Free or not free? That is the Question: Discovery and access is the answer!

Abstract

The gateways to discovery of the Open Electronic Resources at the Library of Congress are through the Online Public Assess Catalog (OPAC) https://catalog.loc.gov for the Library’s digital collections that are not rights restricted and the Electronic Resource Online Catalog (EROC) https://eresources.loc.gov for electronic resources from external digitized collections. Recommending librarians select the Library’s collections for digitization and e-databases, e-books, and e-journals from external sources using criteria such as research value, ease of searching and “free access” to the resources, but other electronic resources are selected that must be used onsite only. Navigating the Library’s digital collections is explored with tips on using the metadata in the online display for retrieval and downloading freely accessible resources. Also, the subject as well as area studies categorization schemes are highlighted for best practices to deliver the maximum access to digital content on specific topics.

Thousands of electronic books, periodicals and newspapers that are rights restricted have been ingested into a platform called Stacks that is accessible only in certain research centers. Ways of discovering the holdings of the journals and newspaper content in Stacks is explored using the OPAC holdings records.

The new Emerging Nations Article Exchange Program is highlighted with access to free scanned articles from the Library’s books and periodicals for qualifying countries.

Keywords: e-resources. online, freely accessible. electronic databases, online retrieval