This session by Lila Angie Ohler from Maryland  – she says “Libraries have done themselves a disservice by dealing with e-resources separately”

Some myths about e-resources:

• Why worry – e-resources just take care of themselves right?
• Placing the order and paying the invoice is just hte beginning
• E-Resource do not remain ‘on the shelf’ – access can drop or change
• E-Resource purchase require ‘special handling’
• Legacy from when e-resources were new
• Libraries built separate processes, and ended up with duplication and inefficient workflows
• Getting accurate access and information from vendors very difficult
• We ended up with unnecessary gatekeeper structures or special forms which prevent efficient subs management
• Moving to e-subs means no more print and saves costs
• Print has not gone away
• Most of the serials market place are still single titles
• More to do, not less
• E-Resources take less time and less staff resources
• Admin tasks for e-resources add on to print workflows, not replace them
• Many of these activities require input from professional librarians – meaning more expensive staff
• E-Resources staff spend the majority of their time reconciling serial data between different systems – this is NOT an automated process
• Only Librarians should manage e-resources
• Culture of ‘special handling’ creates bottlenecks around specific staff
• By not training print serial staff fro new e-resource work, means retaining staff for diminishing work
• Junior staff can be more comfortable with online resources and technologies

What has not changed?

• Acquisitions Data
• Acquisitiosn order and Purachse is (or should be) Record of authorig for all Library Purcahses
• Subs are still subs – e or p
• Title by title details are still the primary management unit – even if you buy them in packages
• Subs agents
• Vendors do work for you – e.g. renewals – still advantages over going with publishers
• Vendor reports help reconcile and track format changes, publisher changes, big deal titles lists
• This reminds me of a conversation about e-books and the fact that within packages we may get new editions etc. automatically added to the package – but the publishers are really bad at telling us – this type of service wasn’t mentioned by YBP or Coutts in this mornings session about e-books – they should look at it.

So overall – what’s new?

• Licnesing
• Access Registration
• Access Activation Alerts
• Troubleshooting Access prolems
• Maintain link resolvers
• …

Database maintentance

• Don’t try to do this all yourself manually – follow the 80/20 rule – save time for truly unique resources – you can’t do everything – this is a different size of problem to the print world
• Link Resolver Knowledge Bases help, but are independent of the catalog and require constant update
• Look for other services in the market to help (e.g. PAMS and MARC)

Serial Controls and Claims

• There are risks of leaving patrons to find the problems
• Troubleshooting access problems takes time – often outside the libraries control
• Adapt ILS servials controls for e-journals setting up a once or twice yearly ‘pattern’ which generates daily ‘claim’ lists
• From lists, staff found that 25% of those titles checked were not working properly – a shocking amount
• Note Lila not talking about aggregations here, which change too much to track reliably

Serial Acquisitions and Subs Management

• Adapt the ILS Acq order to reflect the format purchased and relationship to publisher deals
• Lincesing, registration, access, activation, troubleshooting are all part of the subs process

Cataloging

• Licenses can be catalogued
• Use existing ERM tools in new ways
• Database to record both full licenses and licensing expresssions
• URL through resource target level in SFX pushes ‘terms of use’ through to the end user for all titles from that publisher or hosting site
• This sounds like a really interesting project – they are talking about parsing the full-text licenses and extracting terms of use – would be very interesting to look at.

What should libraries do?

• Stop reinventing the wheel
• Keep up to date on market products, new tools from existing vendors and what other libraries are doing
• Repurpose data reported from existing information silos and combine it easily in new tools
• BUT with any tool selected, plan for change and interoperability – things change, and tools change with them
• Make information and the management process trasnparen, share data files and email lists
• Triage troubleshooting, designate a ‘Go To’ unit (like TAP mentioned in previous talk), don’t duplicate your efforts
• Provide a single help point for patrons

There is no magic system:

• Not all ERM tools are the same – evaluate what your ERM needs are before purchasing or building – and think about ERM as a set of tools – you may only need part of the toolset, and this may be cheaper than a all encompassing system
• Look at your staff resources in relation to duplication of effort – beware of systems that increase duplication, rather than making the systems simpler
• Beware both of maintaining outdated in-house systems AND the purchase of vaporware – test drive as much as you can

 

Q: What is the workflow for cataloguing licenses?

A: Research data in licenses. Figure out ways of bringing together data and doing something with them. Standardise language etc.

Q: Would you be willing to share how you do the SFX ‘Terms of Use’

A: Stole this from another library! (although not done at Maryland) – Washington Research Library Consortium

Q: We have a specialist team. The general ‘acq’ team not so familiar with e-vendors etc. What worked for us was a specialist team, but with other staff cycled through to share knowledge.

A: Recommend cross-training as much as you can. Can’t afford staff who don’t know the overall process.

Q: There’s been a lot of talk about communication – not always good in libraries, are there suggestions for tackling this?

A: Yes – talk to me after.