Before indicating your interest, please seriously consider reading the AIRS / OCLC Fact Sheet which discusses the FirstSearch product that has been licensed through the AIRS program for several years.
http://airs.cvlsites.org/airs-oclc-fact-sheet/Here's the situation: Think of AIRS as a program, not a package.
In the past if your library signed up for an AIRS subscription, access was granted to both the EBSCO content and the OCLC/FirstSearch product. Beginning this year (2012-2013), the two vendors’ products will be priced separately. The reason for the separation of products is that a) libraries strongly indicated a preference for choice; b) negotiations for products are conducted on a vendor-by-vendor basis.
So we're grappling with several questions. Two key questions:
1 - How many libraries actually want to license the OCLC FirstSearch product?
2 - If an affordable, multi-library collaborative purchase for the OCLC FirstSearch product cannot be negotiated, are libraries with holdings in OCLC as well as non-OCLC libraries willing to accept the consequences for ALL Colorado libraries as described in the AIRS / OCLC Fact Sheet? We have looked at this a considerable amount. You may have thoughts as well. Please share those below.
Again, if you haven't read it, please consider reading more.
http://airs.cvlsites.org/airs-oclc-fact-sheet/We look forward to hearing from you.
This form is short and simple, with just three sections:
- Interest section (yes/no) with free-form text box for comment
- Institutional information
- Individual contact information (page 2)
Each library need only submit one interest form. Thank you.
