Developing a Crystal Clear Future for the Serials Unit in an Electronic Environment: Results of a Workflow Analysis

Graves, Tonia; Arthur, Michael A.

doi:10.1080/00987913.2006.10765073

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Early case studies of the shift to ER in academic library collections (Montgomery & Sparks, 2000;Duranceau, 1998;Gerhard, 1998) discuss, in varying degrees of detail, the development of new professional positions with a specialized focus on the tasks involved in the acquisition and management of these resources. Later studies appearing in the 2000s (Zhang & Haslam, 2005;Jasper & Sheble, 2005;Graves & Arthur, 2006;Dollar, Gallagher, Glover, Marone, & Crooker, 2007;Clendenning, Duggan, & Smith, 2010) described situations in which ERLs (or librarians in a related position) were already in place. The emphasis in these later discussions was generally on new workflows and adaptation of paraprofessional staff roles to new ways of managing technical services tasks and processes mainly related to electronic journals; they focused on the distribution of elements of the ERM workflow among retrained paraprofessional staff working under the guidance of the specialist librarian, with little attention to the specific workload on the librarians working in this area.…”

Section: Evolution Of Er Librarianshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing the Load: Distribution of Electronic Resources Management Responsibilities Among U.S. Academic Librarians

Macaulay

2018

Serials Review

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While electronic resources now constitute a major component of most academic library collections, and the Electronic Resources Librarian (ERL) position has become commonplace, the field of Electronic Resources librarianship is still not entirely standardized.Responsibility for the various tasks associated with electronic resources management (ERM) may fall on a single specialized professional, or be divided up among positions in the organization; responsibility for a given task may or may not be shared by multiple personnel.This article presents the results of a survey of academic librarians in the US who work with electronic resource collections, asking them about the range of tasks for which they are responsible, whether these responsibilities are shared, and how this work may be combined with other areas of responsibility. The results indicate that librarians who work in the field of ERM are responsible for a roughly similar workload whether or not they hold the title of ERL, though certain tasks are more likely to be the responsibility of ERLs. ERM responsibilities in general are frequently shared by multiple personnel within academic libraries. At institutions that spend more on electronic resources, certain specialized responsibilities associated with ERLs are much more frequently shared with paraprofessionals. IntroductionAs we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century, online electronic information resources can no longer be regarded as a new phenomenon for academic libraries. Electronic resources (ER) are now firmly in the mainstream of academic library collections, and may even predominate over physical items in some institutions; at the same time, the position of Electronic Resources Librarian (ERL), or some variant of this title, has become commonplace. Research and discussions published over the past twenty years indicate that the evolution of the technical characteristics of ER, and the growth of the relative importance of these resources in academic library collections, has been accompanied by changes in the kinds of tasks associated with managing them, and in the ways organizations have organized the efforts of professionals and paraprofessionals to perform this work. While the early days of ER librarianship were characterized by attempts to deal with the challenges of managing new formats, the field has now settled to the point where a certain practical understanding exists regarding the kinds of work normally associated with ER. This is reflected, for example, in the widespread acceptance of the ER lifecycle model (Pesch, 2009), as well as in the programming of specialized professional forums such as the Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L) and NASIG conferences. Nevertheless, it is still not altogether clear to what extent individual ERLs

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Section: Evolution Of Er Librarianshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing the Load: Distribution of Electronic Resources Management Responsibilities Among U.S. Academic Librarians

Macaulay

2018

Serials Review

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“…Old Dominion University (ODU) in Virginia conducted a similar workflow analysis project to document recommendations for staff reallocations and target training needs for new skill sets. 5 ODU's workflow analysis provided recommendations for altering the claiming and check-in processes, and increasing collaboration between the Serials Group and the Electronic Resources Cataloger. The Serials Coordinator, previously focused on print-related duties, began working more closely with electronic resources.…”

Section: Literature Review <1>mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with Hobgoblins: Rethinking Journals Processing in the E-Journals Environment at the University of South Florida

Borchert¹

2011

Serials Review

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Many libraries grapple with how to develop new skills for processing electronic journals, while still handling the print format as well. Journals in a print format have always been complex, and adding the electronic component has made them more so. Few libraries are adding staff to handle this workload. The University of South Florida Tampa Library has tried a number of workflow changes--not always successfully--to handle this transition. This paper will explore these changes, explaining why some were not successful and why others have resulted in efficiencies, and concludes with lessons learned that could benefit others.

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Electronic resource management: staffing and workflow

Elguindi¹,

Schmidt²

2012

Electronic Resource Management

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Developing a Crystal Clear Future for the Serials Unit in an Electronic Environment: Results of a Workflow Analysis

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Sharing the Load: Distribution of Electronic Resources Management Responsibilities Among U.S. Academic Librarians

Sharing the Load: Distribution of Electronic Resources Management Responsibilities Among U.S. Academic Librarians

Coping with Hobgoblins: Rethinking Journals Processing in the E-Journals Environment at the University of South Florida

Electronic resource management: staffing and workflow

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