Authentication and Access Management of Electronic Resources

This chapter opens with a discussion of the varying needs of libraries to provide their users with both local and remote access to electronic resources within the context of the various legal and technical issues surrounding them. An overview of the various types of authentication and authorization mechanisms currently in use by libraries, their parent organizations and electronic resource providers is presented. Further discussion follows on the unique needs and requirements of consortia licensed electronic resources and metasearch applications. The chapter concludes with a look at future considerations and directions libraries and e-resource providers may take with regard to secure and seamless access to electronic resources.

Copyright Implications for Electronic Resources

The chapter begins with an examination of the sections of copyright law that impact electronic resource management, and reviews the various laws that have been enacted in recent years to attempt to delineate appropriate uses of information in the electronic environment. In section two, the impact of copyright is discussed in relation to particular types of electronic resources. The unique characteristics and challenges inherent in both access and format are discussed. Section three reports on responses to a series of interview questions the authors posed to librarians working in a wide variety and type of libraries. The goal was to elicit information about how librarians are managing to implement copyright law in the daily reality of their increasingly electronic environments.

Evolving Roles for Electronic Resources Librarians

This chapter examines the evolution of the electronic resources librarian position within academic libraries as a result of increasing demands for electronic resources and the need for librarians devoted to planning, selecting, implementing, and evaluating electronic resources. The authors discuss the core competencies of electronic resources librarians and analyze the content of job advertisements for electronic resources librarian positions published in the College & Research Libraries News and The Chronicle of Higher Education between July 2001 and June 2006. The analysis reveals that electronic resources librarians are expected to be skillful communicators and collaborators as well as experienced with technology and versed in the issues surrounding electronic resources. Implications of these findings on the organizational structure are discussed.

Sharing the Albatross of E-Resources Management Workflow

Management of electronic resources is a time-consuming and, at times, a difficult process. Although the management of electronic resources is often seen as a strictly technical services endeavor, it should be considered a multifaceted process requiring all areas of the library. This chapter will provide a detailed account of how one library handles the electronic resources management workflow in a collaborative effort. It will be especially helpful for libraries working with a limited staff and resources and libraries trying to foster a more collaborative relationship between technical services and public services. The objective and mission of the chapter is to present successful library electronic resources workflow concepts in a straightforward and realistic approach. It aims to provide useful information on current workflow applications, procedures, and ideas from practicing library professionals at Jacksonville State University (JSU) that will contribute to the literature and area of electronic resources management. This chapter will provide considerations for workflow enhancements and detail the advantages of centralized workflows and collaboration between units.

The Impact of Locally Developed Electronic Resource Management Systems

As libraries dramatically increased their numbers of licensed electronic resources in the 1990s, such as online journals and databases, they realized the need for a record-keeping system that would help manage the details of acquiring and maintaining them. Since no off-the-shelf product existed, some libraries developed their own tools to manage electronic resources. This chapter discusses the development of locally designed electronic resource management systems; the process of developing the tools at several academic institutions is traced, with a focus on the aspects of the systems unique to each university. Locally developed electronic resource management systems have lead academic institutions to engage with other institutions and vendors building similar tools. As a result, community-wide efforts in identifying key elements for managing electronic resources have begun to emerge. These efforts lay the foundation for the future successful development of tools and standards to assist in electronic resource management.

Beyond OpenURL

This chapter provides a general overview of the development and implementation of existing techniques for the reference linking of scholarly research materials, additionally, some of the new techniques designed for advanced linking are described. Also presented are several new technologies currently under development, with an eye toward enhancing resource discovery and the interlinking of resources. The progress of computer technology, the adoption of those technologies by the information consumer, and the implementation of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 tools to existing resources have combined in opening up new avenues of linking previously isolated resources together. Information professionals must come to appreciate and apply these new techniques and in doing so will provide library patrons with a more user friendly and thorough research experience.

History of Electronic Resources

This chapter describes the history of the development and use of electronic resources in libraries in the United States. It provides an overview of the major developments in the field with a focus on library catalogs, electronic databases, e-books and e-serials. The chapter is intended to convey the broad sweep of change that has characterized these electronic resources from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s, as well as a sense of the underlying issues that remain the same. The author hopes that an understanding of the history of the development and use of these resources may lead to a better understanding of the current environment and provide inspiration for the future.

One-Stop Shopping for Journal Holdings

In this chapter, the author advocates providing a unified, seamless interface—one-stop shopping—for the full range of journal literature available and of interest to library patrons. After outlining the reasons why libraries should provide this access, the chapter reviews the tools available for making journal collections accessible, then analyzes the categories of journal literature to which a library could provide access—print and individual electronic titles, aggregated collections and big deals, free titles, free articles, and articles available for purchase. The chapter discusses the challenges associated with each category, as well as tools available to overcome these challenges. It closes with a brief look at future trends that will affect the ability of libraries to provide coherent, seamless access to journal literature.

Strategic Planning for Electronic Resource Management

This chapter addresses electronic resource management from the perspectives of planning, policy, and workflow issues experienced by libraries. Many libraries attempt to transfer and incorporate the print workflow onto electronic resource management. The result is a feeling of chaos and lack of control. The challenges, methods, and impacts on electronic resource management perceived by libraries are described. The authors suggest methods and ideas to address these topics that may help libraries create a sense of order for electronic resource management.

The Future of Electronic Resource Management Systems

The core functional requirements for electronic resource management systems have been identified and implemented in varying depths by commercial and library system developers. As use of these systems increases, novel needs have been revealed. These new needs reside on both sides of the end-user spectrum. Library staff have a need to analyze their electronic collections for comprehensiveness, title overlap, cost-per-use, usage distribution within journal packages and other collection analysis functions. They also have the need to automate administrative tasks like IP registration, incident reporting, activation, renewal, sample license review, and license exchange. Library patrons and public services staff have a need to understand the full range of permissions and restrictions for electronic resource use at the local and consortial levels. They also have the need to be alerted when electronic resources have been upgraded, enhanced or when system outages are planned or are on going. Those needs are manifest at all levels of access: the discovery services platform, online public access catalog, the link resolver, the metasearch environment, A-Z list, and so forth. Since the electronic resource management system already stores permitted and restricted uses, it is the ideal source for that data at all levels of patron access. As electronic resource management systems evolve, the functional requirements should evolve to describe the library’s needs for a system that acts as a collection development and analysis tool and as the source for critical access and license data for patrons wherever they access the library’s electronic resources and to support the requirements of libraries in a consortial arrangement.