Let’s be realistic. You search Google. That’s cool. I do too. It’s a great search engine, which is why Google commanded 53.6% of the searches in the month of July (Yahoo! was second with 19.9%). But consider this scenario:
I need to find sources about marketing to baby boomers. Although I’m sure to find information in ABI/Inform and Business Source Elite, I’ll just go to Google because it’s quicker. So I type in marketing baby boomers articles into the search box. I look through the results and find an article from IngentaConnect titled, “Marketing medium impact: differences between baby boomers…” from the Journal of Marketing Communications. I read the abstract and it sounds right on target. Then I scroll down to find out that I CAN’T actually read the article. Not only that, I’d have to pay $32.42 plus tax to get it.
STOP! HOLD UP!
Put the credit card down. Back up a second. Don’t you think you should check to see if the library has a copy of that article? Check the Journal Holdings List to see if we have a particular journal and how you can get to it.
So I checked the Journal Holdings List. And guess what? The Library has access to the Journal of Marketing Communications via Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO). Not only that, the article I found on Google is included in the database. Now it’s one source down, fourteen to go.
Does it make sense? It’s so easy and we don’t charge you $32.42 for the service.
Hi Kyle,
I think it’s worth campaigning with Google for them to extend their Library Links program to Google (it currently only works in Google Scholar). This would mean that your users would see links back to your holdings from Google, hopefully thereby preventing them from accidentally spending on “duplicate” material that you already hold.
FYI we have fully integrated IngentaConnect with Google’s Library Links program, and also provide our own library holdings matching, to try and redirect users to subscribed content.
All the best,
Charlie
(Ingenta marketing manager)