Chapter 7 - Reimagining technical services

Abstract

Much like the electronic resources librarian position itself, electronic resources management (ERM) began as a specialized type of public service, later transitioning to a siloed form of technical services with its own staff, workflows, and separate systems. The level of separate development for ERM and the rest of technical services in the late 1990 and 2000s varied across libraries, but the requirement to provide online services in real time and the use of distinctive tools such as knowledge bases, link resolvers, and ERM systems to support these efforts tended to make integration impractical. However, siloed development did not last for long. Given the overall decline in the usage of print materials in the 21st century, the emphasis on distance education, the ongoing growth of electronic resources, the emergence of discovery, and overall improvements in technology and automation, many librarians began to realize that ERM had become the core function of technical services. Efforts to create technical integration by removing the silo between ERM functions and more traditional integrated library system (ILS) functions into a single library services platform (LSP) coexisted with efforts to reorganize staff into new technical services departments redesigned and reorganized to meet new requirements.