This document summarizes challenges and opportunities related to electronic resources in libraries. It discusses trends like the shift from print to digital collections and just-in-time access models. It also outlines various challenges involved in acquiring, managing and preserving electronic resources, such as licensing negotiations, cataloging workflows, and usage statistics. The document provides strategies libraries can take to address these challenges, such as adopting standards, investing in new models like patron-driven acquisitions, and developing core competencies for electronic resources librarians. Overall, the document aims to help libraries effectively navigate the ongoing changes in scholarly resources.

1. Challenges and Opportunities in
Electronic Resources
Eugenia Beh
Texas A&M University Libraries
11/15/10

2. 2007-2008 ARL Statistics

3. Projected Spending on E-books
Source: James Michalko, E-books and E-Journals in US University Libraries: Current Status and Future
Prospects, presented at the Keio University Symposium on 6 October, 2010

4. Shift in Acquisitions & Collection
Development Paradigm
Supply-side
(just-in-case)
21st Century
library
Demand-driven
(just-in-time)

5. Challenges
 External factors (what we can’t
control)
 Constant change
 Institutional factors (what we
can attempt to influence)
 Shrinking budgets
 Reduced staff
 Outcomes-based assessment
 User expectations
 Library factors (what we can
control)
 E-resources acquisitions and
management workflow

6. Library Challenges:
E-resources Acquisitions and
Management

7. Print vs. ERM Workflows
Source: DLF ERMI Appendix B

9. …and here is where the Electronic
Resources team went insane.

10. E-resources Acquisitions and
Management Workflow
 Licensing
 Negotiation
 Managing licensing
information
 Cataloging
 Administration and
support
 Monitoring e-resources
 OpenURL link resolvers
 Evaluation
 Usage statistics
 Preservation
 How and what to
preserve?

11. Licensing Negotiation
Challenges
 Problematic clauses
 Authorized users, sites
 ILL
 Coursepacks, e-reserves
 Indemnification
 Lack of training in negotiation
Strategies and Opportunities
 Know deal-breakers
 Prepare a BATNA
 Invest in continuing education
opportunities
 Join SERU

12. UT Licensing Checklist
LICENSE ELEMENTS CHECKLIST
LICENSE:______________________________________________ PUBLISHER:________________________________
User Definition ___ Staff (current) ___ Staff (unspecified)
___ Faculty (current) ___ Faculty (unspecified)
___ Students (enrolled)
___ Walk-ins (library only) ___ Walk-ins (unspecified)
___ Alumni ___ Visiting Scholars ___ Distance Education
Site Definition ___ Yes ___ Silent
Site Definition Note ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Remote Access ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Concurrent Users _______ (Number) _______ N/A
Fair Use ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
ILL faxed, mailed ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
ILL Secure Electronic (“Ariel” Like) ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
ILL Country Restrictions ___ N/A ___ US only ___ Same Country Only
ILL Notes ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Course Reserve Print ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Course Reserve Electronic / Cached Copy ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Course Packs Print ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Course Packs Electronic ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Perpetual Access Right ___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
Perpetual Access Note ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Archiving Right ___ Permitted (Explicit) ___ Permitted (Interpreted)
___ Prohibited (Explicit) ___ Prohibited (Interpreted)
___ Silent (Un-interpreted) ___ Not Applicable
Archiving Format ___ Remote ___ CDRom ___ Tape ___ Unspecified
Archiving Note ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Supply User Statistics ___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
If Yes: ___ Counter Compliant ___ No ___ Not Specified
Confidentiality Of User
Information
___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
Comply with American With
Disabilities Act (ADA)
___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
Publisher Warrant Intellectual
Property Rights
___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
Jurisdiction / Governing Law ___ Your State ___ Silent Other: __________________
Primacy of License Agreement ___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
Indemnification ___ Yes ___ No ___ Silent
NOTES ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

13. Managing Licensing Information
Challenges
 Consolidating subscription
information
 Tracking licensing changes
 Electronic Resource
Management Systems (ERMS)
Opportunities
 CORAL (open-source ERMS)
 CORE (Cost of Resource
Exchange)
 ONIX-PL (ONline
Information eXchange for
Publication License)

14. Cataloging
Challenges
 What approach?
 Single-record
 Separate records
 Aggregator-neutral record
 Provider-neutral record (e-books)
 Put links in the catalog or
provide access through link
resolver?
Strategies and Opportunities
 Prepare for RDA (Resource
Description and Access)
implementation
 Successor to AACR2
 Not yet adopted in U.S.
 Impact on e-resources?

