[Eril-l] Free access to publisher databases and a question

[Amy Lynn Fry]

How are you dealing with these free resources that will be yanked off after things are normal?
We are adding them to our databases a-z list, selecting them in our knowledgebase, and going to load MARC records for them.

Are you setting up access for them just like you would for a subscribed product?
Yes, and additionally we are a) adding a note about them being temporary because of the pandemic b) giving them special icons in our databases list (a clock and a virus) c) listing them in a special box on a particular LibGuide that is being highlighted in all our pandemic communications (our ebooks libguide) in addition to having them in the regular spots. You can see them so far here: https://libguides.bgsu.edu/ebooks. We are also asking Serials Solutions to push an extra MARC record load to us next week.

If yes, what is your reasoning behind that and what is your workflow?
We don't have enough stuff in the best of times, and with our print collection completely out of commission we need more stuff. Yes it is a ton of work right now and it will be a lot of work to take down, but our staff are working from home and need projects anyway. Most of these are high-quality resources from vendors we already get other resources from, so we don't have to set them up with our proxy server or worry that the interfaces will not work. Also, this is the rest of the semester. Months. If it was for three weeks it might not be worth it, but for the last two months of the semester it definitely is.

We have a Google form we use for all our e-resources workflows https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvpc3itmkRan1jrMD0uVdiXTolNg-_JqRea4874aEl0xLF9A/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1. We have a Sharepoint site for my department (collections & technical services), so we are noting each new collection on a "tasks" list in that tool. A couple of us (including one other librarian I recruited to help) are making public-facing records, and the staff member who works in the knowledgebase is selecting the content in the knowledgebase. We are using the chat feature in Microsoft Teams to ask each other questions as we go through the list.

Hopefully all of this just doesn't cause massive headaches down the line, but we're keeping pretty good records so hopefully we can untangle everything later.

Amy Fry
Associate Professor, E-resources Librarian
Jerome Library
Bowling Green, OH 43403
afry at bgsu.edu<mailto:afry at bgsu.edu>
email is the best way to reach me

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Bhatt, Anjana
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 11:46 AM
To: eril-l <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Eril-l] Free access to publisher databases and a question

Hello everyone.. although it is amazing to see the collections publishers are willing to or have opened to the subscribers, I am just wondering what is the best way for making them available to students and faculty.  So far, I have seen more than 40 to 60 new collections opened up.

As of now, we are sharing the information with our research and subject librarians and they in turn are adding them to their subject LIBGuides and the COVID 2019 guide and letting their faculty know about them.  So far, we have not added/enabled them to our holding profiles in discovery layer or set up online access via our Database locator (proxy, authentication) etc.  or downloaded MARC records etc.

The reasoning behind this decision is that all this content is free for a limited time and it is not to wise to add them and maintain them and set up reminders in place to remove them when they are gone.  In this time of uncertainty, there may not be enough people available for troubleshooting, plus, in my opinion it creates so much work for the staff members as well.

My question to you are:

How are you dealing with these free resources that will be yanked off after things are normal?

Are you setting up access for them just like you would for a subscribed product?

If yes, what is your reasoning behind that and what is your workflow?

Thanks everyone.

Anjana

Thanks & Regards.
AB

Anjana  H. Bhatt
MSIRM, MLIS, MA (English)
University Librarian (Electronic Resources)
William G. Bradshaw Library. Office Location: Library West 225L
Florida Gulf Coast University
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