diverse primary source materials such as leading books, newspapers, and periodicals, reflect a broad range of perspectives across 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century America.

About Unlimited Priorities LLC®

Unlimited Priorities LLC utilizes its highly skilled group of professionals to provide a variety of support services to small and medium-sized companies in the information industry. The Archival Initiatives Division (AID) offers practical consultative services to libraries, historical societies, and associations. AID provides advice and assistance in archival content selection, rights ownership, project management, workflow analysis, production, distribution of converted content and interaction with commercial entities. By coordinating a library’s project requirements with commercial firms’ interests, Unlimited Priorities creates an atmosphere of mutual cooperation while organizing a successful process at a reasonable cost.

About Scholarly iQ

Celebrating 20 years, SiQ provides unrivalled expertise for trusted usage analytics. SiQ’s fast, easy, platform independent implementation delivers valued data insights to customer, sales, editorial, marketing and partner stakeholders. Questions about COUNTER, Open Access, Impact, Data or wider Business Intelligence? Trust SiQ to have you covered.

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Unlimited Priorities LLC Has Been Retained to Manage the Merger of Accessible Archives Inc. and Coherent Digital LLC

Coherent Digital LLC has retained Unlimited Priorities LLC to manage the merger of the two companies’ content and technology in much the same way as Unlimited Priorities has managed Accessible Archives for the last decades – as the sales, marketing, technology, and product development . Continue Reading →

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Unlimited Priorities Announces Big Ten Academic Alliance Acquisition of Accessible Archives’ New African American and Women’s History Collections

Big Ten Academic Alliance Unlimited Priorities working closely with the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Library Initiatives Division and Accessible Archives announces the BTAA acquisition of new essential primary source content for their member libraries. The content includes: African American Newspapers in the South, 1870-1926 and The Woman’s Tribune, 1882-1909.

Iris L. Hanney, president of Unlimited Priorities, exclusive sales, marketing, and technology representative for Accessible Archives, believes that “delivering this vast amount of Accessible Archives content to the entire BTAA community offers exciting new teaching and research opportunities for all users.” Continue Reading →

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Happy New Year

2022 will be a year to reflect on for many of us.

As we approach the new year – We must ask ourselves – Are we grateful enough? We think not.

We appreciate every moving part that keeps Unlimited Priorities a striving healthy family.

We look forward to continuing our best in the coming new year!

Happy New Year from Iris Hanney and Bob Lester!

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Many many thanks for all your generosity!

Many many thanks for all your generosity – we raised a grand total of $8,940 all electronically in these crazy times we live in!  This is absolutely fantastic!!!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts

– John and Iris Hanney & the Pups!!!!

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Unlimited Priorities announces Sabinet/Gale African periodicals partnership

Unlimited Priorities, an information publishing company, coordinated with Sabinet, a leader in the South African information industry, and Gale, a Cengage company, global pioneer in research and learning resources, to provide American academic institutions access to Sabinet’s comprehensive collection of scholarly journals emanating from the African continent.

Until now there has been a critical lack of legitimate content from African countries in American institutions. This collection fills the need with over 367 current and 230 retrospective full text journals.  Subject areas covered are business and finance; education; labor; law; medicine and health; religion; science, technology and agriculture; social sciences and humanities. The databases will be available in 2021. Continue Reading →

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Alzheimer’s Association: Together We Can Help Save a Life

John and Iris Hanney Need Your Help to End Alzheimer’s!  We Are Honoring Paula Rugoff – Mom – & All those Struggling to Survive this Dreaded Disease & All Those Who Have Valiantly Lost Their Fight!

Donate Today

If you are suffering – you are not alone – we are here to help – but please, become part of our team, make-a-donation – give some love to Mom – hope you are dancing with Dad in heaven and being your old self!!!

Mom and her baby Sammi!!!

Mom and her baby Sammi!!!

Our company, UNLIMITED PRIORITIES, is committed to eliminating Alzheimer’s disease and will match the first $1000 raised and The Hanney’s will match the next $1000 raised!!!! Stand with us today to achieve our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s tomorrow!!!!

This is only going to be active about 10 days!

Every dollar you donate benefits those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. From face-to-face support and online education programs to promising research initiatives, your donation makes a difference!!

The Alzheimer’s Association is the largest nonprofit voluntary health organization dedicated to accelerating the progress in prevention, cure and living with Alzheimer’s disease.

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What Info Pros Are Grateful For: Iris Hanney

via What Info Pros Are Grateful For by Brandi Scardilli

Brandi Scardilli: Because 2020 has been all kinds of awful, I want to celebrate whatever silver linings we can find. Here are some thoughts from 15 info pros, who share what they’re grateful for in their professional lives, new technologies they’ve adopted, and anything else that comes to mind. I hope their positivity can lift you up and help you reflect on the good things you’ve experienced this year.


Iris L. Hanney, president of Unlimited Priorities, LLC, spoke with Brandi Scardilli about what she was grateful for in this crazy year.

What in your professional life are you most grateful for this year?
Unlimited Priorities is a small company that serves small to midsize companies in the information industry and supports activities of the academic research libraries. I am very grateful that we have managed to stay afloat, maintain most of our team, work with companies worldwide, understand worldwide challenges because of COVID, and remain viable for doing business, forming partnerships, and surviving this insanity. I am especially grateful to all of our customers for their ongoing trust, and we are committed to never disappointing a client ever—even through this wild ride.

What new tech have you learned and/or enjoyed this year as part of your job?
I bit the bullet after 5 years and bought a new laptop. While I was petrified of learning a new operating system—old dogs, new tricks—I am now thrilled that I did it. The efficiency of the new software and the speed of the new computer are amazing. Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks!

Are there any other positive things about your work life this year that you’d like to share?
Many of this year’s challenges, we are hoping, will support growth going into next year. There are new products being built, new ways to market being created, a new respect for co-workers who are hanging on. Resilience is a fabulous trait—I have witnessed it in many and hopefully in myself.

Visit What Info Pros Are Grateful For to discover what is making the other 14 people grateful.

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The Unlimited Priorities Team: We are Here

In a time of so much uncertainty, we recognize that you have many things on your mind. It is human nature to look for a sense of reassurance as well as support — Unlimited Priorities can provide the support services you need by utilizing our highly skilled group of professionals with their wealth of knowledge and expertise to help you solve problems and achieve your goals. We recognize that your business, library, or organization is unique, requiring customized and locally-based solutions.

Adjusting to working from home, isolated from colleagues is an all-new experience for many. Unlimited Priorities has worked from our home offices for decades – if we can be of help – a phone call – someone to vent to – someone to ask advice from – anything we can do – we are here.

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