Electronic Resource Management in Libraries

Author: C. Sean Burns
Date, version 1: 2024-08-23
Email: sean.burns@uky.edu
Website: cseanburns.net
GitHub: @cseanburns

Introduction

This book was written for my Electronic Resource Management (ERM) course, which I teach in my library science program. The book and course's goals are to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to become electronic resource librarians. The course and this book should also be helpful to those who will work in adjacent areas of librarianship. Broadly, the work should be appealing to anyone who wants to acquire a fundamental understanding of how librarians manage their electronic resources.

Electronic resources include the systems, platforms, and works that are provided through the web. This includes academic databases, ebooks, discovery systems, and the technologies that connect these systems. It turns out that providing these systems and access to what they offer is complicated work. We study these complexities through four modules, and each module has a dedicated section in this work. The modules cover:

• the role of the electronic resource librarian;
• the technologies and standards used for this type of job;
• the stewardship of electronic resources through a study of workflows, markets, licensing, and collection development; and
• what providing these systems means for patrons.

This book is not a comprehensive study of ERM. However, it introduces students to the main areas and should be read along with the readings linked to in each chapter. The linked readings are updated annually.

About This Book

This book is a live document. The content is updated each time I teach the course, which is generally the fall semester. Updates will address changes in the field and to edit for clarity.

If the reader desires a PDF copy of this work, the printer icon at the top right of the page will print to PDFs.

Readers can search this work by clicking on the icon of the magnifying glass at the top left of the page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Chapter 1: Electronic Resource Librarians

Many of my incoming students are unaware that there is a specific role in libraries for electronic resource management, yet electronic resource management (ERM) in libraries plays a vital albeit invisible role. ERM librarians ensure the organized acquisition, access, and control of digital resources, and this requires them to manage e-books, online journals, databases, and other digital content. This work is increasingly complex, especially as libraries continue adapt to and contribute to the shape of the digital age.

While many are aware of the classic cataloger and reference librarian, electronic resource management librarianship is a specialized field that specifically focuses on the above challenges. These professionals employ a blend of technical skills and understanding of information access to negotiate licenses, oversee subscription renewals, troubleshoot access problems, and work collaboratively with other library staff to integrate electronic resources into the library system. This specialized work requires them to be generalists, too. That is, they must be aware of and support those other library staff and the library's mission to provide seamless access to information, adapting to the evolving needs of the academic community and the wider public.

This chapter introduces students to the field of electronic resource management. It begins with a section that discusses different perspectives of electronic resource management. Section 1.2 covers the kinds of activities ERM librarians engage in at their libraries. Section 1.3 argues that regardless of ERM librarian's specific skills and duties, a key characteristic of the field, given its need to work with continuously emerging technologies, is one of constant disruption.

The ERM Librarian

Introduction

In this section, I:

• provide examples of electronic resources,
• frame the topic of this course, and
• discuss the readings.

Examples

This semester we learn about electronic resources and about how to manage them. We begin by outlining the kinds of things that are electronic resources. Karin Wikoff (2011) outlines the major categories, and these include:

• databases
  • A&I databases (abstracting and indexing)
  • bibliographic databases full text databases
  • journal collections
    • Project Muse
    • JSTOR
  • specialized and hybrid databases
    • chemical databases: e.g., Pubchem
    • genetic databases: e.g., GenBank
    • stock databases: e.g., Nasdaq
  • primary source databases
    • original newspapers: e.g., Chronicling America
    • oral histories: e.g., Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History
• ejournals
• ebooks (see note below)
• linking technologies:
  • Z39.50
  • OpenURL
  • Federated search, aka Metasearch

Ebook technology is rather complicated and differentiated depending on the copyright status, the file type (PDF, ePUB, TXT, etc.), and the purpose or genre (textbook, fiction or non-fiction, etc.). In some cases, ebooks are software applications and not just plain or marked up text. They also vary by platform or the application used to interact with the text, each of which may offer different types of functionality.

Linking technologies allow users to query in one search system, like a discovery service. The discovery service then extends their query to other systems without requiring the user to initiate searches in those other systems. For example, a user begins a search in a library's discovery system, like UK Library's InfoKat (powered by Primo (Breeding, 2006)). InfoKat identifies multiple articles related to the query, even though those articles are located in other full text systems, like EBSCOHost, ProQuest, or JSTOR.

Framing

The print era of libraries was difficult enough, but managing print and using print resources was comparably a more linear process. Electronic resources have raised the stakes. Civilizations have had 500 years to develop and solve print technology, yet we have had only about three plus decades of experience with digital technology. We are a long way off from stability, and the challenges and frustrations ahead of us are not simply technical but also social and legal.

As you surmise from the outline at the top of this page, electronic resources compose a major part of any library: academic, public, school, or special. The need to manage them with efficient work flows requires attending to many parts of a system. We will discuss and learn about the complexity of these systems because these systems have had a major impact on librarianship.

Our Readings: The nature of ERM librarianship

Our readings this week provide introductions to electronic resource librarianship and help frame this course.

A Specialist and A Generalist

The first article by Stachokas (2018) surveys the history of this specialist/generalist librarian role. Stachokas (2018) finds that the electronic resource librarian has their feet planted in technical services and collection development. This requires a holistic understanding of the electronic resource work flow and of how it is embedded in the scholarly and library ecosystem. This division leads to different areas of specialization: those who focus on "licensing, acquisitions, and collection development" (p. 15), on "metadata, discovery, management of knowledge bases, and on addressing technical problems" (p. 15). This rings true to me. In my own observations, I have noticed that job announcements have increasingly stressed one of the above areas and not both.

The Technical Communicator as the "Bridge"

In the second article, Hulseberg (2016) uses the field of technical communication (TC) to interpret the field of electronic resource librarianship. Hulseberg (2016) takes the view that an electronic resource librarian is a technical communicator. A technical communicator does not help patrons with their technical problems. Rather, they document and report technical processes.

Hulseberg (2016) highlights four important themes about ERM: the interesting themes to me are Theme one: Metaphors of "bridge" and "translator", and Theme Two: Collaborating in a web of relationships. When I was an undergraduate, I wanted a job that would connect people from different silos and help them communicate. It turns out that, under Hulseberg's (2016) view, electronic resource librarianship does this work. However, the other themes are just as important. In particular, Theme Four on jurisdiction highlights a major disruptive act on librarianship.

As an example, consider that people, researchers and scholars included, use non-library provided resources to locate information. Additionally, more works, scholarly and non-scholarly, are freely and publicly available on the web, e.g., as open access (OA). This disintermediates the library from the search process as a result of people using non-library services, like Google or Google Scholar, to retrieve freely available works on the web. What then becomes of the core jurisdiction of the librarian and of the electronic resource librarian in particular? In concrete terms: a recent paper (Klitzing, 2019) reported that researchers state they use Google Scholar 83% of the time and EBSCOhost 29% of the time to find relevant material. That raises strategic and technical questions about the role of the librarian and the library in today's scholarly communication system.

To License or Not To License

The third article, by Zhu (2016), places a different theoretical lens on what it means to be an electronic resource librarian. Zhu (2016) posits that the licensing aspect of electronic resource management influences ER librarianship identity. Zhu's (2016) insightful findings are due to the fact that we often license electronic resources rather than buy them.

