After the Applause, here comes the Basket

A current posting on the ACL discussion list involves what to do about Alumni who still want to use your fabulous resources. Many thanks to John Jaeger from Dallas Baptist University who has gone so far as to post a list of free resources for Alumni on the web site. Access My Library is one site everyone should publicize for those who can no longer access our databases. While this is not the DOAJ for most alumni, this compiles 4,159 "free" journals for their use. A few quick searches retrieved enough kinds of articles that nonacademic research requires.
Maybe we should offer services which do not require individual searching but for a say"small donation to the Alumni office or library" we will conduct a search and send them articles should the free sites prove insufficient. Does that violate our service ethic? Or maybe alumni really need to understand how much libraries have to pay annually just to let our students have the access they require? And why aren't they considering the public libraries in their area? Lots of suggestions and ideas are percolating on the list.