Thing Seventeen: ELM

Ye gads. I am ashamed to admit that I have a hard time remembering what ELM is versus MELSA versus MINITEX. I had to do a quick self-tutorial. Doh.
ELM is an amazing example of local government working for the people of MN. It's just that most people have not a clue that it exists. And a lot of people don't have a library card, which is the way that ELM resources are accessed. I suppose having a library card helps to determine that the user is a MN resident. I'm just sad that people don't realize how valuable their tax-paid library cards are. USE THEM, PEOPLE. Sorry for shouting.
With that said, I am annoyed by this exercise mostly because, again, we have to sign up for an account. Now I've used all of these resources in the past without setting up an account and it's worked just fine for me. I think I'm glad to know that these tools exist, but I couldn't cancel my account after I was done. At least, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I hate that. Also, after all the rigamarole of setting up an RSS feed, my reader was inundated with results. I would use this function sparingly. I suspect for the average user a more measured approach would be more productive. I did, however, like the ProQuest Newsstand email a web page option. And I did end up signing up for a NetLibrary account, but that was so I could practice downloading our library's new option for audiobooks.
I suppose maybe my annoyance is unfounded. It is great to have options; even multiple ways to do the same thing. I just can't stand the multiple account sign ups and I know I'm not the only one.