The crux centers around copyright law. This law provides librarians with an important legal justification for lending works: the First Sale Doctrine. Copyright law provides copyright owners with the right to distribute their work. However, the First Sale Doctrine holds that if you buy a copy of a book, then you have a right to lend or sell your copy. This doctrine is fundamental to librarianship but raises problems since librarians license and do not buy digital works (ebooks, etc). That is, the First Sale Doctrine does not apply to licensed works. That ALA has a guide on this issue (ALA, 2022).

Stachokas (2018), Hulseberg (2016), and Zhu (2016) present the historical and environmental forces that shaped the work of electronic resource librarians and their professional identities. These authors discuss important themes that function as evidence of these identities. In our discussions this week, we should focus on these themes and how to make sense of them.

Conclusion

Electronic resource librarianship is a fascinating area of librarianship. Digital technologies are woven into all parts of the modern library ecosystem. These digital technologies bring with them a slew of technical, legal, and social challenges. Therefore electronic resource librarians have to maintain a holistic, interconnected view of this ecosystem as these technologies develop. They also have to specialize in key areas that require maintaining this ecosystem.

The course takes that holistic view and divides it into four parts for study. In the first part, we study the nature of the work itself: what it means to be an electronic resource librarian.

In the second part, we learn about the technologies that an electronic resource librarian uses and the conditions that shape these technologies. We learn about integrated library systems (ILS) and how these systems conform (or not) to standards, and how they foster or obstruct interoperability and access.

In the third part, we focus on processes and their contexts. We study the electronic resource librarian's workflow, the economics and the markets of electronic resources, the licensing of these resources, and negotiating with vendors.

At the end, we focus on patrons and end users; that is, those we serve. Because electronic resources are digital, when we use them we leave behind traces of that usage. This means we study how we measure usage and what those measurements can validly say. Since usage leaves traces of personal information, we examine topics related to the security of these resources and the privacy of those who use them. Electronic resources likewise means having to use websites and other e-resource interfaces, and hence we study how electronic resource librarians study user experience and conduct usability studies.

Discussion Questions

As we start to address this, consider the following questions:

1. How do we manage all of this electronic stuff? Not only does it include complicated technology and has an impact on our patrons, but it involves all different sorts of librarians.
2. What exactly is an electronic resource librarian? This basic question critiques the representations of librarians in the media (movies, TV shows, books) and the interactions we've had with librarians in our lifetimes.

Readings / References

Hulseberg, A. (2016). Technical communicator: A new model for the electronic resources librarian? Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 28(2), 84–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2016.1164555

Stachokas, G. (2018). The Electronic Resources Librarian: From Public Service Generalist to Technical Services Specialist. Technical Services Quarterly, 35(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2017.1385286

Zhu, X. (2016). Driven adaptation: A grounded theory study of licensing electronic resources. Library & Information Science Research, 38(1), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2016.02.002

Additional References

ALA. (2022, June 27). LibGuides: Copyright for Libraries: First Sale Doctrine. https://libguides.ala.org/copyright/firstsale

Breeding, M. (2006). OPAC sustenance: Ex Libris to serve up Primo. Smart Libraries Newsletter, 26(03), 1. https://librarytechnology.org/document/11856

Klitzing, N., Hoekstra, R., & Strijbos, J-W. (2019). Literature practices: Processes leading up to a citation. Journal of Documentation, 75(1). https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2018-0047

Wikoff, K. (2011). Electronics Resources Management in the Academic Library: A Professional Guide. ABC-CLIO. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/940697515

Desperately Seeking an ERM Librarian

Key Points

In this section, you will:

1. Understand the evolution of ERM librariansip: You will be able to describe how the role of electronic resource management (ERM) librarians has evolved over the years and identify the key technological and organizational changes that have shaped this evolution.
2. Analyze job advertisements for ERM roles: You will learn to critically analyze job advertisements for ERM (or adjacent) librarian positions, compare historical and current qualifications, and understand the implications of these trends.
3. Evaluate core competencies: You will reflect on the NASIG core competencies for electronic resources librarians and assess your personal strengths and areas for improvement in relation to these competencies.
4. Identify key skills for modern ERM librarians: You will identify and discuss the key skills and knowledge areas required for modern ERM librarians, particularly in the context of cloud-based solutions and the increasing importance of vendor negotiations and technical expertise.
5. Reflect on personal development: You will engage in self-assessment and reflection to determine your current standing in relation to the skills and knowledge required for ERM roles, and develop strategies for further growth and development in this area.

Framing

This week we read two articles (Hartnett, 2014, Murdock, 2010) that analyze electronic resource librarian job ads. These articles capture a description of electronic resource librarianship in earlier years. Additionally, we review the NASIG core competencies for electronic resource librarianship. I suggest that you review the list of core competencies before you read the articles.

There are social, political, and economic conditions that have stayed fixed since those two articles were published. These conditions help focus the work of the ERM librarian. However, constant changes in technologies and types of electronic resources mean that electronic resource librarians constantly adapt to new work flows. Our Murdoch (2010) reading makes this point.

To follow up on more current advertisements for ER librarians, we can see that current job ads (2024) for ERM librarians remain broadly consistent with past descriptions. The results are consistent with years-past qualifications because the overall goal remains: to provide access to electronic resources. That is, the following duties in these ads may be independent of the specific technologies used:

• provide "consistent and reliable access to the Library's electronic resources and establishing workflows that maintain discovery and use of all Library collections"
• analyze "feasibility of technical platforms"
• "resource licensing and contracting"
• "copyright compliance"
• "vendor negotiations"
• "Acts as a bridge across multiple Library units"
• enhance "access and use"
• design a "system of access"
• analyze "staff and user issues with discovery of resources"
• coordinate "system administration responsibilities for integrated library system (Ex Libris Alma/Primo VE) with Technical Services Librarian"
• "create reports in Alma and individual databases as needed, including but not limited to usage statistics, user experience statistics, collection analysis and overlap"
• monitor "listservs for Alma and Primo VE"
• manage "administrative and troubleshooting functions for EZproxy and e-resource vendors for access and authentication"
• evaluate "the scope and quality of research resources available"
• "reviews and negotiates licenses for [...] purchased resources and manages the acquisition, activation, and troubleshooting of all purchased and subscribed electronic resources for the Library."
• gathers and analyzes "serials, e-books, database usage, and other related assessment data"
• oversees "the activities of the serials acquisitions unit"
• maintain "responsibility for licensing and the management of electronic information resources [...] as well as the shared consortial resources"
• assist in "planning and developing policies and workflows"
• partner "with the Acquisitions Librarian and staff on the ordering and payment activity of electronic resources"
• establish and "documents library procedures and best practices for the acquisition, licensing, implementation, assessment, and budgeting of electronic resources"
• work "with colleagues [...] to optimize resource discovery"
• work "with vendors to resolve technical issues and manages EZproxy for remote access"
• "collects, analyzes, and presents use, purchase, and availability data of electronic resources"
• "works collaboratively to support metadata maintenance for electronic resources and both print and digital serials"
• develop and implement "submissions to a shared University institutional repository"
• works "under the supervision of the Associate Director for Technical Services"

To stay current about the position overall and about the specific duties involved, I encourage you to bookmark and stay abreast of ERM journals. In addition to the two publication titles used in this section's readings and to the SERIALST list I have asked you to subscribe to, I recommend that you bookmark relevant journals, like the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, Against the Grain, and Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries

Our Readings

Now let's start with Murdock's (2010) overview of the electronic resource librarian's position in the first decade of this century. Then we will proceed to Hartnett's (2014) work that describes the electronic resource librarian's duties around ten years ago. NASIG's core competencies were also published a little over ten years ago and have only received minor revisions since then. We conclude by considering the current job advertisements listed above and elsewhere. With these, our goal is to arrive a sense of the ERM librarian's job duties and available technologies from the earlier part of this century to now; to understand where it was, how it has evolved, and where it might be headed. Overall, you will get a sense of just how much this position has changed in the intervening years. I will refer to this as constant disruption in the next section.

