Database Alert: GMID Requires Individual Login

8/28/09 UPDATE: I am VERY happy to say that Euromonitor has reconsidered their actions for academic clients. You will no longer HAVE to set up a personal login to use GMID on campus or through our proxy server off-campus. If you wish to set up the account, you may.

The company claims that "personalizing" will provide added functionality, which includes the option to

Create your own customised email alert: By selecting the categories and geographies you are interested in, you will receive an e-alert keeping you up to date with the latest developments.

Sign up to our RSS News feed: Receive timely updates on new content viewable via iGoogle, Outlook etc. from your customised content.

Create a My Home Page: View all your customised content in one place, along with your latest saved searches.

Create Saved Research: Save your research and queries if you are in a hurry and need to access them later or to share with your colleagues.

If you wish to create an account, look for the below graphic
On the GMID (after the license agreement) frontpage.

Meanwhile, I congratulate the company for their decision. And this librarian considers it one small victory for "intellectual freedom."

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A few users have been concerned and confused when they've tried to access Euromonitor's Global Market Information Database (GMID) through the Sawyer Library links recently. Unfortunately, in an obstructionist Big Brother move, the company now requires (even on an educational account) that each individual user must have their own account to use the database. Therefore, if you try to access the database you will likely first see a screen like this:

Look for the orange link in the bottom left that instructs that "New Users Register Here." You will then be directed to a page that looks like this:

Most of the registration is straight-forward. The form wants a salutation (Ms. Mr., etc), Name, Course, Department as well as location information like City, Country, and Region. Although it's more than a little odd to set your region AFTER you've entered your country, as there is no USA in Australasia, or any other region than North America, as far as I know. (But maybe that field in the form is a geography quiz.)

Unfortunately, Telephone is a required field, but it is outrageous that an information vendor that Sawyer Library contracts with should have your personal phone, so be creative, or use the general Suffolk switchboard number, which is 617-573-8000.

Other aspects of the instructions to the left are either unclear or incorrect, as well. It says, for example, to use your "business email address only" when registering. However, if you work for a company--as many of our students do--you should, in fact, NOT use your work email. You must use your SUFFOLK email to register, as Euromonitor wants to link the individual user to the subscription provider. The text also says that "if you click remember my details the next time you log in, you will not need to enter your email address and password again." Although this will work on your personal computer, it will not work if you do your research in the library as our machines wipe out cookies and other clutter every time they reboot. This means that although you will not have to do the full registration a second time, you will have to login (in the blue circle, with your Suffolk email and password) every time you enter the database again. So, remember your password and/or keep the email that Euromonitor will send you acknowledging your registration.

We apologize for the extra bureaucracy related to this useful marketing and demographic database, but this regrettable policy was set by the publisher and not by Sawyer Library.