Trove has just begun displaying your library’s access conditions alongside holdings, and when users are choosing their libraries. This is a consequence of usability testing, which found that most people assumed that all libraries were open to the public.
There are three access levels:
- Open to the public
- Restricted (displays in Trove as ‘May not be open to the public’) and
- Not open to the public
If your library has a single entry in the Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG), this is where your access details will be sourced from. Some organisations have a parent ALG entry for their library service and separate, related entries for each branch. How the access conditions are displayed in these cases will depend on which NUC the holdings are attached to. Where the holdings are attached to a branch (or child) NUC, the access conditions displayed will be taken from the access conditions for that branch entry.
However, in some cases all the holdings are attached to parent entry’s NUC (e.g. in the case of floating collections). In this case, the most open level of access from the parent and branches will be reported in Trove. For example the Brisbane City Council Library Service (QBCL) has ‘Not open to the public’ for this library service entry:
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/libraries?action=OrgDetails&id=3899 and the Ashgrove library, which is a branch, is ‘Open to the public’: http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/libraries?action=OrgDetails&id=9397 ‘Open to the public’ is more open than ‘Not open to the public’. Therefore Brisbane City Council Library holdings will show with ‘Open to the public’.
If you believe this will misrepresent the status of your library, or if you can’t remember what access conditions your libraries have recorded in ALG, you can update your entry:
- Find your entry in the ALG – http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries.
- Click Edit this record, enter your password, choose the Collection Details radio button and click Edit this page.
- Choose your library’s Public access and click Submit these updated details.
If you’ve lost your password or need it reset you can contact ALG Administration.
You will find further information on where the Access Conditions will be displayed in Trove here: http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/help/helpdisplay.html#access_conditions