One of the useful aspects of Murdock's (2010) article is in section 4.3, which lists a 'timeline of commercial ERM developments and standards.' These technologies and standards continue today, and have, via hindsight, strongly shaped how electronic resources currently work. This timeline includes what's now referred to as the A-Z list of serials, which started in 2000, OpenURL linking technology from 2001, the combining of both integrated library systems (ILS) and electronic resource management systems (ERMS) in 2004, federated searching from 2005, SUSHI usage statistics protocol from 2006, and SERU from 2007. We will explore each of these topics in future sections.

Murdock's (2010) analysis shows that some duties started to wane in the early years. Website maintenance and deployment (see Fig 13), for example, dropped off the radar. This was likely due to the development of content management systems, i.e., turnkey website solutions, that are still in use today. For example, I remember Joomla and Drupal, both content management systems that can work as library websites, taking off around 2007 to 2009, around the time that Murdock shows this area of activity declining.

One of Murdock's (2010) conclusions is that employers sought "to hire those who are able to perform traditional librarian duties, such as reference and instructional service, in addition to e-resource specific tasks" (p. 37). Based on what we see in job advertisements today, this is much less the case today. Electronic resource librarians have become more specialized as the dominance of e-resources have grown. As a result, the position has divided its focus between two aspects: a technical services aspect and a collection development aspect. ERM librarians still liaison with their communities but in different ways (i.e., not as reference librarians).

A big change since 2012, when Hartnett's (2014) research ends, is that more technology has moved to the cloud. This means is that we rely less on on-site servers, where those servers might be managed by library IT (or other IT). Switching from local IT infrastructure to cloud based IT infrastructure requires different types of technological skills.

Cloud-based solutions have changed the field in other ways. Hosted software means the software isn't purchased but leased, and leasing involves outside vendors who must have the technological skill sets and resources to manage and provide the technology. So we rely, in important ways, and are more dependent on other actors in the publishing and e-resource provider ecosystem. That involves a lot of trust, and it involves more negotiations between librarians and vendors, and the ability to collaborate and develop good, ethical relationships. The kind of work that may increase, as more software and data are hosted on the cloud, might be the kind of work that requires strong communication skills, strong negotiating skills, and knowledge of how licensing works, how copyright and contract law work, and how electronic resource collections work and inter-operate across platforms. However, again, this can be complicated. A few years ago there was an email on the SERIALST listserv by a librarian that asked whether librarians have retained powers to negotiate and sign contracts. The responses were mixed. Some librarians had the jurisdiction but many had lost it, per the email responses. Even under this scenario, technological understanding is necessary in order to negotiate the best deal for a library's stakeholders and to acquire the best and most seamless product needed by library users.

Even though IT continues to be outsourced, this doesn't mean that we become lax in our understanding of how the technology works, just as we can't become lax in how librarianship works even though librarians answer fewer reference questions than they did in previous years (i.e., you still need to know how to respond systematically and thoroughly to research and reference questions). What I mean is that, in order to communicate this topic well, to negotiate well, and to sign licenses that are beneficial to our communities, it helps to understand and be adept at the tech so that we are not bamboozled in those negotiations. Also, if something goes wrong, e.g., with the link resolver technology, we have to learn how to identify the problem; that is, whether the technological issue is the link resolver technology and not something else, like the OPAC technology.

Conclusion

I want you to think about these job advertisement studies in relation to what you are learning about electronic resources as well as in relation to the kinds of advertisements you've seen since whenever you started paying attention to them, like those outlined at the beginning of this section. In essence, think about where you see yourself in these advertisements and how they impact you.

Although it might be the case that most of you haven't had a chance to learn electronic resource back ends, that doesn't disqualify you from attempts to start reflecting on this part of librarianship. As library users of these technologies, you have gathered enough abstract and practical knowledge to know enough.

Questions for Discussion

We'll soon move away from reflective questions and get our hands dirty with specific technologies, licensing, etc., but for now let's reflect on the following questions:

• Where do you think you stand in comparison to ERM job ads and to NASIG Core Competencies?
  • Where are you strong?
  • Where would you like to improve?
• What can you (and we, as a course community) do to help each of you get there?
  • What's your path?
  • What can you practice?
• Do a job search for electronic resource management. How do the job ads align with the how the position is described in the readings?

Readings / References

Hartnett, E. (2014). NASIG’s Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians Revisited: An Analysis of Job Advertisement Trends, 2000–2012. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(3), 247–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.03.013

Murdock, D. (2010). Relevance of electronic resource management systems to hiring practices for electronic resources personnel. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, 34(1), 25–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcats.2009.11.001

NASIG Core Competencies Task Force. (2021, April 5). NASIG Core Competencies for E-Resources Librarians. https://nasig.org/Competencies-Eresources

Constant Disruption

Key Points

In this section, we're going to address the following points:

1. The Role of the ERM Librarian: The ERM librarian requires a holistic understanding across technical services, collection development, and a specialization in licensing and technological aspects of library management. The role often overlaps with technical communication and is shaped by licensing work.
2. Constant Disruption: ERM is an area of librarianship that faces constant technological changes, making it challenging to find continuity. This disruption is what makes the field dynamic but also complex.
3. Conceptual and Practical Knowledge: Conceptual understanding of relevant technologies is as critical as practical skills, and both are interconnected.
4. Library Types: Much of the ERM literature and resources focus on academic libraries, but ERM principles apply to public, school, and other library types. Differences arise due to contextual factors like organizational structures and user communities.
5. Publishing Gaps: There is a significant gap in published resources about ERM in public and school libraries compared to academic libraries. Encouraging publication in these areas could help fill this void.
6. Historical Development of ERM: ERM has roots in early library automation efforts, beginning with circulation management in the 1960s and evolving through the 1980s and 1990s with the rise of digital information access. The core mission remains the same: organizing information to provide access.
7. Key Terms in ERM: Importance concepts include knowledge bases, OpenURL link resolvers, ERM systems, library service platforms (LSPs), and integrated library systems (ILS). These systems manage aspects of digital resources.
8. Emphasis on Workflows: Workflow management is central to ERM, especially during system migrations, which are complex, costly, and time-consuming projects.
9. Technological Evolution: The migration from print to digital resources reflects broader trends in librarianship, including the shift to managing electronic records, full-text search, and the use of the web for document retrieval.

Introduction

I think we might conclude at this point that there are different ways to frame the role of the electronic resource librarian. In The ERM Librarian chapter, Stachokas (2018) showed how the electronic resource librarian works across technical services and collection development and how this requires a holistic view as well as a specialized understanding of the processes involved. Huleberg (2016) illustrated how framing electronic resource librarianship as a technical communicator yields important insights into the work and profession. Zhu (2016) used the licensing aspect of electronic resource management work to show how central this activity is to the field's identity.

