Cory Rockliff wrote:
> Do libraries opt for these commercial 'pre-indexed' services simply 
> because they're a good value proposition compared to all the work of 
> indexing multiple resources from multiple vendors into one local index, 
> or is it that companies like iii and Ex Libris are the only ones with 
> enough clout to negotiate access to otherwise-unavailable database 
> vendors' content?
>   
A little bit of both, I think. A library probably _could_ negotiate 
access to that content... but it would be a heck of a lot of work. When 
the staff time to negotiations come in, it becomes a good value 
proposition, regardless of how much the licensing would cost you.  And 
yeah, then the staff time to actually ingest and normalize and 
troubleshoot data-flows for all that stuff on the regular basis -- I've 
heard stories of libraries that tried to do that in the early 90s and it 
was nightmarish.

So, actually, I guess i've arrived at convincing myself it's mostly 
"good value proposition", in that a library probably can't afford to do 
that on their own, with or without licensing issues.

But I'd really love to see you try anyway, maybe I'm wrong. :)

> Can I assume that if a database vendor has exposed their content to me 
> as a subscriber, whether via z39.50 or a web service or whatever, that 
> I'm free to cache and index all that metadata locally if I so choose? Is 
> this something to be negotiated on a vendor-by-vendor basis, or is it an 
> impossibility?
>   
I doubt you can assume that.  I don't think it's an impossibility.

Jonathan