Re: Patron Access to Electronic Journals Sue Wiegand 22 Jul 2008 17:02 UTC
Hi, Jaime, This is an interesting question. Most people seem to be finding what they want on an article-level basis from the online indexing databases, especially if they only want full-text and it's included or linked through a link resolver, as you mention, or other linking arrangements (sometimes publishers or aggregators have agreed to link each others' full-text, like JSTOR and Project Muse, or EBSCOhost and some publishers. You have to ask what linking arrangements are available in your various interfaces, and enable it.) Also, some libraries have some kind of subject guide web pages that they produce themselves, directing patrons to good databases or journals for the subjects they want; some also have tutorials. Some academic libraries rely on faculty recommendations to their students. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to promote email alerts and the availability of RSS feeds so that people get current awareness notification of new issues as they come out; sometimes I forward parts of alerts I get to faculty that I know are interested, but a more automated way would obviously be less labor-intensive and better for us. (They used to call this Selective Dissemination of Information, or SDI, just to make it easy to remember! ;) Speaking of labor intensive, some law libraries, for instance, used to route photocopies to all law faculty that included tables of contents from law journals as they were published.) I also like to work with faculty on collaborative collection development for our print and continuing resources, not only to promote email alerts/RSS, but to make them more aware of what we have, so they pass it on to their students. I tell them what the highly recommended titles are, and they tell me which ones they keep up with--there's usually a lot of overlap, needless to say. I'd like to do departmental subject guide/portal web pages of some kind, too, perhaps through a wiki, for the students--this is kind of in progress right now. When I'm doing my Reference shifts, or library instruction, I also like to recommend good journals to students on their topics as I'm showing them the databases (and how they can check "peer-reviewed" and what it means.) I've thought about doing "featured" journals in the library newsletter or home page or some other way, too. Some libraries put out newly arrived periodicals in a separate section and promote that, but as we're getting away from print, you'd almost have to add some table tents or posters or something in the computer areas, with links in the Library News on the library home page also. These are only some of the ideas I've come up with so far--I don't think this is a question we've really grappled with as we move away from print, but probably should, so thanks for bringing it up. I hope it's not More Than You Ever Wanted to Know! Sue Hammond, Jaime wrote: > Hello all, > > The E-Only Access question brought another question to my mind- if you > are switching to mainly electronic versions, how are your patrons > finding and accessing the journals? > > My main question is this- is there another (free) way besides a link > resolver? > > Thank you, > > Jaime Hammond > > > > Jaime Hammond, MLS > Reference/Serials Librarian > Max R. Traurig LRC Library > Naugatuck Valley Community College > 750 Chase Parkway > Waterbury, CT 06708-3089 > Phone: (203) 575-8199 > E-mail: jhammond@nvcc.commnet.edu <mailto:jhammond@nvcc.commnet.edu> > Visit the library blog at: http://nvcclib.blogspot.com > > > -- Sue Wiegand Periodicals Librarian 123 Cushwa-Leighton Library Saint Mary’s College Notre Dame, IN 46556 574 284-4789 swiegand@saintmarys.edu <mailto:swiegand@saintmarys.edu>