In the Desperately Seeking an ERM Librarian section, we reviewed a list of qualifications from current job advertisements for electronic resource librarian positions. In Murdock (2010), we learned how these kinds of qualifications are tied to technological developments. As the technology changes, and it changes a lot (see aside below), so do the qualifications. One of the big takeaways from Harnett's (2014) article, for me at least, is that conceptual knowledge of the relevant technology is as important as the practical knowledge, although the two are not always so easily divorced from each other.

Aside: See The Library Technology Guides' page on The History of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Library Technology Industry to get a sense of how much change has taken place in the last 40+ years.

Based on the readings so far, I think it's safe to say that the work of electronic resource librarianship is one of constant disruption. And by that I mean, it might be more difficult to find a thread of continuity, from its early days to now, in this role than it would be in other areas of librarianship. That might be part of what makes this area so interesting, but it does present some challenges.

Framing

The first listed reading we have this week is by Marshall Breeding. Astute observers will note Breeding is one of the first cited authors in the two additional readings we have this week. We will read more from Breeding later, but I bring him up now because he oversees a website titled Library Technology Guides. If you would like to keep abreast of the recent news on the electronic resource industry, Breeding's website should be at the top of your list.

Breeding's What is ERM? article is a good one to start the week. He provides an outline of the components of electronic resources, and he provides some historical context for those components.

The Focus on Academic Libraries is Misleading

One caveat, though: while all the articles on our list this week are focused on academic libraries, the terms, concepts, and processes described in these articles are relevant to other areas of librarianship. These include public librarianship, school media librarianship, and so forth. Differences in processes and in some details will arise due to organizational or other contextual differences among these library types. Organizationally, for example, public libraries are connected to municipalities, county governments, state libraries, and to public library consortia. This presents unique organizational challenges, and it highlights the fact that municipal, county, or state laws will define how some processes must be handled and who must handle them. The same is true for public schools. In such cases, school boards and school districts will likely be involved (see aside below). Contextual differences that shape electronic resource management include user communities. An academic library serves its students, faculty, staff, and perhaps the public to some degree. However, a public library serves its local community, which can be more diverse. Such differences will shape ERM workflows and other choices, like the chosen vendors and publishers. For example, academic libraries provide more scholarly sources, and public libraries provide more ebooks and audiobooks and less e-journals. This means that you might find services like OverDrive/Libby, Epic, and Hoopla offered by public libraries but not in academic ones, and that you will rarely find more advanced scholarly resources in public libraries. These differences in needs, due to different communities, will change the emphasis on some aspects of the ERM workflow.

Aside: As an example, see the impact that the current book bans are having on ebook providers and note all the parties involved in these situations, including: superintendents, county officials, county school system, school district employees, etc. Ingram, 2022.

In a newer development, ChatGPT is being used to satisfy the legal requirements Iowa school districts (Opsahl, 2023) must follow to remove books that contain any sexual content from school libraries (Paul, 2023). There's a worthwhile response to criticisms about this and about the overall law in a recent New York Times article (Exman, 2023).

Another reason why our reading lists lean toward the academic setting is not because electronic resource management is not relevant to public or other types of libraries. Rather, it is because academic librarians publish more about electronic resources and public librarians publish little. For example, I conducted a search in LISTA with the following query, which returned just three results in 2021 when I first ran the query, four results in August 2022, and four results again in August 2023 and again in August 2024. In fact, a new article wasn't published since the 2021 query. Rather, LISTA just added an addition item from 2015.

(DE "ELECTRONIC information resources management")  AND  (DE "PUBLIC libraries")

It does not get much better if I expand the query to include some additional thesauri terms. This query returns only six results in 2021, seven in 2022, eight in 2023 and eight again in 2024:

(DE "PUBLIC librarians" OR DE "PUBLIC librarianship" OR DE "PUBLIC libraries") AND  (DE "ELECTRONIC resource librarians" OR  DE "ELECTRONIC information resources management")

However, if I focus that query on academic libraries, then the results increase. The following query returns 51 hits in 2021, 57 in 2022, 61 in 2023, and 64 in 2024:

(DE "ELECTRONIC information resources management")  AND  (DE "ACADEMIC libraries")

And this query returns 82 results in 2021, 90 in 2022, 97 in 2023, and 100 in 2024:

(DE "ACADEMIC librarians" OR DE "ACADEMIC librarianship" OR DE "ACADEMIC libraries") AND  (DE "ELECTRONIC resource librarians" OR  DE "ELECTRONIC information resources management")

We could continue to explore LISTA or other databases for relevant material on ERM and public libraries, and we would find more. For example, more results are retrieved when I attach terms like e-resources, integrated library systems, discovery platforms, or ebooks to a public library search in LISTA. But the results are nearly always much less than academic library searches. Another example, my local library system, Lexington Public Library, uses the CARL integrated library system, but there doesn't appear to be any articles in LISTA about it since 2015.

Anyway, you get the picture. There simply isn't a lot of material on electronic resource management from the public library perspective. A quick search in the school media sphere mirrors this issue, too. The following search return zero results in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024:

(DE "LIBRARY media specialists")  AND  (DE "ELECTRONIC information resources management")

If you go into public librarianship or school media librarianship, I'd encourage you to publish on electronic resources. It would greatly benefit your peers and those of us who teach courses like this.

Back to Breeding. I understand some terms Breeding uses and the technologies he describes might still be new to us. Let me spend some time providing some additional background information and highlighting some things to look for in these three articles.

Librarians started to migrate to electronic resource management in the 1970s. Breeding mentions this, but the seeds were planted well before this. Nearly a decade ago, I published a paper that provides a historical account of the first library automation project, which took place in the 1930s with Hollerith punched cards. By the 1960s, the primary use of computers was to manage circulation. In the late 60s and early 70s, library automation focused on managing patron records. In the early 1970s, tools became available to manage and search bibliographic records. Hence, computers were first used to manage the circulation of books, then patron records, which allowed patrons to check out works electronically, and then we had the ability to search for works. If a work of interest was located using these tools, the work could be retrieved from the shelves or ordered via interlibrary loan by snail mail. Full text search came much later with the introduction of better storage media, like CD-ROMs in the 1980s. This period saw major growth with the introduction of the internet to more institutions in the 1980s and the web in the early 1990s, which at its heart is nothing more than a big document retrieval system.

In the process of migrating from print to electronic, all sorts of things had to change, but all that change rests on the major premise of librarianship: to provide access by organizing information in order to retrieve information. Although you may have heard that libraries are ancient entities, libraries and librarianship as we understand them today did not modernize until the late 1800s but more so starting in the 1920s and 1930s. It was during this later time frame when some in the profession began to hone in on the major complexities and challenges, social and technological, involved in organizing and retrieving information in order to provide access. The challenges with organizing and retrieving information that they identified nearly 100 years ago were indeed major and problematic. Fortuitously, it gave rise to what we now called library science: the rigorous study of libraries, librarianship, collections, users, communities, and so forth.

Yet consider when those people laid the groundwork for a library science nearly 100 years ago, librarians only managed print, and the primary means of accessing print collections was through a physical building. With the introduction of computer systems in the 1960s and with better networking technologies in the 1980s and 1990s, issues with organizing and retrieving information to provide access to it grew exponentially. This exponential increase created new complexities and launched an entire new field, what we now call information science.

