Relevance of electronic resource management systems to hiring practices for electronic resources personnel

Abstract

Requirements for electronic resource positions in libraries advertised between the years 2000 and 2008 are reviewed and analyzed according to how they relate to developments in electronic resource management tools and standards taking place during the associated time periods. The research reveals that the job requirements for electronic resource personnel have not changed significantly over these years, despite overwhelming changes in quantity of material and quality of system resources and despite the recommendations of the Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resource Management Initiative documentation, which is used as a focal point for this study.

Evolving academic library specialties

“…Job announcements for ER positions rarely suggest someone with managerial responsibilities. The picture confirms a view of an ER librarian as a “cross between a reference librarian, a collection development officer, acquisitions manager, a cataloger, and an information technology specialist” (Boss & Schmidt, ; quoted in Murdock, , p. 38). Indeed, there is a strong sense of ER librarianship not (yet) having developed as a marked specialty.…”

“…Engel and Robbins's () study suggests that the role is not strongly specialist, but rather one encompassing a wide range of roles. Murdock () found that job adverts continue to expect general competencies in reference and instruction, reinforcing Fisher's () positioning of the role in public services. Sutton's () major study of job advertisements in the United States between 2005 and 2009 showed that professional capabilities such as communication, working collaboratively, and problem solving were the most common attributes listed as actual requirements.…”

“…After 2000, commercial products, known as electronic resource management systems (ERMS), were used to manage libraries' listings of e‐journals, increasingly necessary with the huge numbers of items in subscription packages (Murdock, ), and attempts have been made to integrate this into ILS functionality (Jewell, ). According to Murdock () the ERMS model envisages distributing routinized tasks through a number of library functions, and so potentially replaces the need for an electronic resources (ER) librarian as such, or at least, requires more emphasis on an ER co‐ordinator role, across professionals throughout departments, all of whose roles would themselves have evolved. Work by Park and Lu () and Park, Lu, and Marion () on cataloging/metadata professionals, points to how these roles have also evolved in response to electronic resources and digital library initiatives.…”

“…Work by Park and Lu () and Park, Lu, and Marion () on cataloging/metadata professionals, points to how these roles have also evolved in response to electronic resources and digital library initiatives. Yet there is no clear evidence in job advertisements between 2000 and 2008 that adoption of ERMS leads to the disappearance of the ER role, although the rising trend of job advertisements does seem to level out (Murdock, ). ERMS adoption has been patchy; it is probably too early to see how work will be reorganized once understanding of how to deliver e‐books has been made routine, and when resource discovery platforms have matured and been widely adopted.…”

“…Engel and Robbins's () study suggests that the specialist aspects of ER roles break down into three areas: Acquiring, evaluating, licensing e‐resources Managing, maintaining, trouble‐shooting Organizing through cataloguing or electronic resource management. Murdock () finds trouble‐shooting increasingly mentioned. However, his figures suggest that the role of organization and the need for web skills, frequently referred to at the turn of the century, are now less often required, presumably because libraries have shifted from producing their own web guides to using commercial systems.…”