"Boy, what a wonderful reply, congrats. --judy"

  I disagree.  It was a terrible and somewhat infuriating answer.  And I note that neither of you replied to my response to it.
   
  This is ridiculous.  You are annoying and making life difficult for the very people who are your future -- new librarians.  An answer like, "we don't have the staff to handle that many subscribers" might be believable.  The knee-jerk "it's illegal, go away" does not make any friends.  I have heard from other members of AUTOCAT that I am not alone in this problem.  Perhaps I am the only one to persist in scratching this itch so publically.
   
  I need access for about 50 people for one semester this year.  For them to be able to use these tools during class this summer term, I would need to increase the university's subscription by 16 people and risk locking the cataloging department out of the system.
   
  The 30-day free trial order form makes it clear that the trial is for institutions by how it is set up.  If I tell all my students to sign up for the free trial as individuals will they all get set up?  What if one of them goofs and naively puts the University of South Carolina in the institution slot?  Will the request be rejected?
   
  And although 30 days might work in a summer term -- it does not work in a regular semester.  And what about those students who take the two cataloging courses in different semesters, will they be able to get the free 30-day trial more than once?
   
  Now, don't tell me I am "cheating" by even suggesting the use of the 30-day trial for this.  I am just trying to find some way to provide practical access for my students, who come all at once, in large numbers and are doing cataloging together in lab session while on the web and sitting at computers all over the eastern seaboard!!  I'd rather say to them, "Here, go into this URL and fill out the student order for shortterm access and pay for it."
   
  Please, I have been a long supporter of LC.  I have defended LC far and wide as being helpful to catalogers and a boon for cataloging.  Don't refuse to even consider a solution to this problem by saying, "Tell the jerk it's illegal.  That'll shut her up."
   
  My main question was not about desk copy access for me.  I have access thanks to the university's subscription.  I am asking about access for my students.
   
  Heidi

Judith P Cannan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:59:00 -0400
From: Judith P Cannan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Library of Congress User Survey
To: [log in to unmask]

Boy, what a wonderful reply, congrats. --judy

Judith P. Cannan
Chief, Instructional Design and Training Division
(202) 707-2031
[log in to unmask]
Fax: (202) 707-0810

>>> [log in to unmask] 06/30/06 1:39 PM >>>
Heidi:

Thanks for raising the issue of "desk copy" access to Cataloger's Desktop and Classification Web. We have consulted with LC's Office for General Counsel (OGC) on this subject and they are very emphatic that it would violate federal law for us to either give away any product for which others pay, or to have differential pricing. Much as we would like to do what you are asking, we would be exposing ourselves to criminal prosecution if we did so.

Your best bet is to have your parent university subscribe to these products and pay the difference between their anticipated use level and your additional anticipated use. This is being successfully done in dozens of library schools.

Best wishes,

Bruce


Bruce Chr. Johnson
President, Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) 
a division of the American Library Association 

and 

Acting Assistant Chief
Cataloging Distribution Service
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4911 USA

202-707-1652 (voice) [log in to unmask] 
202-707-3959 (fax)

>>> Heidi Hoerman 06/30/06 1:06 PM >>>
Although this survey is aimed at those who use LC for its collections, I answered this so that my heavy use of the catalogs, authority files, and MARC pages for teaching would be recorded. I also made a point of the difficulty I have providing access to ClasWeb and Cataloger's Desktop to my students since no "onsite" licensing will work for us. 

Maybe this will be a way for us to get LC to recognize that to us faculty they are a publisher who is not making it possible for us to push their products to our students. 

All I want is "desk copy" access for me and semester long access for my registered students who are not doing their studying in our building -- heck some of our out-of-state cohort folks have never been in SC! Why is this so difficult for CDS to accommodate? We faculty are their best advertisers!

Heidi

Chad Abel-Kops wrote:
Dear All,

The Library of Congress wants to gain a better understanding of who its patrons are, what services they use, and the quality and value of those services. If you are a user of the Library of Congress, either on site or via the Web, we invite you to take a few minutes to give us your feedback using the online survey at:

http://osincsurvey.com/run/osl03loc 

This user survey is being conducted by Outsell, Inc. on behalf of the Library. All responses will be kept confidential. Only grouped data will be reported; your responses will not be singled out in the analysis. Thank you very much for using the Library of Congress.

CHAD ABEL-KOPS



Chad P. Abel-Kops
Senior Cataloger 
Library of Congress
Serial Record Division
Washington DC 20540-4160
202-707-6384 (phone)
[log in to unmask] (e-mail)



HEIDI LEE HOERMAN
SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, COLUMBIA, SC 29205
PHONE: (803) 777-0485, (800) 277-2035 FAX: (803) 777-7938
EMAIL: [log in to unmask] (preferred) 
[log in to unmask] (second choice)
New (under contruction) URL: www.heidihoerman.com 
Old (soon to be wholly replaced) URL: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/hoerman/basepage.htm



HEIDI LEE HOERMAN
SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, COLUMBIA, SC 29205
PHONE: (803) 777-0485, (800) 277-2035 FAX: (803) 777-7938
EMAIL: [log in to unmask] (preferred) 
           [log in to unmask] (second choice)
New (under contruction) URL: www.heidihoerman.com
Old (soon to be wholly replaced) URL: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/hoerman/basepage.htm