The abstract provides a good summary, but she really needs to read the full article. Not too long ago, this would have necessitated a trip to the Library to find the journal and photocopy the needed article. The Library's electronic journal strategy attempts to make this scenario one that is often repeated throughout the UVA Health System. Our goal is to make highly relevant journals available wherever they are needed, at home, in an office, or on a busy patient ward in the hospital. For many journals, the fee for electronic access is included in the cost of a print subscription.
Some publishers have separate pricing for print and electronic access.
Cost is not the only barrier that the Library must deal with when trying to provide wider access to electronic journals. Some publisher's licenses contain terms that place unreasonable restrictions on access, forbid inter-library loan privileges granted by current copyright laws, or require the Library to agree to conditions that are often out of our control. Fortunately, this restriction has been dropped from their current license. Nature recently introduced a new electronic access policy that allows individual subscribers immediate access to the full content of this weekly journal, while institutional subscribers have immediate access to ONLY the peer-reviewed articles. The publisher of Nature places a 12-week embargo on Opinion, News, Correspondence, Commentary, Special Essays, and all other content.