The Many hats of the electronic resources librarian
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
Different then a catalog (based on knowledge
base)
Unmediated searching
Teaching other librarians
5. Why E-Resources Librarians
Changes in Work Flows
Different or added processes for selection,
purchase, access, and evaluation
Cross – departmental work flows
Skill set developed specific to these needs and, to
an extent, the library
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 for cancellation
and retention decisions
8. The Hats & the Competencies
Acquire and maintain subscriptions
Understanding collection development and
knowledge of librarianship
Negotiate contracts and maintaining
advantageous relationships with vendors
Reviewing and negotiating 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
Communication conduits
Data collection and management
14. The Challenges
Marketplace v. Budgets
Journal cost inflation v. everything full text, and
now
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
Resource funding transitioning to Academic
Departments
Open access initiatives gaining momentum – cost
shifting to authors
Data curation
Compete for e-resource funding with other
departments?
E-resources librarians part of Division of Research
20. The Possible Futures
Library budgets – permanently reduced
Increased collaboration, purchasing at state level
Decreased staff, new skill set
Virtual Campuses
The e-resources librarian employed by state system
