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Further to this there is a development underway to assist access for
those doing research related to NHS Patient Care. Details here
http://www.rdforum.nhs.uk/passport/passport_intro.htm . Apparently this
will qualify people for an NHS England Athens account.
I recently stumbled across the TV explanation for access and found it
very helpful one. You can draw allsorts of parallels when you think it
through.
Cheers
Alan
Alan Fricker
Knowledge & Library Service Manager
Newham University Hospital NHS Trust
www.newlib.demon.co.uk
Tel: 020 7363 8016
Check out the new Well @ Work collection - books and DVDs to support a
healthier work and home life
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paula Younger
Sent: 03 October 2007 09:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Athens accounts for independent researchers?
As someone who's worked in the NHS and the MoD, I can vouch for the fact
other parts of the public sector suffer just as much as individuals. I
sometimes think a lot of the big publishers in particular are only
interested in academic institutions with mega-budgets. I also get
exasperated with a lot of the pricing models, many of which just look at
how many people can access ejournals, not how many people do/concurrent
users. For a lot of these collections you are looking at close to 6
figures every single year, with no guarantee of access in perpetuity, so
way out of the league of most small libraries.
Athens access does depend on whether the institution has bought the
journal or collection concerned. Our users potentially have 3 or 4
different Athens accounts, depending on whether they are NHS,
university, or studying elsewhere. The simplest way I've found to
explain it is that it's like cable TV channels - you won't be able to
access Sky Sports Channels 3-10 (or whatever the numbers are) if you've
only bought the basic package, and you can't access BT 1571 if your
phone is provided by Virgin Media.
If anyone has a better explanation to pass on to stressed nurses and
medical students who are mystified by why it's all so complicated, I'd
love to see it! No wonder they all head for Google (without realising
that a lot of what they can see is because they're using a particular
network...)
Finally some publishers have seen the light of day and some libraries
are able to offer limited walk-in access to their online collections
(though you often then come up against the mighty firewalls of your
local IT department who won't let anyone who isn't a staff
member/affiliated student get access to their computers). I don't know
if this is still the same, but a few years ago when I visited America at
the universities in that particular state anyone could just walk in off
the street and use their IT access, so different from here. (It was
after 9/11 when I visited, but only just.)
I'm very amused to hear that a lot of publishers at Online deny imposing
these restrictions - were these the sales reps or the people who
actually write the licences making this claim?! Most sample licences
would show you that the majority of publishers DO restrict their online
access, libraries aren't making it up!
One day, this will all be seamless....
Paula Younger
Electronic Resources Librarian
Exeter Health Library
Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation Trust
Peninsula Medical School Building
Barrack Road
Exeter
EX2 5DW
Tel: 01392 406729
Fax: 01392 406728
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan Pritchard
Sent: 02 October 2007 19:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Athens accounts for independent researchers?
Hi Annika,
Interested to see your post. I thought that I was the only one who had
this problem. As a bibliographer (and ex-librarian) with no affiliation
to an academic institution (although I have worked in one in the past),
I find the move to electronic journals and abstracting & indexing
services very difficult. I have been banging on about this 'academic
exclusion' for a while now. It seems to fly in the face of librarians'
traditional freedom of access and also the way in which work patterns
are moving.
If you look at the T&Cs of most libraries for external users, they
specifically exclude online services from the material that a visitor
may use, citing the terms imposed by the providers of such services. I
had some discussions with vendors at an Online exhibition a few years
ago and several of them denied that they imposed any such conditions.
Unfortunately I have not had time to investigate this any further.
I think also that the problem with Athens accounts may be that the
institution must subscribe to the journal in question (not sure about
this), so it would not be much use going to my local university and
expecting to be able to look at a journal such as Isis.
We need not just a SOA (although I am fascinated to see such a group
exists), but a ROA (Researchers Outside Academia) with access to an
'Open University' that could subscribe to a lot of material and which
could make it available (via subscription) to us Independents.
My own area of study is exceptionally difficult since it spans so many
academic disciplines.
Best wishes
Alan Pritchard MPhil FCLIP MBCS
ALCHEMY: a bibliography of English-language writings 2nd (Internet)
edition at http://www.alchemy-bibliography.co.uk
On 10/2/07, annika coughlin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I was wondering if it is possible for freelance researchers to be able
> to have an Athens account at their nearest university library?
>
> As librarians would you allow someone to open an Athens account who
> isn't a student but who has verification from a current member of
> staff? (a letter and/or signature?)
>
> Would you allow an independent researcher who is an Alumnus to have an
> Athens account?
>
> Or is Athens purely for current staff and students?
>
> I represent Sociologists Outside Academia for the British Sociological
> Association. It is a huge problem for freelancers to be able to write
> research proposals etc as they are at a disadvantage when it comes to
> accessing journals. The BSA has made progress by working with SAGE to
> allow all members access to their complete collection. This is great
> news for independent workers. But researchers need more then the works
> published by SAGE.
>
> thanks
>
> Annika
>
> http://www.britsoc.co.uk/specialisms/soa
>
--
Best wishes
Alan Pritchard MPhil FCLIP MBCS
Tel: +44 (0)1202 417477
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