Database access for graduates of higher education institutions

["Stefan Kramer" <SKramer@fielding.edu>]

Greetings,

I'm interested in learning of any arrangements that universities/
colleges/ etc. have made to provide access to licensed online databases to
their graduates -- by which I mean those who have really "left," not those
who reenrolled in another program/degree and are thus again currently
enrolled students in another program, or those who became employees of the
institution they graduated from.  Whether you have succeeded or failed in
making such arrangements, I'd be interested in:

* how did you go about gauging graduates' needs/desires for access to such
resources?  Which groups of your institution (e.g., library
administration, legal counsel, alumni association, etc.) were involved in
that assessment?

* who was/were the vendor(s) and product(s) you made, or considered
making, available to graduates?

* did vendors simply agree to allow access for graduates, as long as
authenticated, at no add'l. cost (the RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MUSE
SUBSCRIBERS at http://muse.jhu.edu/proj_descrip/rights.html is the first
place were I have seen alumni access authorized explicitly.), or did they
(want to) charge for this additional userbase?  If the latter, was the
discussed/arranged pricing feasible/acceptable?  What was it based on?

* did you (attempt to) arrange access for all graduates, or a subset of
graduates, such as all members of an alumni association, a "Friends of the
Library" type of body, or members of a group of graduates explicitly
created for this purpose?

* are you charging graduates for the provision of such resources, assuming
the vendor is charging your institution?  If so, did this raise additional
issues with the vendors, and are you charging exactly what it costs your
institution, or less, or more?

There are probably other things to be interested in as well, but this is a
start ... please send responses directly to me (skramer@fielding.edu), and
I'll summarize for the list.

Thank you in advance for any insights and information on this subject!


--
 Stefan Kramer
 Director of Library Services
 Fielding Graduate Institute
 2112 Santa Barbara St.
 Santa Barbara, CA 93105, USA
 skramer@fielding.edu
 http://www.fielding.edu/library