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Academic Institution "Toolbox"

What we hope to do here is give you some suggestions about engaging your school library about your use of TGIF -- with the hope that they will become the institutional contact for TGIF, and possibly/presumably pay the bill, just as they already do for a wide range of electronic resources in support of other campus research and/or teaching efforts. TGIF is really no different that any of those other subscription-based datasets, and we are hopeful that you can 'make the case' at your end. The library at your institution is very familiar with the concept of what TGIF is, and also about the mechanics of arranging campus-wide access, including off-campus users, proxy server setups, etc. It is a good thing to let them handle all of that, as they do it already, a lot more than you may realize.

About one half of the academic subscribers to TGIF have already made this transition, and in some cases the library has been the contact 'all along' for that institution.

Clearly, it is in everyone's best interest (financial, lack of bureaucracy, etc) to become a Perpetual subscriber to TGIF. All of our current annual academic subscribers, except one, have now converted to perpetual. Bottom line there is that libraries understand that the Perpetual option is a great deal and makes everyone's life easier -- and because in some cases it can be considered a one time rather than a recurrent expense (ie. 'like a book rather than a periodical') it may even be easier to pay for even though it is more expensive!

Here are a series of links which might be useful in your discussions with your library, and can provide an introduction to TGIF, materials relating to the 'why' of TGIF, as well as the subscription forms. All
are relatively short when printed, except for #5, which is both multi-part and longer.

1. Two-page color handout on TGIF including benefits and costs for perpetual subscriptions
2 . TGIF overview description
3 . TGIF database specifications
4 . Extent of TGIF processing table
5 . Comparison of turf coverage -- TGIF vs. several other databases and Google Scholar-- this is specifically in response to the, "we already subscribe to resources in support of our turf programs," reaction.
6 . List of serials monitored to produce TGIF
7 . Outline of academic subscription features
8 . Academic subscription form
9 . Campus-wide activation form
10 . Full-text journals available through TGIF (both public and restricted-access)
11 . Getting Started with TGIF Guide

Libraries may be particularly interested in items #2, 4, and 9 above, and they are 'written to them' as an audience. In particular, if they are not interested in #4, you need to get them interested in it -- as it is the biggest selling point you, and we, have. Libraries also like to hear about full-text bundling , and the increasing levels of this within TGIF, which now includes full-text archive journal sites, historic monographs, turf-related theses & dissertations, images, etc.. may get them more interested (Item 9).

Hopefully you already have a working relationship with someone at your library -- and if not it's a good thing to get started in any case. And yes, it probably could come down to budgetary sob stories -- but in the end, it may come down to another, 'why is turf important to this campus,' discussion, and that is a case that only you can make.

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