walk-in users & open access

["Heather Morrison" <hmorrison@ola.bc.ca>]

The public and academic libraries I've used and worked at throughout my
lifetime have always allowed people to walk in and use almost all print
materials onsite, without question or authentication.

There are some exceptions, of course, for special collection materials and
that sort of thing.  Patron identity only becomes an issue when
transactions with financial or possible financial consequences occur (e.g.
loaning books, printing, photocopying, interlibrary loans), or when
dealing with heavy demand materials i.e. reserves.

As a number of Liblicense contributors have pointed out, these kinds of
considerations requiring patron identity often come into play in relation
to electronic materials.  Many public libraries, for example, must impose
time limits on computer use, due to heavy demand for their resources.  
The reason is in order to ensure that these scarce resources are shared in
a fair manner; this requires authentication.  Assigning a temporary ID to
a walk-in user is very reasonable under these circumstances.  And most
libraries cannot afford to provide free printing or photocopying.  Then
there are vendors who won't provide walk-in access, and libraries who must
provide these materials to their own clients.

I would agree that current pricing models often result in larger libraries
purchasing limited simultaneous users, which forces them to ensure their
own clients needs are met.  Ironically, it's not unusual for smaller
libraries to be able to afford unlimited access for exactly the same
materials.  The solution, which I'm sure vendors and libraries will figure
out in time, is pricing models which allow large libraries to purchase
unlimited access at realistic prices.

There are probably cultural differences as well;  in some libraries and/or
countries, the norm might be checking in when you arrive at the library,
but in other libraries and/or countries, the norm might be self-help.

However, given the practical reasons why authentication may more often be
necessary for electronic than for print materials, I would like to suggest
that the philosophical arguments for providing open access are exactly the
same regardless of format.

Many libraries would not dream of demanding to know a patron's identity
before the person looked up print material in an open collection.  Why
then, is it so difficult to even imagine the same situation with
electronic resources?

a personal opinion by:

Heather Grace Morrison
Project Coordinator
BC Electronic Library Network
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Email:  hmorrison@ola.bc.ca
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