15. Administration /Support
Challenges
 Monitoring e-resources
 Should we and/or do we
monitor e-access?
 If we do – when, how, and how
often?
Strategies and Opportunities
 Monitor problematic e-
resources
 Use online reporting form for
troubleshooting and resolving
e-access problems
 *Use screencasting software
to troubleshoot problems

16. OpenURL Link Resolvers
Challenges
 Link failures
 Provides title-level rather than
item-level access
 Interoperability with non-ISSN-
based formats
Strategies and Opportunities
 Link checking software
 http://nj.oclc.org/linkevaluator/
 KBART (Knowledge Bases and
Related Tools)
 IOTA (Improving OpenURL
Through Analytics)
 Web-scale discovery services

17. Usage Statistics
Challenges
 Gathering usage statistics
 Inconsistent vendor/publisher
reports
 Not all publishers and vendors
are COUNTER- and/or SUSHI-
compliant
 Not all libraries have
implemented SUSHI
Strategies and Opportunities
 Third-party services
 Scholarly Stats
 360 Counter
 bX Recommender Service
 Push for wider COUNTER and
SUSHI adoption

18. Preservation
Challenges
 Preserve content and/or also
interface?
 Convert files to a new format?
Strategies and Opportunities
 LOCKSS
 CLOCKSS
 Portico
 Institutional repositories
 HathiTrust

19. Institutional Challenges:
Budgets, Staffing, Assessment,
User Expectations

20. Flat or Reduced Budgets
Challenges
 Cancellation projects
 Increasing costs of scholarly
communications
Strategies and Opportunities
 Purchase through consortium
 Advocate for open access
reform
 Explore new models for
acquiring resources
 Patron-driven access
 Print-on-demand

21.  Decision to purchase triggered by certain event
 Ex. - Number of times patron views e-book or online
article
 Libraries set parameters (price limits, content)
 Vendor bibliographic records are loaded into OPAC
 Users don’t know what is pay-per-view content while
browsing in the catalog
Patron-Driven Acquisitions

22.  Allocated $300,000 for first fiscal year
 Price limit of $700
 Required approval for rentals over $50
 Paid rental fees for first 3 uses (5-10% of list price)
 Purchased on the 4th use* (list price)
 Encumbered $286,849 = $4/use
 $190,043 – EBL rentals
 $96,806 – EBL purchases
*Use = any activity within a title over 5 minutes
UT EBL Pilot

23. EBL (cont.)
Challenges
 Initial resistance from librarians
 Vendor-provided MARC
records needed improvement
 Lack of interoperability with
SFX
 Determining parameters
Opportunities
 Improved purchasing power
 Hope to expand PDA model to
print resources
 YBP and EBL demand-driven
approval plan?

24.  Schell, L. E., Ginanni, K., & Heet, B. (2010). Playing the
Field: Pay-Per-View E-journals and E-books. The Serials
Librarian, 58(1), 87.
 Macicak, S., & Schell, L. E. (2009). Patron-driven,
librarian-approved: a pay-per-view model for e-books.
Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community, 22(3),
S31-S38.
For more details

25. Print-on-Demand
(POD)
 Prints individual copies of
books as users want them
 Espresso Book Machine
 2007 Time Magazine Best
Invention
 “Vending machine” for
books
 Prints, binds and trims 300-
page book in under 4
minutes
 Prints up to 830 pages

26. POD (cont.)
Challenges
 Poor metadata
 Discoverability
 Mechanical failures
 Sustainable model?
Opportunities
 Together with PDA, may
change the way publishers do
business
 Shift from book /journal
suppliers to service providers?

27. POD (cont.)
Challenges
 Poor metadata
 Discoverability
 Mechanical failures
 Sustainable model?
Opportunities
 Together with PDA, may
change the way publishers do
business
 Shift from book /journal
suppliers to service providers?

28. UT Burnt Orange Book Machine
(BOB)
 Owned and operated by
Co-Op (not Libraries)
 Prints out-of-print, back
list, public domain, UT
Libraries and UT Press
titles
 Agreements with Google
Books, Lightning Source
and Flatworld Knowledge

29.  Forty Acres Press -
http://www.fortyacrespress.com/mb_intro_1.html
 Lee, A. (2010, November). Burnt Orange Book
Machine offers opportunity to publish, print on
demand in five minutes. Inside Our Campus. Retrieved
from http://insideourcampus.com/2010/11/burnt-
orange-book-machine-offers-opportunity-to-publish-
print-on-demand-in-five-minutes/
For more information

30. Reduced Staff
Challenges
 Unfilled vacancies
 E-resources are added at a
faster rate than staff
 Gatekeeper librarian syndrome
Strategies and Opportunities
 Internal transfers
 Staff share
 Cross-train staff
 Print-based technical services
staff
 Public services staff

31. Outcomes-Based Assessment
Challenges
 Libraries must justify continued
value to stakeholders
Strategies and Opportunities
 ROI
 Quantify and demonstrate the
library’s economic value to the
institution
 Complement usage statistics
with data taken from user
feedback
 Partner within and outside of
library

32. User Expectations
Challenges
 Users expect 24/7 immediate
access to any resource in any
and all formats
Strategies and Opportunities
 Try to avoid e-access problems
before they arise
 Alert public services staff of
any anticipated e-access
problems
 Collaborate with public
services to educate users
about e-resources

