NASIG Newsletter

STRATEGY SESSION
ERMS Integration Strategies: Opportunity, Challenge or Promise?
Karl Maria Fettig, Bowdoin College; Christine Stamison, Swets; Rebecca Kemp, University of North Carolina at Wilmington; Bob McQuillan, Innovative Interfaces, Moderator
Reported by Marie Peterson

Moderator Bob McQuillan opened the presentation with a statement on opportunities and challenges associated with integrating electronic and print resources.  The ratio of electronic to print is changing rapidly, leaving limited staff very little time to adapt, reassess and reorganize to effectively deal with the change.  McQuillan presented four topics in turn, and asked each of the panelists to comment.  The four areas of discussion were budgets, staff workflow, usage statistics harvesting, and the future of the ERM.

BUDGETS
Karl Maria Fettig gave Bowdoin’s breakdown of electronic versus print budgets as 60% to 40%.  Space, staffing and future contract issues are related concerns.  Their use of library space is being questioned by senior administration.  Staffing losses are an issue.  PromptCat with shelf-ready service has helped reduce some staff time, but they are also expecting contract services to be cut in the near future.  Serials and standing orders will be reviewed this year, with a keener eye to reductions, including whether they want a print title at all if the electronic is available.

Rebecca Kemp gave UNCW’s 2008/09 budget as almost $1,500,000 for electronic resources versus $500,000 for print.  E-resources are labor intensive.  Staff deal with licensing, package renewals, access set-up, and troubleshooting.  Statistics seem to point to heavy usage, but they question whether it justifies their overall expenditure.

Christine Stamison said Swets’s 2009 electronic or e-component subscriptions were 67% of their total, up 10% from 2008.  More libraries are going e-only, citing space issues.  Libraries are going directly to publishers for the “big deal,” while enlisting vendors for payment and subscription details.  Small agents are going out of business because they cannot handle and cannot afford to implement new technologies needed for e-resources.  Remaining agents are increasingly integrating licensing management into their systems.

STAFF WORKFLOW
Each of the panelists discussed staff training and reorganization needs in order to deal with fast growing electronic resources. Some traditionally print-oriented staff have been reluctant to work with e-resources, but overall, the necessary flexibility has been there.  Training is very important for the successful use of staff resources.

USAGE STATISTICS HARVESTING
Kemp said agents also need to show a return on investment (ROI).  Swets uses an electronic auditing system, SUSHI, for downloading statistics.  Fettig recounted Bowdoin’s evolving attempts over the past three years to harvest usage statistics.  They recently developed Database Stats, an ERM/homegrown hybrid application, as it is important for them to count database and federated search usage.

FUTURE ROLE OF THE ERM
Bowdoin will be implementing AquaBrowser with its ERM component.  Innovative Interfaces and Serials Solutions have been good for them, but they need to integrate the functionality of various systems.  UNCW is also working on a new system, loading packages one at a time, updating records, and hoping to have everything set to function together.  They’ll be using WebBridge as their link resolver.  Swets is going to ONIX-PL to help with licensing information, and CORE for uploading acquisitions data, along with SUSHI for usage data.  Systems and components are evolving quickly; the question is whether this keeps pace with institutions’ needs.

Following a lively Q&A session, it was apparent that dealing with electronic resources is an ongoing challenge for everyone — every institution, every agent, and all staff – and no one has solved all the issues.