Thursday, November 1, 2007

Personal Library

I'm not sure what to make of this resource. I'm talking about Questia, what appears a subscription-based online library which you can access via one of several personal subscription plans including the low annual price of $99.95 per year. It gets a big zero in the science resources column, but I'm not sure how the humanities journal titles stand up.

This is from the "about" section for librarians-

"Although the agreements licensing the content on Questia from publishers prohibits us from selling directly to libraries, Questia is a great resource for librarians who routinely assist undergraduate students in their research efforts to recommend to their students."

This is from the "about" section for publishers-

"When students borrow a library book or photocopy pages directly from texts, you lose an opportunity for revenue. The Questia business model captures that opportunity. Students and other users are able to search the Questia collection at no charge, but they cannot access a single page without paying a subscription fee. Publishers receive revenue from these subscription fees each time a student views a page of one of your works."

A community college librarian on the ERIL-L asked if anyone had any experience with providing individual Questia accounts to students... Isn't that what EZ Proxy is for?

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