All right, back to the ground level. Let me highlight some key terms in Breeding's article. They include:

• Finding aids
• Knowledge bases
• OpenURL link resolvers
• ERM systems
• Library service platforms (LSP)
• Integrated library systems (ILS)

Some of the above terms are defined in ODLIS: Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science.

Unless you already have some solid experience with these things, and even after reading Breeding's article, these terms may still be abstract. So, this week, you have two major tasks:

1. Find real, practical examples. Pick one or two of the above terms and see how they work in practice. Then come back here and tell us what you found. Use the articles to help you locate actual products or examples. See Breedings Library Technology Guides for reference.
2. Locate how these terms appear in either the Cote and Ostergaard (2017) article or the Fu and Carmen (2015). Note other terms that may appear in those two articles and comment on the role they play in the ERM workflow and the migration process.

Workflow

As you work on this task, I ask that you pay attention to the emphasis on workflow. The idea of a workflow is a major theme in this course because it is a major part of electronic resource management. We'll come back to the idea throughout this work. Also, as we read the Cote and Ostergaard (2017) and the Fu and Carmen (2015) articles, we will learn about how migrating to new systems is a major, expensive, and time-consuming project. One of the great things about these two articles is that they document the workflows used in these migrations. If you become involved some day in a migration process, you should use articles like these to assist you and to help you make evidence-based decisions about what you need to accomplish. And like what these authors have done, I would encourage you to document and publish what you learned. In the print era, there were some cases where librarians had to migrate to new systems, too. For example, some academic libraries in the U.S. initially classified their collections using the Dewey Decimal Classification system, but then began to convert to the Library of Congress Classification system after the mid-20^th century. This was no small task. Today, migration is big business in the library world (see Breeding's site for other examples). First, this is because the technology changes fast. Second, there competing electronic resource management products that librarians can choose for their communities, and they might be inclined to do that if the migration provides an advantage to their users, communities, and themselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the field of electronic resource management is defined by its constant evolution and disruption, which are driven by rapid technological advancements, among other things. ERM librarians must navigate a complex landscape that requires both conceptual and practical knowledge. They must develop and apply workflows and systems because the latter are in constant flux. While much of the focus has been on academic libraries, the principles of ERM extend to public and school libraries, too. However, these areas lack sufficient scholarly exploration. Ultimately, the mission remains unchanged: to organize and provide access to information. This challenge grows more intricate, though, as technology progresses. Understanding the historical development and current tools, which we will begin to explore in the next chapter, is essential for adapting to the future of library services.

Readings / References

Breeding, M. (2018). What is ERM? Electronic resource management strategies in academic libraries. Computers in Libraries, 38(3). Retrieved from https://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr18/Breeding--What-is-ERM.shtml

Cote, C., & Ostergaard, K. (2017). Master of "Complex and Ambiguous Phenomena": The ERL's Role in a Library Service Platform Migration. Serials Librarian, 72(1–4), 223–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2017.1285128

Fu, P., & Carmen, J. (2015). Migration to Alma/Primo: A Case Study of Central Washington University. Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/libraryfac/30/

Additional References

Burns, C. S. (2014). Academic libraries and automation: A historical reflection on Ralph Halstead Parker. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 14(1), 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2013.0051

Exman, B. (2023, September 1). Opinion | A Word on Censorship From the Book-Banning Monster of Iowa. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/opinion/book-ban-schools-iowa.html

Ingram, D. (2022, May 12). Some parents now want e-reader apps banned - and they're getting results. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/library-apps-book-ban-schools-conservative-parents-rcna26103

Opsahl, R., May 26, I. C. D., & 2023. (2023, May 26). Governor signs education bills, including ban on school books depicting sex. Iowa Capital Dispatch. https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/05/26/governor-signs-education-bills-including-ban-on-school-books-depicting-sex/

Paul, A. (2023, August 14). School district uses ChatGPT to help ban library books. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/technology/iowa-chatgpt-book-ban/

Chapter Two: Technologies and Standards

The chapter offers an introductory examination of key aspects within the field of electronic resource management (ERM) and library technology. Spanning four integral sections, the following sections explore:

1. The intricate relationship between electronic resource management systems and integrated library systems. These systems are essential for the organization and distribution of digital content;
2. The vital role of standards in ERM, which ensures uniformity and efficiency across electronic resources and workflows;
3. Insights into data and software interoperability, allowing for seamless interaction between diverse systems and platforms; and
4. A detailed analysis of electronic access and authentication, safeguarding and controlling access to digital resources.

Together, these lectures provide both aspiring information professionals and seasoned librarians a well-rounded understanding of the technological and methodological considerations that shape modern librarianship.

ERM and ILS

Introduction

In this section we dive deeper into electronic resource management systems (ERMS), integrated library systems (ILS), and library service platforms (LSP). Specifically, we seek to:

• Understand the ILS and LSP. We define integrated library systems and library service platforms and highlight their roles in managing physical and digital assets.
• Examine the modular structure of ILS/LSP. We look at how these products are structured into modules (acquisitions, circulation, cataloging, etc.) to handle library tasks and processes.
• Learn about the evolution of user interfaces of these systems. We will discuss the transition from OPACs (online public access catalogs) to modern discovery systems, and how these systems enhance search capabilities and integrate external sources.
• Introduce the role of ERMS (electronic resource management systems). We learn how ERMS assist in managing the digital assets and licenses of a library.
• Explore the interconnectedness of systems. We specifically explore the relationship between ILS, LSP, and ERMS, and how they work together to manage a library's collection and provide access to users.
• Provide access to practical applications of these systems. We will use real-life examples of these systems to see how librarians use them. This will provide insight into how the shift from print to digital resources has influence library organization and workflows.
• Discuss trends and future directions. We will briefly touch on trends like the growing interest in open-source ERMS solutions and the impact of cloud-based systems on library management.

ILS, the Integrated Library System

ILS is an acronym for an integrated library system. We were introduced to the newer term library services platform (LSP) in the previous section. Although similar in ways (Breeding, 2015; Breeding, 2020), the latter are becoming more common because of how they handle electronic resources. The main distinction is that the LSP is more focused on digital and electronic resources, and the ILS is primarily an extension of the card catalog system model.

Regardless, both the ILS and the LSP are "used by librarians to manage their internal work and external services," such as "acquiring and describing collection resources, making those resources available to their users through appropriate channels, and other areas of their [resource management] operations" (Breeding, 2020, para. 1). We begin by discussing the modular structure of these systems.

The Modular Administration of Digital and Electronic Resources

ILS/LSP products are used for multiple tasks, and these tasks are divided up into modules. These modules are accessed in the ILS/LSP through an administrative interface. Some of the common modules among these products include:

• acquisitions module
• authority files module
• cataloging module
• circulation module
• course reserves module
• online catalogs module
• patron management module
• reports module
• serials module

In the above list, I've linked to the open source documentation from Evergreen, which is an ILS. LibLime's Bibliovation product offers comparably named modules for discovery, circulation, cataloging, serials, acquisitions, and systems administration. LibLime is a LSP. Other ILS/LSP solutions offer specific modules dedicated to other items in the list, or those functions might be integrated into one of the above modules.

New modules appear in LSPs that take advantage of LSP abilities and digital assets. For example, the Alma LSP provides modules dedicated to acquisitions, resources, discovery (via Primo), fulfillment, administration, and analytics. Such modules are a reflection of the LSP's focus on digital and electronic assets. Please take a moment and read about these modules in links provided. Specifically visit the Alma and LibLime links to learn more about their specific LSP products.

