The Code4Lib Journal – Getting What We Paid for: a Script to Verify Full Access to E-Resources

"Libraries regularly pay for packages of e-resources containing hundreds to thousands of individual titles. Ideally, library patrons could access the full content of all titles in such packages. In reality, library staff and patrons inevitably stumble across inaccessible titles, but no library has the resources to manually verify full access to all titles, and basic URL checkers cannot check for access. This article describes the E-Resource Access Checker—a script that automates the verification of full access. With the Access Checker, library staff can identify all inaccessible titles in a package and bring these problems to content providers’ attention to ensure we get what we pay for."