>Of course, some sources - like the MoA series at Cornell and Michigan,
>and Proquest (through some local libraries), are available over the
>web for free.

Some states have a statewide program to provide access to various databases -
TexShare in Texas, Galileo in Georgia, EmpireLink in New York.

EmpireLink makes Dialog@CARL and Ebsco Masterfile Select (general periodical
databases with quite a bit of full text) and Health Reference Center-Academic
available to New York State residents through their libraries.  For more
information, see <http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/library/emplink>.

Some libraries may subscribe to additional databases, on their own or through a
consortium.  We are fortunate to have the staff at the Southern Adirondack
Library System handling clueless sales reps, byzantine licensing agreements and
obscure technical support problems for us.  They subscribe to a number of
databases for all the residents of the eight counties covered by SALS and the
Mohawk Valley Library Association.  A few of us have added some others.

If you choose "Library Catalogs and Online Databases" off our home page, you'll
see our online research page.  All of our databases except for Ancestry Plus
are accessible remotely through our site, providing the full text of thousands
of journals to anyone with one of our library cards.  Thousands more are
indexed but do not include the text; it depends on the arrangement with the
publisher.

Bob Sullivan                               [log in to unmask]
Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org
Schenectady Digital History Archive        http://www.schenectadyhistory.org