Theodore Fons

The Present and Future of Electronic Resource Management Systems:Public and Staff

Prepared for:IFLA ERMS Satellite MeetingCape Town, South AfricaAugust 17, 2007

Presented by Sergey Obolonsky

What an Electronic Resource Management should do:

– The ERM is:

• A discovery tool for patrons and reference staff

• Can be integrated with ILS for efficiency

• Be easy to use and implement

• Be the comprehensive tool for management & analysis of e-resources

Identifying needs

Staff needs

Patron needs

Staff needs– Automation

• License description• IP Registration• Activation • License renewal• Incident reporting• License review

License review

Administrative Function

Identifiers Request or Report

(Client)

Response(Server)

IP registration Institution identifier

Resource identifier

IP addresses Confirmation

Activation Institution identifier

Resource identifier

Activation request

Confirmation

Renewal Institution identifier

Resource identifier

Renewal request

Confirmation

Incident report Institution identifier

Resource identifier

Incident description

Confirmation

License review Institution identifier

Resource identifier

License request

License dataTable 1: Core data elements for automation of administrative tasks

Staff needs– Automation

– Analysis• Usage statistics• Collection analysis• Downloads statistics• Search and hits statistics• Cost per use• Costs analysis

Staff needs– Automation

– Analysis Methods• Mean

[to measure average usage within a collection]

• Median[to identify the middle point in usage within a collection]

• Skewness[to identify asymmetry of the distribution of usage values within a collection]

Analysis Methods

Table 2: Statistical Summary for Sample Packages

Package Mean Smallest Usage Count

Largest Usage Count

Skewness Score

American Chemical Society, 2006 Usage

745.6071 20 3337 1.636924

Ovid Journals - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006 Usage

37.98857 1 352 2.790133

Elsevier – Science Direct, 2006 Usage

221.7717 0 56811 25.14667

Staff needs– Automation

– Analysis• Collection analysis tools• Cost per use• Overlap Analysis with Cost-per-use

Analysis• Usage statistics harvesting• Acquisitions - Data Costs analysis• Downloads statistics• Search and hits statistics

Analysis is s tool for negotiation with Resource Vendors

– Overlap analysis tool to show redundant titles– Usage statistics to show actual usage for expensive

resources– Cost per use– Most used titles– Least used titles

Overlap Analysis

Collection Analysis and Comparative Use and Cost Analysis

Journal Of The American Chemical SocietyJournal Of Agricultural And Food ChemistryAnalytical Chemistry The Journal Of Organic ChemistryBiochemistryEnvironmental Science & TechnologyJournal Of Physical Chemistry BOrganic LettersLangmuir Journal Of Physical Chemistry AInorganic Chemistry Journal Of Proteome ResearchJournal Of Natural ProductsJournal Of Medicinal ChemistryNano LettersChemistry Of MaterialsChemical ReviewsMacromoleculesIndustrial & Engineering ChemistryBiomacromoleculesBioconjugate ChemistryBiotechnology ProgressOrganometallicsAccounts Of Chemical ResearchChemical Research In ToxicologyEnergy & FuelsJournal Of Chemical & Engineering DataJournal Of Physical ChemistryOrganic Process Research & Journal Of Physical Chemistry CJournal Of Chemical Information AndMolecular PharmaceuticsJournal Of Chemical Theory AndJournal Of Combinatorial Chemistry

Total Full Text Downloads for American Chemical Society

Titles Per Number of Full Text Downloads for

OCLC FirstSearch ECO

Title Overlap with Usage

Staff needs– Automation– Analysis

– Consortium requirements• View of consortial (shared) resources • View of library-specific resources• Proposed and trialled resources

Staff needs

Patron needs (includes Public services needs)– Terms and conditions of use– Resource availability and advisory

• With forecast for problem resolution when system outage is on-going

Resource scope/description Technical requirements for access

Discovery Services PlatformLink Resolver Metasearch Views

Looking into the future: additional compatibility needs

The rapid development and implementation of ERM systems in the library marketplace shows that ERM systems are important components of the contemporary library management toolset. ERM systems were important enough to libraries that they evolved from locally developed systems to commercial products sold by commercial software vendors. However, ERM systems must evolve to provide features beyond those provided by the first-generation commercial ERM systems. The SUSHI standard demonstrates that it is not only possible, but highly desirable, to develop new standards to bring greater efficiency to electronic resource management.

CONCLUSION

As SUSHI used web services technology, that same technology could be used to bring new efficiencies to routine administrative tasks such as IP registration, activation, renewal, incident reporting and license review. Data standards for license data will further facilitate those interfaces. Standard statistics techniques should be applied to the analysis of ejournal packages to give electronic resource professionals the tools they need to make informed decisions about electronic resource purchases and the quantitative analysis data required to successfully negotiate with electronic resource providers.

CONCLUSION

And finally, new technologies and intra-industry cooperation should be sought for the sharing of ERM data with the critical public interfaces. In all, there is much room for growth in electronic resource management systems and their profile as a critical tool for professional management of the library’s most critical resources will continue to grow.

CONCLUSION

Thank you