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Re: Alumni access question Mitch Turitz 15 Aug 2008 18:54 UTC

>Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:59:56 -0700
>To: Bill, Mitch Turitz <turitz@sfsu.edu>
>From: Mitch Turitz <turitz@sfsu.edu>
>Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Alumni access question
>
>Bill,
>
>   Thank you for the e-mail.  Since I do not do the negotiating with
>vendors for our contracts, I do not know if any vendors offer a
>discount rate for alumni.  They may exist, but I have not dealt with
>any.  Remember, the vendors are out to make money on this, and as it
>is they do not have to worry about storing X number of copies in
>warehouses or shipping, binding costs, etc.  Since the vendors
>usually charge by "what the market will bear" the cost of your
>subscription will not only vary from vendor to vendor, but even from
>library to library for access to the same titles.
>
>   My feeling is that the typical patron from the surrounding areas
>can either come into the library to use the facilities, or go to the
>public library to use their database access.  The main purpose of a
>university is to teach, not to provide online access to everyone in
>the world. The public doesn't seem to realize that access to these
>databases cost us a lot of money (we spend over a million $ just for
>the electronic databases/journals each year.  Once the student has
>graduated, he/she should not need access to the 200 databases we
>have online, just a few which are probably available through the
>library.  I did hear of a case, over 10 years ago I think, where a
>lawyer hired a student to do his legal research for him on
>Lexis/Nexis.  The lawyer should have been supplied access either
>through his employer, or if working for himself buy access directly
>through L/N himself and deduct it as an office expense.  I think we
>and/or the vendors have in our standard agreement with the students
>words to the effect, saying they cannot use our databases for
>business or reselling or even sharing of the information on the
>databases.  I think most of the vendors have these on the "click
>through" web pages that make you swear you will do everything they
>want in order to obtain access to the databases.  If you don't agree
>with the "click through" agreement, then you are denied access.
>
>   So my feeling is that people who want access to databases for
>their job, should pay for it, one way or another.  If they want it
>for their personal use, the patrons should have sufficient access
>through public libraries or be able to purchase personal accounts
>directly from the vendor(s).
>
>   Sorry for the long message.  This is something our library has
>discussed over a number of years now, as well as meetings in ALA on
>the same topic.
>
>   We have approximately 20-30,000 students & teachers here
>(headcount) who all have access to our databases.  We have over
>100,000 alumni.  To make free access to all our alumni, we would
>have to spend significantly more on our databases.  This year,
>considering the budget crisis in California, we will be lucky to
>receive the same amount of money for our collections as we did last
>year, not counting for inflation.
>
>   Although that MAY be a marketing tool for the alumni association,
>for $1,000 per year, you would get an e-mail account and access to
>our wonderful databases. Of course at least half of that money would
>have to go to the library for the cost of additional users.  Just an
>idea you could suggest to your alumni association the next time they
>ask you for money.
>
>-- Mitch
>
>
>At 12:45 PM -0400 8/15/08, Bill wrote:
>>Mitch:
>>
>>Your point below about alumni access is well stated.
>>
>>Do any or many vendors offer a discount rate for alumni,
>>to reach a fair balance between financial realities and
>>mandates for enhancing user services
>>
>>I attempted to use my own university library at Columbia
>>as an alumnus, and was not happy to be "locked out"
>>of the e-serials collection.
>>
>>  Bill
>>
>>Bill
>>
>>
>>
>>Mitch Turitz wrote:
>>
>>>Connie,
>>>
>>>   We (San Francisco State University) do not offer online access
>>>to alumni from off-campus.  Anyone is free to come into our
>>>library and use the databases inside the library. That was already
>>>taken into account when we planned for the online access in our
>>>library. Our licenses are based on the number of users we have,
>>>and if we opened the access to alumni, you can be sure the vendors
>>>would want more $ for increasing our potential user base.  And we
>>>are not even talking about the restrictions of some vendors as to
>>>how far away a user can be from the campus to access the database.
>>>That is not a limitation of hardware or software but of some
>>>vendors' imagination.
>>>
>>>   My recommendation would be to direct the alumni to a public
>>>library to give him/her access to their databases.
>>>
>>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>Date:    Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:39:02 -0500
>>>From:    Connie Foster <mailto:connie.foster@WKU.EDU><connie.foster@WKU.EDU>
>>>Subject: Alumni access question
>>>
>>>Do any of you license databases to include alumni, particularly
>>>internationally based alums?
>>>connie foster
>>>

--
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"The most important resource in any library goes home at night."

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