Techniques for Electronic Resource Management (Library Technology Reports)

Library Technology Reports February/March 2013 vol.49 / no.2 Two decades after the advent of electronic journals and databases, librarians are still grappling with ways to best manage these resources in conjunction with their print resources. In addition, economic pressures at many institutions of higher education are resulting in librarians having to justify their spending on collections and resource management. Furthermore, e-books are becoming yet another stream of purchasing and management, with the added complexity of patron-driven acquisitions. All of these issues result in the need to codify the management of electronic resources more than ever. Techniques in Electronic Resource Management (TERMS) is a project to encourage open peer commentary and crowdsourcing of areas of best practice for each of the six stages of the e-resources life cycle: 1. investigation of new content for purchase or addition 2. acquisition of new content 3. implementation 4. ongoing evaluation and access 5. annual review 6. cancellation and replacement review This issue of Library Technology Reports aims to become a reference point for those who are new to e-resource management and for those who may want to implement its recommendations of best practice.

Jill Emery is the collection development librarian at Portland State University and has more than 15 years academic library experience. She has served as chair of the ALA-ALCTS continuing resources committee (previously the serials section) and is a past-president of the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG). She is a current member of The Charleston Advisor editorial board and the columnist for "Heard on the Net." She has written extensively about electronic resource management and was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work with electronic resources.

Graham Stone has worked in academic libraries for more than 18 years. Information Resources Manager at the University of Huddersfield, UK, his responsibilities include the library information resources budget and management of the Acquisitions and Journals and E-Resources Teams. He also manages the University Repository and University of Huddersfield Press initiative. Previously he managed a number of JISC-funded projects, including the Library Impact Data Project, the Huddersfield Open Access Publishing project and the Huddersfield, Intota, Knowledge Base + Evaluation (HIKE) project.