Abstract
Excerpt: The E-resources lifecycle includes several stages such as “E-quotes—E-trials—Acquisition—Maintenance—Renewals—Cancellation.” Working with vendors for setting up and conducting effective new e-resource trials is quite an engaging process, for it requires a clear understanding among the trial participants and must ensure return of investment in terms of the most precious commodity, time. This article provides a summary of my experience with e-trials over a period of 15 years and discusses a recent brainstorming session with our Reference and Research Instruction (RRI) group of librarians that ultimately resulted in establishing best practices for e-trials at the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) library.