Hi Brandy,

We set ours up a while ago and find that it has its strengths and drawbacks.

For those who know about Google Scholar, it works fairly well. I think it opens up our collection to people who might not otherwise find our resources.  However, first they have to know about Google Scholar, not just plain old Google. Then, if they are not on-campus and IP recognized, they need to know to go into the preferences to indicate that they are affiliated with us. That is a whole education/training issue that we have struggled with.

The main drawback I've seen is that they do often get to a pay-per-view page and don't realize at that point that ILL is their best option. They either pay or go away dissatisfied when they could have gotten that article from us for free in a couple of days but there is no good way in Google Scholar to make that obvious.

Another major problem has been with JSTOR databases. Our patrons know that we subscribe to JSTOR and expect that when they are searching Google Scholar they will see that full-text link from JSTOR articles. What they don't realize is that we subscribe to only some of the collections in JSTOR and if they click on a link to an article in a collection that we don't have we are back to the same problem we have with the pay-per-view articles, no good way to get them to ILL, plus added dissatisfaction because they know we subscribe to JSTOR.

Those drawbacks aside, I still think that it is a great service and promotes our resources well. Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to share screen shots or a login in with you if you would like to contact me offlist.

Pamela Contakos
Librarian for Digital Collections & Electronic Resources
The Academic Resource Exchange
SIT Study Abroad/SIT Graduate Institute

Donald B. Watt Library
PO Box 676, 1 Kipling Rd.
Brattleboro, VT 05302

Phone: (802)258-3356
pamela.contakos@sit.edu
www.sit.edu/library

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of jianxin9
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:18 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] 360 link--Google Scholar

I was curious to hear from people who have set this up in 360 link.  We are
thinking about doing it, but were concerned that it might take our patrons
to pay-per-view article sites.  For those that have set this up, what have
your experiences been?  I was also hoping someone might provide a generic
login/pw where we could look and see what happens when a patron is taken the
results page with a google scholar link.

Brandy Klug, M.L.S., M.S.Ed.

E-Resources Librarian

Texas Woman's University Library

P.O. Box 425528

Denton, TX 76204

Phone: 940-898-3776

Cell: 940-391-3972

Fax: 940-898-3809

*http://twulibraryhelp.blogspot.com/*