Hi,

We haven’t had this situation before but a couple of solutions come to mind:

Can you get the researchers to work on computers in the library?  That way you can get them in under the “walk-in” category.  Almost all of our e-resources allow for walk-ins, with the exception of SciFinder Scholar.

If the researchers want to work off-site, maybe you can dub them “temporary employees”.   Your library can probably set up patron accounts for the researchers with proxy access, and supply the researchers with the patron ID number.  Then you could delete those accounts, or just remove proxy access, once the contract has ended.  

If this is going to happen frequently, you could probably set up a special patron type that is monitored periodically to scrub off any individuals who no longer qualify as employees.  Maybe once a semester and in the summer, checked against a list provided by whatever office is monitoring this contract work.

You might also ask the contract employees to sign a written agreement that they will not misuse their proxy account to do research for other projects not related to your university. 

Hope this helps,

Diane Westerfield

Electronic Resources and Serials Librarian

Colorado College, Tutt Library

(719) 389-6661

(719) 389-6082 (fax)

diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Andree Rathemacher
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 8:13 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Question re: access to e-resources by (non)-affiliated researchers

Hello colleagues,

At the University of Rhode Island, we have received requests to access our online journals and databases from researchers in the private sector who are working with our faculty doing grant-sponsored research.

Of course, I have referred to our license agreements for these resources, and some of them are vague in that they define authorized users as "Current members of the faculty and other staff of the Licensee (whether on a permanent, temporary, contract or visiting basis)..."

My question for you is not so much how to interpret such language, but whether anyone has created a policy that address what to do when faced with such requests or innovative solutions, such as asking the administration to grant affiliate status to such researchers.

I have a meeting on this issue on Thursday, so any information I can find by that time would be greatly helpful.

Thank you,

--
Andrée Rathemacher
Associate Professor
Head, Acquisitions
University Libraries, University of Rhode Island
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI  02881-2011
work: (401) 874-5096
fax: (401) 874-4588
google voice: (401) 267-8041
e-mail: andree@uri.edu
e-mail: andree.rathemacher@gmail.com
http://www.uri.edu/library/