[WikiEN-l] JSTOR and free external links

[phoebe ayers]

On 9/11/07, Guettarda <guettarda at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 9/11/07, John Lee <johnleemk at gmail.com> wrote:
> <snipped>
> It isn't an either-or situation.  If there's a choice between linking to a
> version on JSTOR and a version that's freely available, then definitely,
> go
> with the free version (although, of course, "free" versions might be
> things
> that people have uploaded without permission, which means they are likely
> to
> disappear).  But if the choice is between JSTOR and no link, then it's
> better to provide a link available to SOME people, rather than no link at
> all.  Of course, it may be preferable to link to a freely available
> abstract, rather than JSTOR (which, sadly, does not allow ANY access to
> people who are not subscribed).
>
> It isn't true, by the way, to say that JSTOR access is available only from
> libraries.  In my experience, it's available to any computer with a campus
> IP, and often to people associated with the universities who are not
> physically on campus (for example, if I log in to the library's web page I
> can access JSTOR articles from wherever I am).
>
> That said, I wouldn't mind seeing a change in {{Cite journal}} to allow a
> separate link to the abstract (if, for example, a free abstract is
> available
> is one place, and a non-free full-text version is available elsewhere.


Incidentally... that campus access is almost certainly a service brought to
you and paid for by your library. Academic libraries sign licensing
agreements with major publishers such as JSTOR asking for IP access, so that
people with a campus IP or who can get to one via a proxy server or VPN or
similar can access library content. It's almost always a headache to
negotiate those contracts, so if you like the service you should tell your
librarians so :)

Re: abstracts; a link would be great; though if you have campus access it is
sometimes difficult to tell what is visible because a library's paid for it
and what is truly free.

-- phoebe