Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the use of foreign language serial subscription agencies services by university libraries in Thailand in terms of selection, services, services charges, special advantages, the specialized expertise of each agency, the problems that libraries faced, and the opinions and suggestions of serial acquisition librarians toward the agencies. It was found that the method most libraries practiced in collecting the information for selecting either a domestic agency or a foreign agency was asking other librarians who used the agencies services. All agencies, both domestic and foreign, provide three basic services: subscription, claiming and renewal. In other areas, the agencies did not provided equal services and sometimes the same agency would provide different services and different quality service to different libraries. There were 11 agencies that specialized in serial acquisition. No domestic agencies specified their services charges in the invoice. The two foreign agencies which specified service charges were Ebsco Subscription Services and F.W. Faxon Company Inc. The domestic agency that had the largest number of special advantages was Central Department Store, Ltd., while the foreign agencies with the most advantages were B.H. Blackwells and Swets & Zeitlinger B.V. Different libraries had different problems in using the agencies services. Therefore, the domestic agencies can use the opinions and suggestions of librarians and the researcher to improve their services and suggestions of librarians and the researcher to improve their services and the serial acquisition librarian can take advantage of this research in using the services of the agencies.