-*- A Side Trip from Website Design -*-

Just heard how frustrated a patron was that he could not find how to access Consumer Reports within our site. While we still have the database flyers around, it did not help for the person sitting at home on the computer...... I ran usage of the Business Source Premier database for all of last year and found it is primarily used for accessing both Consumer Reports and Consumer Reports Buying Guide! Wow! So here's some information on access:

*-* yes its available fulltext within both Fulltext Academic Search Premier and Business Source Premier but with a 3 month embargo (per the publisher's decision, not ours)
-*- we will continue to work on better access for patrons to find this information. We welcome your ideas and input about how best to present this information
*-* we will provide a link within the catalog so that if you are searching Consumer Reports you will link into the database. It could be confusing, however, in that you just end up on the Business Source Premier homepage. It does not say anything about Consumer Reports unless we can build a mini-flashy-movie that says "consumer reports here" (just kidding).
-*- It's also available in Newspapers, Magazines & Newswires, Infotrac with the same 3 month embargo altho they don't say that.........

We could also build a page on the website that says "how to search for journals within databases" and provide a link to Gold Rush. Their free component allows you to search for a journal title and find out which libraries carry paper subscriptions AND where it's indexed both fulltext and citation only. While it's klunky to have to use this resource and then move to our databases, its at least a pointer. There are products out there that will do this automatically for us (yes, you read between the lines.....its going to cost $$$ and so budget decisions would need to be made).

Improvements are in the air - yr input on how best to deploy are welcome!