User Interface

Each of you are familiar with an ILS/LSP from a user perspective. Some of you are familiar with these systems from a librarian perspective. In your lifetimes, you have used OPACs (online public access catalogs) or discovery systems like InfoKat. You have likely conducted a search for a serial (e.g., journal), and you have most definitely borrowed a book from a library. The ILS OPAC or the LSP discovery systems makes these end user functions possible.

Until recently, the OPAC was the primary way to locate and access items in library collections. However, in LSPs the OPAC has evolved into a discovery system. This difference is based on what and how it searches its records and other factors. The Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization describes the differences as such:

OPACs replicated and extended the functionality of the card catalogues they largely replaced in providing a finding aid to the books, journals, audiovisual material and other holdings of a particular library. The term discovery system has come into use in the early Twenty-first century to describe public-facing electronic catalogues which use the technology of the Internet search engines to expand the scope of the OPAC to include not only library-held content, including entries for journal articles and book chapters that were not typically part of traditional library catalogues, but also material held elsewhere which may be of interest to clients (Wells, 2021).

In other words, OPACS generally searched against pre-defined fields recorded in MARC (i.e., author, title, subject, etc.). These collections include print works but later electronic ones too held by the library. The form didn't matter as long as there was a MARC record for it. A discovery system can search additional text, if available. It can more easily link to items not in the library collection but which can be acquired through interlibrary loan.

A discovery system can also integrate with bibliographic databases and return results indexed by those databases. This saves the user from having to know about specific topical databases. For example, UK Libraries provides access to nearly 750 databases, and having a discovery system that can access those is beneficial. However, this does not mean that a discovery system is aware of all of a library's collections or all of its databases. And it's not always clear what's left out.

In summary, some key differences for the user are:

• OPACs primarily search cataloged fields in MARC records.
• Discovery systems integrate external sources (like database) into the search process and are able to do some full text searching.

In Totality

From their ancient beginnings, these ILS/LSPs, as Stephen Salmon stated in 1975, are "non-traditional" ways of doing traditional things, such as "acquisitions, cataloging, and circulation," but which has now become fairly routine!

Electronic resource librarians might work extensively with specific resources or modules in order to administer the library's digital assets (e.g., contracts, etc.). However, all librarians use one or more of the ILS/LSP modules at some point. For example, when I worked in reference at a small academic library, I used the Millennium ILS to check out books to users, to fix borrowing issues, and to search for works in the OPAC. Later I primarily used the cataloging module when I moved to technical services. What a librarian uses frequently depends on the organizational structure of a library and their role in that library. As our reading by Miller, Sharp, and Jones (2014) show, the rise in electronic resources has influenced the ways librarians structure their organizations. Much of those organizational structure were originally informed by the dictates of a "print-based world".

In summary, the administrative interface includes modules to manage collections, patron accounts, etc. The end user interfaces are for people looking for information. Combined they make up the totality of the ILS/LSP software. In short:

• an administrative interface is used by librarians to manage tasks provided through modules.
• a public interface, such as an OPAC or discovery system, is used by librarians and patrons to access the library's collections.

While ILS/LSP solutions are essential for managing physical and digital collections, ERM systems play a pivotal role in managing the library's digital resources and their associated licenses.

ERMS, the Electronic Resource Management System

ERMS is an acronym for electronic resource management system. Its function is born from the need to manage a library's digital assets, for example, the licenses that a library has signed. In order to manage assets like licenses, the ERMS can keep track of the signatories, the terms of the license/contracts, specific documents related to these processes, and more.

Licenses will be discussed in a later section, but they deal with the terms of access, embargo periods, multi-user access limits, length of access, retention and archival of content, and more.

An ERMS may or may not be integrated with a library's ILS software. But it's more likely integrated in a LSP solution. The Alma LSP, for example, is a LSP that also provides electronic resource management. In short, a library that uses an ILS may be using a separate ERMS product. However, a library that uses an LSP may be using the LSP for electronic resource management.

Like the ILS/LSP, ERM software is generally divided into modules. These modules focus the librarian's work on particular duties to create workflows and knowledge management systems. In an ERM like the open source CORAL system, the modules include:

• Resources: a module "provides a robust database for tracking data related to your organization's resources ..." and "provides a customizable workflow tool that can be used to track, assign, and complete workflow tasks."
• Licensing: a module for a "flexible document management system" that provides options to manage licensing agreements and to automate parts of the process.
• Organizations: this module acts as a type of advanced directory to manage the organizations that impact or are involved in the management of electronic resources, including "publishers, vendors, consortia, and more."
• Usage Statistics: a module providing librarians with usage statistics of digital assets by platform and by publisher. Supports COUNTER and SUSHI. We'll cover COUNTER and SUSHI later in the semester, but as a preamble:
  • COUNTER "sets and maintains the standard known as the Code of Practice and ensures that publishers and vendors submit annually to a rigorous independent audit", and,
  • SUSHI is a type of protocol to automate collecting data on usage statistics.
• Management: this module provides a document management system aimed at "storing documents, such as policies, processes, and procedures, related to the overall management of electronic resources".

Readings

In our readings this week, we have three articles that speak to ILS/LSP and ERM software solutions and the relationship between the two.

As Fournie (2020) notes, the electronic resource market is consolidating into a few heavyweights. Yet this trend does not have to force libraries into solutions that lead to vendor lock-in or acceptance of walled gardens. As such, there has been a growing interest in open-source alternatives, especially among libraries seeking more customizable solutions. In the process, Fournie (2020) describes two ERM solutions: Coral and Folio. The author's descriptions are helpful in understanding what these two software solutions are capable of providing.

The readings by Miller, Sharp, and Jones (2014) and Bahnmaier, Sherfey, and Hatfield (2020) provides context about how these technologies impact librarianship. Miller et al. (2014) describe a case study that shows how electronic resources have impacted organizational structure, job titles, budgets, and more. Likewise Bahnmaier et al. (2020) discuss aspects of this and reflect on changes in library staffing and how this raises the importance of the library-vendor relationship.

Conclusion

With that background in mind, in this week's forum, I'll introduce you to the following systems:

• Evergreen ILS
  • https://evergreen-ils.org/
• Koha ILS
  • https://koha-community.org/
• Folio LSP / ERM
  • https://www.folio.org/
• Project ReShare (interlibrary loan)
  • https://projectreshare.org/
• VuFind (Discovery)
  • https://vufind.org/vufind/
• GOKb Knowledge Base
  • https://gokb.org/
• Coral ERM
  • http://coral-erm.org/

We will see what services and modules they provide, and how they function. Be sure to visit the links in this page, especially any documentation. I'll ask that you log into the relevant services, test the demos sites, or watch the demo videos. This will help get some hands-on experience with them and also demystify what each do.

Further Reading

• Informational Resources:
  • Library Services Platforms: A Maturing Genre of Products
  • Differences between ILS and LSP
  • A broad overview of the migration the Aleph ILS to the Alma LSP
• Product Descriptions:
  • Ex Libres Alma and Primo
  • iii innovative
  • EBSCO Discovery Service

Addendum

In prior semesters, we read articles by Wang and Dawes (2012) and Wilson (2011). I replaced those readings back in the Fall 2022 semester, but for those interested, I briefly describe them below.

