Downloading and Document Delivery Accessing and using resources

Objectives To review document access via different download options To review document delivery options To understand the pros and cons of different content access options To consider impact different options might have on library users and management

Accessing full-text documents Online access –Reading online –Printing –Saving to disk (floppy disk and hard disk) – delivery –FTP delivery Offline access –Fax delivery –Document delivery services and interlibrary loan

Now we will… Do a short exercise to look at the drawbacks and benefits of some of these methods (20 minutes) Have a (very) brief look at ftp delivery Have a look at the document delivery options (including those available through PERI)

A quick word about ftp… ftp = file transfer protocol Allows the transfer of files from one computer to another over the Internet Sites have addresses like ftp:// (i.e. like - hyper text transfer protocol) May need user name and password or be anonymous Not always very user friendly - requires IT support

Electronic delivery - FTP Pros –efficient transfer mechanism for large files –can be scheduled for delivery out of hours (to maximise efficiency of bandwidth) –can be sent or requested from subito Cons –Technical requirements (either an FTP server or FTP client software) –Training requirements – who will deal with FTP? Is their involvement scalable? Training others –Security considerations

Document delivery options Document delivery as part of PERI –through AJOL –the British Library –'subito Existing inter-library loan facilities

AJOL document delivery African-published journals only Location and availability of articles from Web site (TOCs and abstracts) Photocopy delivery service for all titles Free under PERI, otherwise £5 (US$10) per article Delivery by mail or fax Facilities to open an account with INASP

British Library delivery Very comprehensive coverage20,000 journals Two services available under PERI 1.Inside Web for online searching - search the Tables of Contents of 20,000 titles* - use as current awareness tool 2.Standard Service for document delivery - order articles located through the Inside Web service - articles are ordered online and delivered by airmail

BL: Why two services? Online delivery (through Inside Web) incurs copyright fee from the publisher This can make things variable and potentially expensive (e.g. over $30 per article). Airmail delivery (through Standard Service) carries no copyright fee – fees are fixed at £5.50 per article

Subito delivery Normal and express services Electronic ( , FTP – PDF, TIFF, PS) and paper delivery (mail, fax) Prices (as from ) –4. 00 euros will be charged for an electronic delivery –6.00 euros for a postal delivery –7.00 euros for a fax delivery. PDF file (or other format) size could be an issue NB: PERI funds ONLY normal (4) delivery –

Existing delivery mechanisms Do the current document delivery mechanisms and processes work? Are they cost effective when compared to other options? Familiarity and track record are worth considering

Document delivery considerations Deliveries cost money – who will pay? –Will users of the service pay for the service? How will requests for a document be handled? With electronic systems, who will have access to user names and passwords User training programs? –Librarians and library users Printing costs –Can institution subsidise the costs of printing

Electronic delivery considerations File transfer times and demands Significant barrier to access of information Any electronic delivery method requires the same number of bytes to be transferred Different formats can have a big effect on file size and download times –HTML hyper text markup language –PDF portable document format –TIFF tag(ged) image file format –EPS encapsulated postscript –ARIEL

Delivery alternatives Full-text content online –Many of the resources being delivered may be available online as one of the full-text packages –Check if the article/resource in question is available online as part of another access deal –Some organisations have been known to pay for the same information twice

Alternatives cont… Free resources online There is a wealth of online free materials available on the Internet Good starting place: – Do people have a particularly good free resource that they would recommend?

Summary Document delivery options are expanding Each option has advantages and disadvantages Cost considerations vs. technical facilities and abilities Are there alternatives to document delivery? Because of the cost variations, PERI has to be prescriptive about the services it can support

Thank you Any questions?