Techniques for Electronic Resource Management

Best practices for managing e-resources are critical--two decades after the advent of electronic journals and databases, librarians are still grappling with how to effectively manage these resources in conjunction with their print resources. Now e-books have become yet another stream of purchasing and management, while economic pressures mean that librarians have to justify every penny spent on collections and resource development. This issue of Library Technology Reports details a project by Jill Emery and Graham Stone, Techniques in Electronic Resource Management (TERMS). It encourages open peer commentary and crowdsourcing of areas of best practice for each of the six stages of the e-resources life cycle: Investigation of new content for purchase or additionAcquisition of new contentImplementationOngoing evaluation and accessAnnual reviewCancellation and replacement reviewNo matter their level of experience, all those involved with e-resource management will find this Report a valuable reference.

Jill Emery is the collection development librarian at Portland State University, USA 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.