The Many Hats of the E-Resources Librarian: Present Challenges and Possible Futures
1. THE MANY HATS OF THE
E-RESOURCES LIBRARIAN:
PRESENT CHALLENGES AND
POSSIBLE FUTURES
Jane Strudwick, Electronic Resources Librarian
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
2. Institution Background
Florida Atlantic University, a doctoral degree-
granting university
17,300 FTE
Part of a 12 institution state university system
As of July 2012, the FAU Libraries is part of the
Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC)
3. Library Background
Three locations
ILS – Aleph (Managed for SULs by FLVC)
Electronic Resources Services – Serials Solutions
360 Core
360 Link
360 ERMS
Summon
Materials Budget – $3,250,000
4. Why E-Resources Librarians?
New Features of Acquisitions
Licensing
Packaging
New management and management tools
Changes in Access
Differentthen a catalog (based on a knowledge base)
Unmediated searching
Teaching other librarians
5. Why E-Resources Librarians
Changes in Workflows
Different or added processes for selection, purchase,
access, and evaluation
Cross – departmental workflows
Skill set developed specific to these needs
6. The Hats & the Competencies
“The electronic resources librarian understands
the life cycle of electronic resources in its
ongoing complexity of multiple stages and
processes.”
(NASIG, 2012)
Wonder Woman 03
photo by bbaltimore on Flickr
7. The Hats & the Competencies
Manage the Life Cycle of Electronic Resources
Acquire and maintain subscriptions
Establish and manage procedures to ensure access to
electronic resources and provide support
Manage evaluation processes to support cancellation
and retention decisions
8. The Hats & the Competencies
Acquire and maintain subscriptions
Understand collection development and knowledge of
librarianship
Negotiate contracts and maintaining advantageous
relationships with vendors
Review and negotiate licenses
9. The Hats & the Competencies
Provide Access to Electronic Resources
Knowledge of computing hardware used to access
electronic information
Authentication systems
E-resources software and services
The admin functions of proprietary databases
Fundamentals of Web design and markup languages
Ability to provide technical and reference support
10. The Hats & the Competencies
Manage evaluation process
Understand complex range of data generated by and
related to electronic resources
Ability to collect, analyze, manipulate and provide
meaningful interpretation of data and apply to real
and timely decision making
Evaluate or manage the creation of databases to store
relational data
11. The Hats & the Competencies
Other Skills
Effective Communication
Prompt, consistent, verbal and written communications
with a broad audience
Supervising and Management
Supervise, train and motivate
Trends and Professional Development
Including publishing and library marketplace
Personal Qualities
Flexibility with change
13. The Challenges
Silos
Managing acquisitions
ILS v. ERMS v. homegrown
Access to Electronic Resources
Multiple access points and interfaces
Data Collection and Analysis
Tools not yet adequate for analyzing and reporting
14. The Challenges
Marketplace v. Budgets
Journal cost increasees v. everything full text
Flux in publishing industry
Consolidation of companies
Rights of Licensee: archival, access, sharing
15. The Challenges
Transitioning to Web Scale
Changes in search and discovery
Discovery service & catalog
Advocacy of metadata contribution by publishers and
vendors to all discovery services
Collection development impacts, especially
prioritization of formats
Waiting for the full realization of web-scale
management services
17. The Possible Futures
Reorganization of workflows and departments
Complete transition to one access point
Web scale management and the end of the ILS
No more local cataloging
The print hangover is over
Multiple e-resources librarians
18. The Possible Futures
Changes in publishing
The breakup of journals and the end of the big
database purchase
Demand driven articles and book acquisitions
Indexes native to discovery services
No more need to develop federated interfaces per
product, especially aggregators
The e-resources librarian managing a single interface
19. The Possible Futures
E-resources funding transitioning to academic
departments
Open access initiatives gaining momentum – cost
shifting to authors
Data curation
Compete for e-resource funding with other
departments?
The e-resources librarian position under
Division of Research
20. The Possible Futures
Results of permanent library budget reductions
Increased collaboration, purchasing at state level
Decreased staff, new skill set
Virtual Campuses
The e-resources librarian employed by state system
