Academic Institution Consortium Membership Information

Academic Institution Consortium Membership is designed for teaching and research institutions to make the TGIF database available in support of their research, teaching, and extension purposes, including curricular access for student use. The TGIF database is useful in support of programs in Landscape Architecture and Design, Horticulture, Parks and Recreation Facility Operations, Grounds and Landscape Management, Sports Management, Geography, Water Resources, Environmental Policy, Urban and Regional Planning, Irrigation Engineering, Urban Greening, and of course, is the best there is in Urban Grassland and Turfgrass Science.

An Advocacy Toolbox is available for turf scientists, professionals, and students to help communicate with your institution about joining the Academic Consortium.

Perpetual Academic Membership

Perpetual Academic Institution Consortium Membership is very competitively priced, and is intended to be affordable enough for all academic institutions, regardless of size. Libraries tend to innately understand that the Perpetual Membership is the best monetary value and may make things easier in the long-run, because it can often be considered a one-time purchase rather than a recurrent expense. Click here to see the list of academic consortium members. 

Annual Extended Trials

Annual Extended Trials are available to academic institutions interested in a trial of the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) database. Annual Extended Trials are valid for the current calendar year. If desired, a one-week long, single user, password-authenticated trial logon for review purposes can be provided upon request. 
 

Academic Institution Consortium Membership Form (PDF)
 

Academic Consortium Membership includes:

  • A 5 simultaneous-user license. Users have unlimited, unmetered online use. IP authentication is used to manage the access
  • Access to all associated full-text resources hosted by the Center (see: tic.msu.edu/browse)
  • A short term "license bump-up" of the campus-wide logon is possible for hands-on training or instructional sessions
  • Other consortium membership benefits (pdf)

Short Term "License bump-up" for Instructional/Training Sessions

Please contact TIC by phone (517) 353-7209 or e-mail: tgif@msu.edu at least one week in advance if you would like to use this option for instructional or training purposes.

  • The number of simultaneous users cannot exceed 25
  • The machines used for the training/instruction must be in the defined IP range for the institution
  • It would be very helpful to call us prior to the event (or earlier the same day) just to be sure that everything is running smoothly on both sides
  • Our 2-page "Getting Started with TGIF" handout (pdf) can be useful in orientation sessions
  • We would also suggest that you incorporate into your training the following points:
    1. Use on-screen navigation buttons in preference to browser controls when inside the database engine
    2. You may wish to incorporate some of the elements on the "Hints for Searching & Frequently Asked Questions" materials with your trainees