Including perpetual access in an electronic resource agreement is only the beginning. Many issues stand in the way of seamless ongoing access and challenge traditional definitions of “perpetual.” Librarians and vendors often fail to properly track the content to which an institution is entitled after a subscription has lapsed. New eBook editions complicate access to previous editions. Multimedia resources may rely on quickly outdated software, so that they become unusable even if the content still has value.
The presenter will discuss these challenges facing perpetual access to electronic journals, books, and multimedia resources, as well as strategies for working through them. This talk challenges the notion that there is a simple dichotomy between leased and owned materials.
