Alumni Rally on Social Media for JSTOR Access  

While more than 25,000 alumni regularly check in to the MIT Alumni group on LinkedIn, posting discussion topics, job opportunities, and startup pitches, some use it as a forum for requests to the MIT administration.

Philip Gleckman ’84 did just that last August. As CTO of a solar energy company in the Bay Area, Gleckman wanted MIT to follow other top universities in including access to online research databases in alumni benefits. Gleckman often had need to access them for his own work, but such access comes at a price: upwards of $50 per article.

Gleckman took to LinkedIn to raise the issue.

“People think you can just Google articles and find them, but in my experience it’s more the exception than the rule that if there’s a research paper by certain publishers, you just will not get it unless you pay,” he argued. “A lot of quality information is not accessible for free and puts a lot of people at a disadvantage.”

Dozens immediately replied, citing ways they would use the service were it made available. Rather than paying per-article fees or prohibitive monthly rates for full database subscriptions, alumni in many fields wanted access to cutting-edge research.

The Alumni Association followed the online conversation from its start. Over the winter, staff fielded feedback from alumni to determine what subscription services would best suit their needs. They then coordinated with MIT Libraries to arrange negotiations with JSTOR and met with IT staff to create a solution linking access to alums’ Infinite Connection accounts.

By springtime, such plans solidified, and in May the association announced access would be made available. Before publishing that to all alumni, it first invited the participants of Gleckman’s post to try it out.

Alumni in the LinkedIn group are celebrating the new benefit.

"I have been using it to study learning theory and the history of education," says Teresa Marshall '93.

“I think it's a great thing that MIT alumni will now have access to JSTOR, and I like knowing that regardless of where I end up after grad school I can count on having JSTOR access,” says Lily Berger ’11.

"I was delighted to hear there is progress on this issue, and I expect it will actually improve the rate at which I develop safer and more cost-effective nuclear fuel cycle technology for Asia," says Kenneth Ricci '93.

“I logged in as soon as I saw we got access,” says Hope Barrett ‘98. “I see myself using JSTOR as a tool to do more in-depth research on random topics for my personal enjoyment. I would love to see more business resources such as Factiva, Lexis-Nexis, and even Hoovers.”

Many praised Gleckman for his persistence and transparency in moving the entire process forward via the LinkedIn board.

“This is exactly what I think a LinkedIn group is for. I think it should be a place for shared interests like this,” says Gleckman.