In the article by Wang and Dawes (2012), the authors describe the "next generation integrated library system", which should meet the criteria that include the ability to merge ILS software with ERM software. ERM software solutions exist because integrated library systems (ILS) failed to include functions to manage digital assets. Basically, the ILS was still behaving with a print-mindset, so to speak, and was growing stagnant. Around the time the article was published, more ILS and ERM software began moving to the cloud, as was common in other software markets. This changed the game because it placed a burden on software companies to maintain their software. Based on demand and need, the LSP was created as a next-generation ILS that included ERM functionality. So it's likely that even though the LSP might replace the ILS/ERM combo someday, it could be that we'll live in a dual world where some libraries use a LSP and some use the LSP/ERM combo. Currently, this is often reflected in library types: academic libraries are moving more towards LSPs while public and other libraries use ILSs and other solutions to manage their electronic resources.

Despite the technical aspects of these solutions, at its basic, both ILS/LSP and ERM software solutions focus on managing assets (books, serials, realia, etc) so that librarians can organize and users and librarians can retrieve those assets. There's no requirement to use any solution offered by a library vendor, and that's the point of the Wilson (2011) article, which shows how regular software can be used to function as a homegrown solution for creating and implementing an ERM work flow.

References to Readings

Bahnmaier, S., Sherfey, W., & Hatfield, M. (2020). Getting more bang for your buck: Working with your vendor in the age of the shrinking staff. The Serials Librarian, 78(1–4), 228–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2020.1717032

Fournie, J. (2020). Managing electronic resources without buying into the library vendor singularity. The Code4Lib Journal, 47. https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/14955

Miller, L. N., Sharp, D., & Jones, W. (2014). 70% and climbing: E-resources, books, and library restructuring. Collection Management, 39(2–3), 110–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2014.901200

Additional References

Anderson, E. K. (2014). Chapter 4: Electronic Resource Management Systems and Related Products. Library Technology Reports, 50(3), 30–42. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4491

Breeding, M. (2015). Library Technology Reports, 51(4). Chapters 1-5. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/509

Breeding, M. (2020). Smart libraries Q&A: Differences between ILS and LSP. Smart Libraries Newsletter, 40(10), 3–4. [https://librarytechnology.org/document/25609][breeding2022]

Hosburgh, N. (2016). Approaching discovery as part of a library service platform. In K. Varnum (Ed.), Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to your Library’s Licensed and Digitized Content. (pp. 15-25). Chicago, IL: ALA Editions. https://scholarship.rollins.edu/as_facpub/138/

Salmon, S. R. (1975). Library automation systems. New York: Marcel Dekker.

Wang, Y., & Dawes, T. A. (2012). The Next generation integrated library system: A promise fulfilled? Information Technology and Libraries, 31(3), 76–84. https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v31i3.1914

Wells, D. (2021). Online public access catalogues and library discovery systems. In B. Hjørland & C. Gnoli (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization (Vol. 48, pp. 457–466). https://www.isko.org/cyclo/opac

Wilson, K. (2011). Beyond library software: New tools for electronic resources management. Serials Review, 37(4), 294–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2011.10765404

Standardizing Electronic Resource Management

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

1. Understand the importance of standardization: Recognize how standardization in processes and technologies, such as those pioneered by Ralph Parker, improves library operations and supports automation.
2. Identify key systems for managing electronic resources: Explore the systems used for electronic resource management (ERM) and how they facilitate standardization and efficiency in library workflows.
3. Explain the historical context of library automation: Relate historical advancements in library automation, such as the use of punched cards, to modern electronic resource management practices.
4. Analyze the role of organizations like NISO: Understand how the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) develops standards that impact libraries, including those related to bibliographic information, indexing, and electronic resources.
5. Explore TERMS as a framework for ERM: Examine the Techniques for Electronic Resource Management (TERMS) as a guide for managing electronic resources, focusing on the different stages of the ERM life cycle.
6. Apply standardization principles to real-world ERM: Apply the concepts of standardization and workflows to practical scenarios, using systems like Coral or Folio to facilitate efficient ERM in libraries.

Introduction

Awhile ago now, I conducted some historical research on a librarian named Ralph Parker. Inspired by technological advances in automation, specifically the use of punched cards and machines, Parker began to apply this technology to library circulation processes in the 1930s. He thus became the first person to automate part of the library's workflow. By the mid-1960s, Parker's decades long pursuit of library automation led to some major advances, including the founding of OCLC. Meanwhile, the punched card system he continued to develop eventually led to massive increases in circulation and better service to patrons. In the mid-60s he wrote the following about the installation and launch of a new punched card system to help automate circulation:

"To the delight of the patrons it requires only four seconds to check out materials" (as cited in Burns, 2014).

I think about that quote often. When I read that in his annual report in the archives at the University of Missouri, I could feel his giddiness with these results. Until this achievement, borrowing from the library involved completing multiple forms to be sure that accurate records were kept. Accurate record keeping is important. Libraries need to protect their collections but also provide access to them, and this is not possible without accuracy. As stated in the Flexner (1927):

it is necessary that the library have control of these circulating books in several ways. It [the library] must know where they are, it must lay down rules to see that thoughtless people do not retain the books in their possession unfairly, and it must provide means for securing their prompt return. These and many other considerations combine to make it necessary for the [ circulation ] department to install and maintain very efficient methods to control the circulation of books, which are commonly known as routines (p. 6).

What were those routines in the 1930s? Why was Parker so excited about his system taking only four seconds to check out a work? Well, two routines are important for circulation. The first involves membership and the second involves charging or checking out works.

Membership

First, if the patron was not yet a member of a library, then they had to register to become one. Hence, the first routine was to check their membership and register them as borrowers if they were not yet a member or if their membership had expired. If this was a public library, then the process varied depending if the member was an adult or a youth (or juveniles in the lingo of the time). This routine involved completing an application card, creating and filing a member record, and issuing the borrower a card of their own, i.e., their borrower's card.

Charging

Once membership status was confirmed or created, then the circulation librarian employed a system to charge books to the borrower. Different systems had been employed up through the late 1920s, including the ledger system, the dummy system, the temporary slip system, the permanent slip or card system, the Browne system, and eventually the Newark charging system (see Flexner, 1927, pp. 73-82 for details). Assuming the librarian in the 1930s used the Newark system, the librarian entered the details on a "book card, a date slip and a book pocket for each book" (Flexner, 1927, p. 78). Flexner goes on to outline the process:

The date slip is pasted opposite the pocket at the back of the book. The date which indicates when the book is due to be returned or when issued is stamped on each of three records, the reader's card, the book card and the date slip. The borrower's number is copied opposite the date on the book card. The date on the date slip indicates at once the file in which the book card is to be found, and the [librarian] assistant is able to discharge the book and release the borrower immediately on the return of the volume (Flexner, 1927, pp. 78-79).

In essence, charging books or works to patrons involved a lot of paperwork, and you can imagine that it might be prone to error. However, the number of charging systems then and the discussions and debates around them show that the processes and routines were steadily becoming standardized. Standardization is a necessary pre-requisite to automation.

