Colleagues
i am interested to know what provision you make, if any, for former members of staff (principally retired staff) to access university library facilities and specifically online resources.
Here at the University of Kent, former staff may have a library card with borrowing rights, but this does not give access to online resources, although some limited walk-in access may become available under the terms of JISC licences.
Our concern is that as libraries continue to cancel subscriptions and remove hard copy from the shelves in favour of online resources, access to periodical literature in particular is very limited. This is seen to be a particular problem for retired academics who may need to keep up with the literature in their subjects, but also applies to other former staff of the university. While some are able to retain IT accounts by keeping a departmental affiliation, this is not possible for everyone.
I would like to know whether this issue has been discussed in any other institutions, and if so what arrangements you have in place.
Please reply to me off list.
Sarah Carter
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Honorary Fellow
Kent Law School
Eliot College
University of Kent
Canterbury CT2 7NS
Tel: 07764 616 682
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