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Collections Ready Reference

Collection Development and Management Ready Reference

Trial Requests

Any Library personnel can request a trial to a resource. Typically, UT Faculty or Staff request resources by informing their subject Librarian. It is up to the subject Librarian to review the resource and request the trial. You may need to discuss pricing with APCS before requesting a trial.

Before you submit a Trial Request:

  • Please submit requests at least 2 weeks in advance of when you would like a trial to begin.
  • We do not trial a resource when we know another product from the same vendor is being negotiated.
  • We only trial 1-2 modules of a resource at a time. This provides clearer usage stats and prevents confusion for patrons.
  • We can trial a resource no more than 3 times and the trials must be at least one year apart.
  • We do not trial resources that are currently under a licensing review (no pre-access).

Accessibility documentation, including a VPAT, is not required to conduct a trial. However, failure by the vendor to supply these documents can drastically delay licensing and acquisition.

 

Note that as of August 2023, Trial Requests are now in Juntar:

 

Trial Information

All information about trials including request information, vendor information, and trial history, can be found on the Acquisitions & Continuing Resources Sharepoint.

All Trial Documentation

Check Status of Current Trials

Completed Trials

Full Trial History

Trial Management

Trials for UTK Libraries are managed by the E-Resources Team in Acquisitions & Continuing Resources. For questions about trials, contact the E-Resources Team. 

The E-Resources Team tries to request 90 day trials. Some vendors do not allow this length of trial, but our standard is 90 days. We do not pay for trials and we do not complete licensing for trials.

During a trial, the E-Resources Team gathers this information from the vendor/publisher:

  • pricing options
  • authentication options
  • accessibility documentation
  • licensing information
  • sample MARC records where available

An accessibility review is also conducted by our Accessibility Coordinator during a trial.

After a trial, we gather usage statistics if provided by the vendor.

We also collect feedback during trials. To provide feedback on current trials, click on the link to complete a trial feedback form located under the description of the resource on the A-Z Databases page or from the record in OneSearch.