Library workshop paper by nbte

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF E-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LIFE CYLCLE: AN OVERVIEW OF THE LIFE CYCLE OF E-RESOURCES, NEW MODELS FOR COLLECTION, DEVELOPMENT

AND ACQUISITIONBY

DR. MAS’UDU ADAMU KAZAUREI, mniEXECUTIVE SECRETARY

NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL E

INTRODUCTION The primary mandate of tertiary institutions is teaching and

research The primary goal of libraries in the institutions is to provide

resources that encourage and support teaching and research(http://lib.hku.hk/ed/policies/erp:html)

Over the years, libraries largely depend on print materialscomprising books, journals, periodicals etc to achieve their primaryobjective of facilitation of teaching and research in tertiaryinstitutions

Though print materials have the advantages of physical presenceand longevity, they equally have the disadvantages of occupyingspace, high cost of transportation and the attendant risks, highcost of purchase of new or updated materials etc(http://www.ehow.com/info)

The disadvantages of print materials and improvement ininformation communication technology (ICT) have brought aboutthe use of E-RESOURCES (ERs) in the libraries of tertiary institutions(Montgomery and Sparks, 2005)

The use of ERs in the libraries is posing some challenges notencountered with the acquisitions of traditional print librarymaterials

The challenges are in areas of access, interface, technical support,license, huge budgetary requirements etc (Sadeh and Ellingsen,2005)

This makes a capacity building programme on E-LIBRARY (EL) forlibrarians of public tertiary institutions, with a theme “Acquisitionand Management of E-Library” relevant, timely and imperative

The objective of the paper is to provide an insight intoE-Resources, their Management and models or policieson their Collection, Development and Acquisition

To achieve the said objective the order of presentationin the paper will be as follows;

Meaning and types of E-Resources

An overview of the life cycle of ERs

Meaning and process of ER Management

Acquisition and Collection Development of ERs

Conclusion and Recommendations

MEANING AND TYPES OF E-RESOURCES ER refers to any source of information encoded

and made available for access through the use ofa computer (www.loc.gov).

The access can be remote or direct Remote Access refers to the use of ERs via

computer networks Direct Access refers to the use of ER via carriers

such as Discs,CD-ROMs, VCDs DVDs etc designedto be inserted into a computerized device or itsauxiliary equipment

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu identified thefollowing types of ERs:

i. Electronic Books and Textsii. Electronic Journalsiii. Library catalogsiv. Reference Sources such as dictionaries,

almanacs, encyclopedias etcv. Statistical Sourcesvi. Sound Recordingsvii. Image databases such as Art, Maps, Medical etc

Libraries can acquire the best ERs based on thefollowing list of criteria;

i. Usefulness in serving the current or futureinformation needs of library users (staff and students)

ii. Reputation of the information provider

iii. Amount of unique information provided

iv. Scholarly content

v. Content is available only in digital form

vi. No or low risk of accidental or deliberate removal

(www.loc.gov)

AN OVERVIEW OF THE LIFE CYCLE OF E-RESOURCES

The lives of ERs are as complicated andchallenging as those of human beings: ERs areborn, and at times they also die or arereincarnated under a different name or in adifferent shape; they form families and thefamilies may unite with other families, quarrel, orsplit up; treaties between families are signed andcan be later discarded ( Saden and Ellingsen,2005)

The life cycle of an ER include the following stages:i. Discovery; at this initial stage the librarian is aware or

made to be aware of a new or required ER. Theawareness can originate from staff and/or students,advertisement, or a recommendation from a subject orsectional librarian

ii. Trial; in many cases librarians will want to try out an ERbefore deciding whether or not to purchase a license forit. A trial enables the librarian to offer the ER to some orall users and then base a decision on their feedback

iii. Selection; after the trial and getting the feedback fromusers, the librarian decides whether or not to acquire theER

Iv Acquisition; if the librarian decides to subscribe to an ER,then the acquisition process similar to that of printresources is followed. However, additional detail is requiredsuch as information about the license and the availability ofthe resource to various categories of users comprising staffand students

V Access; once an ER is acquired, the librarian ensures thatthe intended users have access to it. This involves serverreliability, provision of links to sources, provision of theplug-in software etc

Vii Decision to renew or cancel; an ER subscription is valid fora defined period of time. When the period expires, thelibrarian decides whether to renew or cancel thesubscription

MEANING AND PROCESS OF E-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT(ERM)

ERM is the practices and software systems used by librariesto keep track of important information about electronicinformation resources, especially internet-based resourcessuch as electronic journals, databases, and electronic books(http://en.wikipedia.org)

The development of ERM became necessary in the early2000s as it became clear that print materials catalogs werenot designed to handle ER materials

The idea of developing ERM systems emerged in 2001-2002growing out of research by Tim Jewell at the University ofWashington

The Digital Library Federation (DLF) began work in May2002 to develop standards for ERM data

