Experiences realized by Albertsons Library staff in documenting post-cancellation perpetual access offers practical solutions for implementing a 'controlled approach' to recordkeeping and workflow which focuses on the 'longer run' large purchase deals and packages. While undoubtedly some perpetual access e-journal content may well 'slip through the cracks', on-going access to highly used and/or expensive purchases would be chronicled.
In a 2014 article entitled "Providing Perpetual Access: Results of a Survey", author Sarah Glasser identified 'four top challenges' encountered in efforts to provide post-cancellation perpetual access for e-journal content. These included the "extensive work involved, documentation shortfalls, dealing with transferred titles, and license issues". (Glasser 2014, p.150)
Albertsons Library embarked on a practical effort this past year to document post-cancellation perpetual access for those ejournal titles that had been or were part of large package purchases. It was felt there would be more success to work with vendors and publishers from whom we had purchased content over long periods of time. Documenting content to which we were entitled was challenging, and hampered by limits to accounting records maintained at the Library and University; a change in the Library's ILS system; limited or incomplete access to 3rd party subscription agent order and payment records; and changes or the demise of consortia. Decisions were made to 'work with the known' more recent electronic journal content purchased, and to work backwards from there, using the interest and talents of a graduate MLIS student employed elsewhere in Library. A procedure for creating standardized notation of perpetual access scope by title was devised for use in the ILS cataloging module as well as the Library's ERMS system.
This proposed program at the NASIG conference in Atlanta in June 2018 would provide an opportunity to offer examples of practical workflows and procedures pertaining to documentation of perpetual access while sharing insight into the 'pitfalls' and 'dead-ends' encountered for finding the needed information to claim ongoing access to these electronic resources.
