Contact with current customers is helpful. Trial demonstration before making an acquisition commitment is required for expensive products. User documentation should be accurate, easy to use, comprehensive, and cost effective. Downloading, exporting and printing functions must be dependable and easy to use. Consider the timeliness of updates.
Cost is an important factor in selection decisions.
Average cost varies from discipline to discipline and it should be considered in this context. Number of simultaneous users allowed and cost per user should be a factor in determining advantages over print equivalent. Investigate and consider costs per simultaneous users and any additional costs for future updates or upgrades. Investigate any potential additional costs such as start-up, maintenance, site preparation, hardware, shipping and installation. In general, LIS will fund an information resource in only one format.