Electronic reserves via web

[Colleen Bell]

Here at Eastern Oregon State College, we've recently started discussing
this particular subject, prompted by a posting on the OFFCAMP list.

So far, we've discussed the feasibility in terms of hardware/software (we
already have what we'll need, including a colour scanner, OCR software, and
Adobe Acrobat). We're concerned about the resources in terms of people
(scanning the documents, setting up the Web/Gopher access, etc.).

We're also concerned about copyright issues. Does this fall under fair use
if we limit access to students, staff and faculty of our college? Do we
need to limit access? What if we have a paper copy on reserve as well? What
about our users who still only have text access (for documents stored as
graphics)?

These are the questions that have come out of a 20-minute discussion; I'm
sure there are more that we haven't yet thought of. Our plans at this time
are to go ahead and develop a prototype, and test the demand/need, as well
as the feasibility of doing this on an ongoing basis. We've just recently
implemented our Web server, and are full of ideas and possibilities for its
development; this is just one of them, but we feel it's necessary to pursue
in light of the large number of off-campus students we serve.

I'd be interested in hearing other reactions to this posting. I think it's
a very timely topic.

At 3:00 PM 1/18/96, Emily R Hurn wrote:
>Here at UMass, we are beginning to explore methods of delivering
>electronic reserve materials.  Has anyone used (or considered using) a
>web server to do this?  It would seem to have the advantage of not being
>platform-specific, and, compared to some other methods, relatively easy
>in terms of getting the documents ready.  I'd be interested in hearing
>thoughts on the pros and cons of this, and especially any major
>drawbacks that haven't yet hit us between the eyes.  If anyone is using
>other ways of mounting electronic reserves, I'd be interested in your
>comments on those, too.

Colleen Bell, Systems Librarian                 Email: cbell at eosc.osshe.edu
Eastern Oregon State College                    Voice: (541) 962-3523
1410 "L" Avenue                                   Fax: (541) 962-3335
La Grande, OR  97850-2899

Come visit our library at http://lib-www.eosc.osshe.edu/