One of the nice things about Google taking over the Newsgroup and archives several years ago is that I can subscribe to them with an RSS feed and consume them along with the rest of my daily updates. One of the ones I subscribe to is the local forsale newsgroup, and this AM I noticed the following posting:
I’m a U of A alumnus in Calgary and I need to do some online library research at the U of C for the next month. I need to borrow a UofC library card. No books will be taken out. Any charges guaranteed covered. Best offer.
Of course it’s a violation of our licenses and the Terms of Service each student signs to share their ID numbers. I responded in the newsgroup:
Rather than enticing a current student to break his/her terms of service re: their ID card, why not come to campus – you can use any of our databases w/o authorization as a walk-in user. Did you know that Calgary Public Library also offers a pretty good suite of online databases? http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/elibrary/
Hope this helps, your friendly neighborhood Newsgroup-reading librarian,
Paul
Wonder if he’ll bother to respond? Wonder if the rest of the group will flame me? How’s that for being ubiquitous? 😉
Comments
2 Responses to “Taking a cue from Brian”
Hey Paul,
This story really struck a nerve with me! I deal with this issue all the time and I’m glad to hear someone else is trying to dispel some crazy thinking out there too. Depending on the time of year, it could be as much as every day that I have to explain how database access works.
I used to think that kids just traded ID’s to drink underage but it turns out that lots of students are trading library cards to borrow books and access the databases from home. Which begs the question, when did information become harder to get than alcohol and what does that say about our society (and profession)?
In terms of database access, it’s insane how intense the desire is to find a way to get around the system! I’ve even had employees from local government departments and non-profit organizers tell me that they have their work pay their tuition for a night class just so they can get access to the library databases. I never really know what to say because I’m both flattered and bothered all at the same time.
The phone calls and emails we were getting (and still get) about public wanting to use our databases got to be so much that I had to write an entire webpage to explain things (the staff too needed some clarification)… http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/yclibrary/pages/db_public.php
Maybe you should consider something similar for your institution…
Laurie
Good idea Laurie, I like that page. We’re getting ready to launch the Lois Hole Campus Alberta Digital Library next month, which should provide much better database access to all participating institutions in the Province, and any citizen can use them, but still only when on site – it’d be just awesome to be able to provide remote database access to all our people!