It's All Free on the Internet!

Students will sometimes use 'it's all free on the internet' as justification for not using university libraries. We've all heard this comment and inwardly rolled our eyes before trying to convince students otherwise. But do we really understand what students mean, and what can we practically do about it?

Using data gleaned from student interviews at the University of Worcester, this presentation investigates what free resources offer that university libraries don't, and proposes a set of principles to help academic libraries improve their online services.

The pace of change for scholarly content is exponential, and there are multiple challenges to academic libraries' traditional roles, many of which directly affect eresource provision. By understanding the underlying trends behind free online information tools, academic libraries can use the practical techniques outlined in this presentation to effectively respond.

This material is based on a presentation given at Internet Librarian International 2017 organized by Information Today, Inc.