Libraries pay to subscribe to databases and other information resources for their users. Some pay more and acquire more than others. For example if you are the lucky owner of a Milwaukee Public Library Card you get tons more than…well really I think it is fair to say any other city in Wisconsin. Academic libraries are the serious bomb of database licenses, if you are taking a college class you can be in really good shape for access. However if you have no idea you now get for example free Consumer Reports or how to get to it than there you are stuck like most of us.
It is unnerving to think of companies grabbing and owning information. It reminds me of a company trying to own a patent to a gene or water or something. Some information, like government sponsored research is paid for by all and yet there are websites ready to convince you that you will have to pay them to get to free government research. I digress.
This is a site to direct librarians on how to negotiate the best deal for a license: http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml
Jane Pearlmutter has this to say,
“When licensing online resources, consider joining a consortium. A consortium is basically a buying club, which may include libraries within your school district or state. The most obvious benefit of consortial licensing is, of course, the discounts, which can be quite deep.
How deep? Here’s an example from my state. As a result of consortial licensing, Wisconsin’s libraries, schools, colleges, and other Internet service providers have access to BadgerLink, a full-text database of 4,000 magazines and journals, 28 national and regional newspapers, 13 state newspapers, 1,000 health pamphlets, and several other databases. Contracts with the vendors of the magazine indexes EBSCOHost and UMI’s ProQuest Direct allow the state to offer this wide range of resources to all of these information agencies. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has estimated that the cost of providing these resources to schools and libraries on an individual (rather than a group) basis would be $50 million. How much does the consortium pay? $2.1 million! That’s more than a 95-percent savings. At last count, 17 states were providing similar services. ” Library Journal Source
Ask your local librarian what and how you get with your card/code from home or any computer.
