Finding the Right Fit for Article Delivery: Using Resource Sharing Technology to Provide Enhanced Access

Abstract

Electronic subscriptions occupy an ever increasing majority of budgets and prevent libraries from expanding services in other areas. There are few attractive options for libraries who want to provide access to research materials to users in a way that is cost effective and simple for users. Libraries are caught between subscriptions to single journals, large packages, or article-level purchasing that is either not instant or must allow access to everyone, which can quickly become costly. The IDS Article Gateway platform, developed by the IDS Project and SUNY Polytechnic Institute Library, uses resource-sharing technology and workflows to deliver fast or instant access to research material to users in a way that involves little or no staff time and removes as many barriers to user access as possible. Where resource sharing has typically sought to deliver articles in one to two days, libraries using Article Gateway deliver articles either within a few minutes or a few hours.