 |
 |
Hello all I've kept out of this discussion until now, but I'll put in my tuppence worth. Janine came up to Glasgow in March and gave Jac Lister (Strathclyde Uni) and myself a demo of the service. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she told us the price (£5500 pa for on-campus access only, more for off-campus); it was particularly disappointing because Janine claims to have been recruited because of her knowledge of the HE sector and how it works. When I'd gone away and recovered, I had a further look at the database and was alarmed at the poor quality of the metadata. There seemed to have been no attempt to, for example, link it to the good journal indexing work done over many years by the British Architectural Library. As information professionals, I think it's our job to point these things out - nobody else will. I agree with Daphne, we need to make our feelings politely but firmly clear. The prices being demanded are bonkers. To me, the database is worth no more than £100 per year absolute max. And there's a perfectly good, free alternative in the form of architecture.com - OK, you have to go to the library shelves to find the articles, but it covers hundreds of journals. Sorry if I'm causing offence here, but this is one ride I'm not going to be taken on... David David Buri Academic Liaison Librarian Glasgow School of Art 167 Renfrew Street Glasgow G3 6RQ Scotland 0141 353 4701 Email: [log in to unmask] The Glasgow School of Art is a charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC012490.