Dynamics of Managing Electronic Resources: Electronic Resource Management System (ERMS) Initiatives

Abstract

Even after two decades of digital presence in libraries and proliferation of electronic resources (e-resources) in terms of production, acquisition and usage the management of e-resources remains a cumbersome process. The process involved in the management of e-resources has often overwhelmed the library personnel. The life cycle of e-resources, especially in the academic institutions begin with the discovery and identification of the resource and moves on to the trial access, selecting the specific resource from the gamut of other resources followed by acquisition of the specific resource into the library realm and then felicitating access to the users and then the follow-up of studying the usage of the resource for further continuation of those resources. In between these processes there is the cumbersome chore of going through the licensing agreements and keeping the records correct. All these processes are time consuming and involve a lot of work. These relentless arrays of work have made librarians to look for systems which can save their time and energy and provide efficient management of e-resources. This paper looks at the origin of the ERMS (E-resource Management Systems) and the available ERMS in the library digital landscape.