Book Review: Electronic Resource Management: Practical Perspectives in a New Technical Services Model

Abstract

Resource Management: Practical Perspectives in a New Technical Services Model. Anne C. Elguindi and Karen Schmidt. Oxford: Chandos, 2012. 203 p. $80.00 paper (ISBN: 978-1-84334-668-5). Chandos Information Professional Series. This concise volume is part of the Chandos Information Professional Series, which aims to provide both readable and practical coverage of subjects of interest to librarians. It is not, as its title may suggest, a how-to guide for managing electronic resources, but rather a broad overview of how electronic resource management has evolved in a specific type of library over the last two decades with some learned speculation about what the future might hold. Or, as Elguindi and Schmidt neatly phrase it in their preface, How have academic libraries and librarians changed to respond to electronic resources, and where might they be going? (xvii-xviii). The book's six chapters cover a variety of important topics related to managing electronic resources, including: staffing and workflows, electronic resource management systems (ERMS), discovery tools, and e-books. Most chapters also contain useful case studies detailing local issues associated with electronic resource management at institutions such as Indiana State University, the University of Notre Dame, and Boston College. Chapters 1, Emerging Technical Services Models in the Context of the Past, and 2, Electronic Resource Management: Staffing and Workflow, are the strongest pieces in the book. Each does a nice job of succinctly contextualizing current academic library approaches to e-resource management. In the first chapter, Elguindi and Schmidt identify two waves of organizational change in response to libraries' steadily increasing expenditures for electronic resources from the mid-1990s to the present. With few exceptions, the first wave saw libraries try to make do with existing organizational structures by adding e-resource responsibilities (e.g., license negotiation and knowledge base maintenance) to already established positions. In the second wave, many libraries underwent reorganizations to create positions or units specifically responsible for electronic resource management. The authors further identify an emerging and--they argue--necessary third wave in which responsibilities for managing all formats, especially electronic resources, are more diffused throughout various public-facing and behind-the-scenes units within organizations. In the second chapter, which builds directly on the first, the authors trace the evolution of the electronic resources librarian position. They note that while many libraries currently spend more on e-resources than on print materials, they often employ relatively few people to manage electronic resources compared to the number responsible for managing print. This state of affairs is untenable argue the authors. They contend that e-resource management should be viewed as the primary workflow in technical services, and all staff should have some level of proficiency with e-resource tasks. Chapter 3, Electronic Resource Management Systems: Implementation and Transformation, discusses the early development of ERMS and the myriad challenges associated with implementing these systems. …