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- Ebooks and electronic journals are ordered just like their print counterparts (See acq training), but don't require any item or shelf prep work, hence there is no location in Alma for eresources. Individual title purchases may start with patron requests or the work of selectors. New requests are tracked in the Eresources group using ERIN, a workflow managing tool.
- In most cases, electronic content lives at the vendor/publisher site, and we essentially lease access to that content via licenses, negotiated in the eresources unit.
- Generally speaking we purchase Harvard-wide electronic access - authenticated use is via ip address. Off campus access goes through the proxy server, for which users must use Harvard credentials (e.g., Harvard Key). Alma facilitates linking via the proxy server so that anyone using Hollis from any location can access eresources if they have a Harvard Key (no more urns/ernie). A few resources require users to create an additional user account (e.g., WSJ, Financial Times).
- There are many different purchasing models for eresources: like print materials, we create one-time or continuous orders, depending on how the resource is being sold to us. In the case of ebooks, there are many different purchasing and access models. Some publishers sell individual books (often purchased via Coutts or YBP), others only sell packages of ebooks which are purchased directly from the publisher. Some publishers offer frontlists, lists of books that they expect to publish in a given year. In the Community Zone, these will appear as Collections.
- Once purchased and available on the publisher site, books and journals must be activated in Alma for users to be able to find them in Hollis. There are multiple ways to activate eresources in Alma, we would like to emphasize using the task list for this process.
- Disclaimer: there are many ways to accomplish the same task in Alma. Workflows for many of these tasks are still being thought out. When in doubt about anything, ask your manager or eresources staff.
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