33. External Challenges:
Change

34.  Accept and expect change
 Stay current
 Professional literature – Journal of Electronic Resources
Librarianship, The Serials Librarian, Against the Grain, The
Charleston Advisor
 Blogs – Against-the-Grain.com, No Shelf Required
 Listservs – ERIL-L, SERIALST, LibLicense
 Conferences – ALA, NASIG, Charleston, ER&L
 Be continuous learners
 ALCTS, NISO, ALA TechSource courses, workshops, webinars
Dealing with Change

35.  10 Best Practices (Profera & Stamison, Swets)
 Plan and stretch resources budget
 Find out what consortia have to offer
 Develop institution-specific licensing guidelines
 Leverage help with negotiating licenses
 Track electronic content usage
 Develop a cataloging policy
 Decide how to provide access to content
 Use subscription agents
 Have an archiving policy in place
 Know when to keep a print subscription
Develop Set of Best Practices for E-Resources
Acquisitions and Management
Source: Profera, E., & Stamison, C. M. (2010). An Agent’s Perspective on Issues and Best
Practices When Shifting from Print to Electronic Resources. Serials Review, 36(1), 3-9.

36.  ALA-accredited MLIS
 Experience with an integrated library system
 Ability to work collaboratively
 Customer service orientation
 Analytical and problem solving skills
 Experience managing/maintaining e-resources
 Experience with link resolvers and knowledge of OpenURL
standards
 Experience licensing e-resources
 Flexibility in the face of change
 Experience with or knowledge of serials/e-resources acquisitions
 Experience with or knowledge of electronic resources
management systems
 Experience working with e-resources vendors
Develop Core Competencies for
E-Resources Librarians
(2010) "2010 Conference Reports," NASIG Newsletter:
Vol. 25: No. 3, Article 11.

37.  SERU
 ONIX-PL
 COUNTER
 SUSHI
 CORE
 KBART
Push for Standards Adoption

38.  Change-oriented
 User-centered
 Technologically specialized
 Cost-efficient
Lead Change

39.  Contact: Eugenia Beh
 eugenia_beh@yahoo.com
Questions?

40.  (2010) "2010 Conference Reports," NASIG Newsletter: Vol. 25: No. 3, Article 11.
 Fleming-May, R., & Grogg, J. E. (2010, November 9). Evaluating and Selecting Online
Resources: An American Library Association TechSource Workshop.
 Forty Acres Press. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 13, 2010, from
http://www.fortyacrespress.com/mb_intro_1.html
 Grant, C. (2010, October 30). Commentary from Carl Grant: "Gladiators" to perform sleight-
of-hand at Charleston Conference. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from
http://commentary.exlibrisgroup.com/2010/10/gladiators-to-perform-sleight-of-hand.html
 Timothy D. Jewell, U. O. W., Ivy Anderson, H. U., Adam Chandler, C. U., Sharon E. Farb, U.,
Kimberly Parker, Y. U., Angela Riggio, U., & Nathan D. M. Robertson, T. J. H. U. (2004, August
18). Electronic Resource Management. The Report of the DLF Initiative. text, . Retrieved
November 13, 2010, from http://www.diglib.org/pubs/dlf102/
 Kyrillidou, M., & Bland, L. (2009). ARL Statistics 2007-2008. Association of Research Libraries.
Retrieved from http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
 Lee, A. (2010, November). Burnt Orange Book Machine offers opportunity to publish, print
on demand in five minutes. Inside Our Campus. Retrieved from
http://insideourcampus.com/2010/11/burnt-orange-book-machine-offers-opportunity-to-
publish-print-on-demand-in-five-minutes/
Sources

41.  Macicak, S., & Schell, L. E. (2009). Patron-driven, librarian-approved: a pay-per-view model
for e-books. Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community, 22(3), S31-S38. doi:10.1629/22S31
 Michalko, J. (2010, October 6). E-books and E-Journals in US University Libraries: Current
Status and Future Prospects. Presented at the Keio Symposium, Tokyo, Japan.
 Profera, E., & Stamison, C. M. (2010). An Agent’s Perspective on Issues and Best Practices
When Shifting from Print to Electronic Resources. Serials Review, 36(1), 3-9.
 Rowe, R. (2010). Web-Scale Discovery: A Review of Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service, and
WorldCat Local. The Charleston Advisor, 12(1), 5-10. doi:10.5260/chara.12.1.5
 Schell, L. E., Ginanni, K., & Heet, B. (2010). Playing the Field: Pay-Per-View E-journals and E-
books. The Serials Librarian, 58(1), 87. doi:10.1080/03615261003623062
 Smyth, S. (2010). Currency trends and collection building. College & Research Libraries News,
71(10), 547 -566.
 Tenopir, C. (2010). Measuring the Value of the Academic Library: Return on Investment and
Other Value Measures. The Serials Librarian, 58(1), 39.
 Trainor, C., & Price, J. (2010). Chapter 1: Introduction. Library Technology Reports, 46(7), 5-10.
 Wisniewski, J. (2010). Web Scale Discovery: The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.
Online, 34(4), 55-7.
Sources (cont.)