Electronic Resources Management

by Nina Platt, Director of Library Services, Faegre & Benson LLP

I have always thought that the law library community has been short-changed by library system vendors. Our libraries have been made up of collections, consisting mostly of subscriptions and standing orders, that have proven hard to manage with the serials and acquisitions modules sold by most vendors. More often than not, we find ourselves "making them work" by finding "ways to work around" system inadequacies. As most law libraries have limited staff resources, these "work arounds" waste time, effort, and skills that should be spent on user services.

On the one hand, I understand that public, academic and many special libraries do not have the same issues as law libraries do with managing electronic resources. In general, these libraries purchase licenses for resources that are used by most, if not all, of their users -- resources with the breadth of information that meet the needs of a wide range of users. Law libraries, on the other hand, purchase individual products that have a depth of information. Since there are more public, academic and special corporate libraries than there are law libraries, vendors focus on developing electronic resources for the majority of users.

Later this year our library (in a law firm of 360 attorneys) will take on the daunting task of choosing a library management system. The firm has grown during the last few years and we now require a system that can handle multiple libraries with multiple locations and more effective acquisitions reports. While both of these requirements are important, most vendors can probably meet them quite easily. However, the requirement that I am most concerned about is the ability to manage our electronic resources.

Are there any systems out there that are really capable of doing what we need?

There was a time, and not too long ago, when making decisions about purchasing library materials was a fairly easy task. We knew the vendor who specialized in the resource we needed. We chose a title and placed an order for a book or subscription. When it arrived, it was cataloged, processed, and paid for. The item was shelved and ready for use. If the purchase was a periodical or newsletter, we created a serial record for check-in and routing of future issues.

Things have become much more complicated today. While it may not be true for all libraries, law libraries now evaluate and purchase an ever growing range of material formats, especially electronic resources that are used by individuals, practice groups, and firm-wide. At the same time, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, legal publishers have become large entities that are trying to be everything to everyone. The result is that, quite often, we law librarians do not know who sells the most useful electronic resource for a practice group. Therefore, once we go through the process of identifying a particular resource we generally use the resource for a trial period before deciding on its purchase. Trial periods are also needed for similar titles from different vendors.

In order to keep up with user demand, we generally have three to five resource trials running at the same time. At my law firm, we have identified the following steps for each process:

Trial Process

• Receive or initiate request for new electronic resource
• Review resource for appropriateness to collection
• Initiate trial process
• Determine trial participants
• Determine trial length
• Contact vendor to request trial.
• Enter trial information into database
• Notify participants of trial details
• Provide participants with passwords
• Arrange for user training
• Gather feedback from participants
• Evaluate trial

Order Process

• Receive request for new electronic resource
• Initiate trial periods as listed above
• Approve order
• Order resource
• Create order record
• Create catalog record
• Create serials record
• Identify users of resource
• Obtain passwords/usernames
• Enter passwords/usernames into password Database
• Distribute password to users
• Send software to IS for installation
• Add link to appropriate intranet page(s)
• Add resource to electronic listing
• Schedule training
• Verify resource is working
• Announce resource
• Verify license and create folder for license file
• Scan license and add image to database

Complicating the trial and purchase process, a significant amount of library staff resources is involved in the electronic resources process, i. e., selection, installation, trial period monitoring, training, and contract process. For example, the following positions participate in the process:

Director and Branch Librarian: Works with practice group and Electronic Services Librarian to decide if a trial period should be undertaken before a final purchase is approved.

Electronic Services Librarian and Branch Librarian: Manages trial process and trains users (or arranges for vendor training).

Acquisition Specialist: Places and tracks orders and pays invoices.

Cataloger: Catalogs resources.

Library Assistant (Serials): Creates serials record and checks in material, if appropriate.

Library Administrative Assistant: Manages all user ids/passwords and license documentation. Is the access administrator for those products where required by the vendor.

I know all of this sounds complicated, and it is. If you think we sometimes get confused, you’re right, we do. If you have a better idea for how this should work, please call me.

In the meantime, here are the steps we’ve taken to reduce the confusion and frustration:

• Created fields in catalog and serial records that allow us to keep the following information:
  • E-category: Allows us to divide resources into practice areas for display on the Intranet.
  • Description: Description of resource
  • Special Instructions: User instructions, i.e., "Call Library for password."
  • License: License description
  • License Image: Network address for image file.
  • User Names: List of users for resource
  • Tech Support: Vendor telephone number for tech support
  • Product Support: Vendor telephone number for customer support (how to use the product)
  • Training: Listing of what training is available from library or vendor.
  • Help URL: Web link for any help files maintained by the vendor.

• Created a web based/database driven checklist for the trial and purchase process that details each step, who is responsible, for each step, and where we are in the process.

While this may not be the perfect system, it has worked to improve our handling of trial periods and orders of electronic resources. In the near future, we would like to combine the checklist with out library management system. For example:

• When the Acquisition Specialist checks off "Place order", an automatic prompt directs staff to create the order/acquisition record.

• When the Electronic Services Librarian checks off "Identified users", an automatic prompt directs staff to enter them into the database.

• When the Administrative Assistant checks off "Assign passwords", an automatic prompt directs staff to enter them into the system.

An alternative to the above, would be would be the automatic updating of the electronic resources checklist every time each of us enters specific data. In either case, we need a mechanism to track where we are in the process.

Knowing what our needs are and knowing what the market is for library management systems, I can’t help being pessimistic about finding a system that will meet our needs. I hope I am wrong. Are any vendors listening?

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