In message <memo.20040802160400.2096D@aovq45> on Mon, 2 Aug 2004, Alan
Pritchard <[log in to unmask]> wrote
>> £3 million national framework for UK research information announced
>>
>> Research Libraries Network promises UK researchers 'joined-up' services
>
><fx: leaps on hobbyhorse>
>Having looked at the information on this, although it talks about 'the
>information needs of researchers', it does seem exclusively concerned
>with corporate researchers, i.e. researchers who are active members of
>universities.
Alan and others -
I was interested to see this message, as I share your concerns. Now that
so much information is available electronically, it is extremely
frustrating to find that it is restricted to those in academic
institutions which pay for site licences and that there is no reasonable
means of access for individual researchers who may require access just
for a short time while working on a specific project.
Many databases are available free to those who are willing and able to
travel to the BL in London, but their licence terms exclude access from
anywhere except the BL reading rooms. This does seem discriminatory, and
the travel cost we have to pay to use these services benefits only the
railway companies, besides our contributing to the congestion in the
reading rooms. Even when we go there, they block us from emailing search
results to ourselves, so that we are reduced to making notes with pencil
and paper!
As this is a CILIP list, another specific example is that we can search
LISA if we visit CILIP, but not remotely. They offer to do searches for
us, using staff time which we pay for in our subscriptions, though we
could perfectly well do them for ourselves; this would not only be
cheaper but more effective, as it would allow interaction and
modification of searches according to what is found.
Presumably most of these problems arise from commercial and licensing
considerations, but I wish that some alternative models might be found.
Would it cost CILIP a lot more to pay for a LISA licence that gave
remote access to all its members, for example? Could the BL negotiate a
deal that gave remote access to electronic databases to its ticket
holders - if necessary for a modest fee, perhaps with different rates
depending on usage, or pay-as-you-go?
Leonard Will
--
Willpower Information (Partners: Dr Leonard D Will, Sheena E Will)
Information Management Consultants Tel: +44 (0)20 8372 0092
27 Calshot Way, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 7BQ, UK. Fax: +44 (0)870 051 7276
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