The standards were published in 2004 as ElectronicResource Management: Report of the DLF ERMInitiative

Apart from the DLF initiative, there other successfulERM systems developed like Gold Rush developed bythe Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, HERMSdesigned at John Hopkins University and Tri-CollegeConsortium developed by a consortium of libraries inthe U.S (Holly yu and Breivold, 2008)

The process of ERM involves the following stages;i. Investigate; this involves searching for relevant and up to date

software systems to be used in ERMii. Acquire; this entails procurement and purchase of the required

ERM software systemsiii. Implement; this involves the application of the acquired software

systems in ERMiv. Evaluate; this entails measurement of performance of the applied

software systems in achieving ERM objectivesv. Review; this involves making necessary adjustments in the

application and performance of software systems to ensureachievement of ERM objectives

vi. Cancel/Replace; this involves cancellation and replacement of thesoftware systems that failed to achieve the pre-determined ERMobjectives

The ERM stages can be depicted in a graph asfollows;

ACQUISITION AND COLLECTION DEVELOPMENTOF E-RESOURCES

Library acquisition and collection, developmentof ERs is a process of meeting the informationneeds of users in a timely and economicalmanner using internal as well as external sourcesof information (http://en.wikipedia.org)

Collections are developed by librarians andlibrary staff by acquiring materials over a period,based on assessment of the information needs ofthe library’s users

In addition to ongoing materials acquisition, librarycollection development includes the following;

i. the creation of policies or models to guide materialselection

ii. replacement of worn or lost materials

iii. removal (weeding) of materials no longer needed inthe collection

iv. planning for new collections or collection areas

v. cooperative decision-making with other libraries orwithin library consortia

Acquisition and collection development policy/model comprise thefollowing stages:

i. Goal setting in areas of meeting the information needs of usersii. Environmental scanning to identify areas of strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats in acquisition and use ofERs

iii. Development of acquisition and collection developmentstrategies putting into consideration issues of costs and time

iv. Implementation of strategies which involves assigning specifictasks to staff and the required resources to accomplish the saidtasks

v. Evaluation of implementation of strategies which involvemeasurement of performance in achievement of the set goalsand review of strategies for determination of further goals-thismakes the process cyclical and continuous.

The acquisition and collection developmentpolicy/model can be depicted as follows; Collection Development Acquisition Model/Policy

Environmental Scanning

Goal Setting

Implementation of Strategies

Devt of Acquisition Collection Strategies

Evaluation of Strategies

There are number of sites published primarily by libraries or library organizations that are intended to aid in acquisitions and collection development work

Such sites typically publish or link toacquisition lists, collection developmentpolicies, demonstration projects, publishers,vendors, other libraries, and directories ofdiscussion groups

Such sites include http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs.html http://www.arl.org/collect/ http://130.15.161.74/techserv/qacq.html http://www.lib.unc.edu/acq/ http://link.bubl.ac.uk/acqlink http://www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/acqserd.htm http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/backexch.html http://lists.swetsblackwell.com/mailaman/listinfo/backserv http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ALCTS/Publi

cations6

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONSDue to rapid development in ICT, there has been

growing need for ERs in the libraries of tertiaryinstitutions. In their response to the increasingdemand for ERs by both staff and students, manytertiary institutions have commenced E-Libraryservices. This development is posing seriouschallenges in areas of access, technical supportand finance. To address these and similar otherchallenges related to E-library, the following arerecommended;

i. Librarians should ensure that ERs serving the current and futureinformational needs of users are acquired from reputable providers

ii. Librarians should ensure that the contents of ERs meet the stated ERMgoals and needs of users

iii. Librarians should ensure that the acquired ERs are made availablecampus wide and accessible to both staff and students

iv. Librarians should ensure that required equipment for the use of ERs likecomputers and soft wares etc are made available in the library,laboratories etc

v. Librarians should ensure that servers are functional and reliablevi. Librarians should ensure that registration and licenses of software are

completed and up to datevii. Finally and very importantly, tetfund in liaison with chief executives of

tertiary institutions should ensure that the required finance is availablefor librarians to achieve above and similar other recommendations tomake E-libraries operational and functional in tertiary institutions

REFERENCESHolly U and Breivoid, S. (2008). Electronic Resource Management in Libraries:

Research and Practice. New York: HersheyMontgomery, C.H & Sparks, J.L. (2000). The transition to an electronic journal

collection: Managing the organizational changes. Serials Review, 26(3), 4-18

Sadeh, T & Ellingsen, M. (2005). Electronic resource management systems:the need and realization. New Library World, Vol. 106, No 5/6 pp 2-12

http://lib.hku.hk/ed/policies/erp.html, Retrieved October 13, 2014http://www.ehow.com/info_8498882_advantages-disadvantages-print,

Retrieved October 13, 2014http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/net/types.html, Retrieved October 14, 2014http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collection_development, Retrieved October 15,

2014www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/electoronicresources.pdf, Retrieved October 15,

2014