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I agree, this sounds interesting. We seem to be going the other way in that we were vetting all inter-library loan requests to see if they were available for free electronically before sending off the request. Now, we don't have the staff resources to be able to do this, so we are no longer checking for free resources. However, Via SFX and our A-Z list we do provide access to some free resources including DOAJ. We then use MarcIt to upload all new & changed records from SFX onto our OPAC on a monthly basis. Any papers that go into our institutional repository are not accessed through our OPAC. I also am not aware of any policies or strategies for looking at or dealing with free e-resources in a consistent way. Regards Nicette Ammar Content Lifecycle Manager Content and Development (308) The Library Univeristy of Plymouth Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: 01752 587142 [log in to unmask] Hi Sarah, Sounds like a really interesting project on a topic I'd not given a great deal of thought to. We do have access to a number of free resources, namely the contents of DOAJ and some free JISC Collections resources. DOAJ journals are available through our link resolver, and we have a link to it on our A to Z list of resources. We do the same with free JISC Collections resources and Intute. We don't have any electronic resources listed on our OPAC at all, and we just don't have the time or resources to start putting DOAJ content on the OPAC. Plus the content is forever changing! We also provide access to a number of other free websites. These are presented in an online reference library, again on the library website. Of course, for reports/papers produced by the university, we use our institutional repository! Again, these items don't go on the OPAC. As far as I know we don't have a strategy as such as far as I'm aware, but I'm always keen to make sure that we do provide access to quality free resources - they provide a useful augmentation to our collection and can address gaps in our collection that we otherwise may not be able to fill. Hope this helps! Best wishes, Sarah Sarah Taylor Electronic Resources Librarian Library University of Bolton Deane Road Bolton BL3 5AB 01204 903099 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Halliday Sent: 10 November 2009 09:29 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [LIS-E-RESOURCES] Free e-content - what do you do? Hello At the University of Hertfordshire we're undertaking a project to make available as much 'free' e-content as possible to our users. We're really interested in finding out what other institutions do and would be very grateful if you could reply to any or all of the following questions (and add any other comments): Do you put records for free e-content (such as reports, free to access e- books, websites) in your OPAC? If not, how do you make this content available to your users? What strategy do you use to determine what free content you will make available to your users? How do you capture the content? If you add records for free content to your OPAC, do you only add items that have Marc records, or do you create records? If you create records, what tools and methodology do you use? Do you use a link checker, and if so, which one and how do you rate it? Does anyone have experience of using an open source link checker? Are you aware of any UK or international forums where free content capture is discussed, any JISC or SCONUL initiatives addressing this, and any relevant conferences/events featuring this? I'll happily summarise responses for the list! Many thanks, Sarah Halliday Assistant Knowledge Consultant (Information Management) Information Hertfordshire, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts. AL10 9AB email: [log in to unmask] / phone: 01707 285769 lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn