 | This is a documentation subpage for Template:Subscription or libraries. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
 | This function is now built into {{citation}} and the Citation Style 1 templates by use of |via=. |
Sources must be verifiable, although that does not require that they be free or online. When an article has a source, access to the source may require a subscription or contacting a library for access. A reader may try verifying the source but may fail (especially if access via a URL requires authentication that the reader cannot provide) and then the reader may believe that the source is unverifiable. That may lead the reader to decide that the source citation and the content it supposedly supports should be tagged as unverifiable or deleted. It may help Wikipedia's editorial process to inform the reader that a subscription may be required or that access might be available through a library, so that the reader knows that verifiability can likely be checked by getting a subscription or, often, accessing a library.
This template can serve that purpose. When applied and depending on its parameters, it states that a subscription may be required and possibly that content may be available in libraries.
By comparison, the {{Subscription required}} template simply says that a subscription is required. If there is no exception to the requirement that a reader subscribe, it would be the more accurate template to apply. But if a library may have the service or if free service may sometimes be available without subscribing, this template ({{Subscription or libraries}}) is the more accurate one.
Articles with this template will automatically be categorized into Category:Pages containing links to subscription-or-libraries content, a hidden tracking category.