Parker's achievement in automation improved the library experience for patrons and librarians at the circulation desk. Similarly, today's electronic resource management systems rely on standardized processes and workflows to ensure libraries can efficiently manage resources and serve patrons, much like Parker's early automation work with circulation. This work also indirectly improved processes throughout the library. Once circulation standards stabilized and technology like punched cards became available, then it became possible to automate other library processes. And this was good; the effects were that automation increased circulation and that an automated circulation process Saved The Time Of The Reader, down to four seconds to be exact!

This is all to say that standards and technology go hand and hand and that the details matter when thinking about standards. How does this relationship work? Standards enable multiple groups of competing interests to form a consensus around how a technology should work. When this happens, multiple parties receive payoffs at the expense of any single party acquiring a monopoly. This is true for the design of screwdrivers, the width of railroad tracks, the temperature scale. It is certainly true for how information is managed and exchanged. The internet and the web wouldn't exist or definitely not exist as we know it if not for the standardization of the Internet Protocol (IP), the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and other internet and web related technologies. These and other standards enable the internet and the web to work for users regardless of the operating system and the hardware they use.

Readings

NISO

Our first article this week by Harris (2006) covers the basic reasons for the existence of NISO (the National Information Standards Organization) and the kinds of standards NISO is responsible for maintaining and creating. These standards are directly related to libraries and fall under three broad categories. They deal with Information Creation & Curation, Information Discovery & Interchange, and Information Policy & Analysis. There are standards that touch on bibliographic information, indexing, abstracting, controlled vocabularies, and other library important issues. If you have not before paid attention to NISO, you might now start seeing more references to the organization and the standards it publishes. The international library community has worked closely with NISO to develop standards of library work.

Another historical note: As Harris (2006) elaborates in the article, NISO came into existence in the mid-1930s. This was the same decade that Ralph Parker began working on his punched card system. Not long before this, in the late 1920s, the first library science graduate program launched at the University of Chicago. In the early 1930s, the first research based journal started, The Library Quarterly. We often hear how long libraries have existed (since ancient times), and it's true that there were modern accomplishments before the 1930s. Yet it is this time period (for these and a number of other reasons) that marks the modern era of libraries.

TERMS

We also are not simply interested in standards that deal with the forms used to catalog and charge a book, to create member records, and to draw up licenses for an electronic resources, as we'll discuss later. We are also interested in standardizing, as Flexner (1927) would say, "routines", processes, or workflows. We discuss other standards in our readings on TERMS, or Techniques for Electronic Resource Management.

TERMS is not a true standard, but more of a de facto or proposed standard that helps outline the electronic resource management workflow. It was developed to address the growing complexities of managing electronic records, where varying workflows, inconsistent processes, and a lack of standardization were creating inefficiencies for libraries trying to provide access to digital content. Version 1 of TERMS is described by the TERMS authors in an issue of Library Technology Reports. Although it has been replaced by a newer version, it still functions as a thorough introduction to the ERM workflow and provides guidance and suggestions on electronic resource management. For example, in chapter 7 of the LTS report on TERMS version 1, the authors provide information on the importance of working with providers or vendors in case of cancellation of a resource. They write:

Do not burn any bridges! Many resources have postcancellation access, which means you need to keep up a working relationship with suppliers; this might also incur a platform access fee going forward, so this needs to be budgeted for in future years. Review the license to fully understand what your postcancellation rights to access may be. In addition, you may resubscribe to the resources in future years. Content is bought and sold by publishers and vendors. Therefore, you may end up back with your original vendor a year or two down the line!

Some of this material is repeated in version 2 of TERMS, but version 2 was created to include more input from the community. Version 2 also includes a slightly modified outline, and includes the following parts:

1. Investigating new content for purchase or addition
2. Acquiring new content
3. Implementation
4. Ongoing evaluation and access, and annual review
5. Cancellation and replacement review
6. Preservation

At the same link just provided, they also write about this new version:

In addition to the works mentioned or cited in the original TERMS report, much has been written in the past few years that can help the overwhelmed or incoming electronic resources librarian manage their daily workflow. In the end, however, most of the challenges facing the management of electronic resources is directly related to workflow management. How we manage these challenging or complex resources is more important than what we do, because how we do it informs how successful and how meaningful the work is, and how well it completes our goal of getting access to patrons who want to use these resources.

As such, the outline and the content described in these two versions of TERMS is centered on the ERM workflow. TERMS is a guide and framework for thinking on the different aspects of the electronic resource life-cycle within the library. For example, let's consider Term item 1, which is to investigate new content for purchase or addition. In a presentation by the Emery and Stone (2014), they suggest that this involves the following steps, partly paraphrased:

• outline what you want to achieve
• create a specification document
• assemble the right team
• review the market and literature and set up trial
• speak with suppliers and vendors
• make a decision (Emery and Stone, slide 12, 2014)

Emery and Stone (2014) provide other examples, and the TERMS listed in this slide are from the first version. TERM no. 6, PRESERVATION, was added in version 2, and TERMS nos. 4 and 5 from version 1 were joined together.

Exercise

This week you have a two part exercise:

First

Visit the NISO website and search for documentation on a standard, recommended practices, or technical reports and post about it. The differences between these publications follows:

Technical reports:

NISO Technical Reports provide useful information about a particular topic, but do not make specific recommendations about practices to follow. They are thus "descriptive" rather than "prescriptive" in nature. Proposed standards that do not result in consensus may get published as technical reports.

Recommended Practices:

NISO Recommended Practices are "best practices" or "guidelines" for methods, materials, or practices in order to give guidance to the user. These documents usually represent a leading edge, exceptional model, or proven industry practice. All elements of Recommended Practices are discretionary and may be used as stated or modified by the user to meet specific needs.

Published and Approved NISO Standards:

These are the final, approved definitions that have been achieved by a consensus of the community.

See https://www.niso.org/niso-io/2014/03/state-standards for the descriptions.

Second

After reading about TERMS, try to place these TERMS in additional electronic resource management context. Please draw from your experience using the ILS and ERM software and the readings. You can also draw from your personal work experience in a library, or use your imagination if you haven't had such an experience. Be sure to review the documentation on these products to see how they address workflow standardization and ERM processes. Specifically, it would be interesting if you could pick out aspects of systems like Coral or Folio that appear to facilitate standardized workflows.

Sources for NISO Tasks

• NISO: Recommended Practices
• NISO: Technical Reports
• NISO: Standards

Readings / References

Emery, J., & Stone, G. (2017, March 17). Announcing TERMS ver2.0. TERMS: Techniques for electronic resource management. https://library.hud.ac.uk/archive/projects/terms/announcing-terms-ver2-0/

Harris, P. (2006). Library-vendor relations in the world of information standards. Journal of Library Administration, 44(3–4), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1300/J111v44n03_11

Heaton, R. (2020). Evaluation for evolution: Using the ERMI standards to validate an Airtable ERMS. The Serials Librarian, 79(1–2), 177–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2020.1831680

Hosburgh, N. (2014). Managing the electronic resources lifecycle: Creating a comprehensive checklist using techniques for electronic resource management (TERMS). The Serials Librarian, 66(1–4), 212–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2014.880028

Additional References

Burns, C. S. (2014). Academic libraries and automation: A historical reflection on Ralph Halstead Parker. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 14(1), 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2013.0051, or: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/slis_facpub/6/

Breeding, M. (2015). Library Technology Reports, 51(4). Chapters 1-5. [https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/509][breeding2015]

Emery, J., & Stone, G. (2013). Library Technology Reports, 49(2). Chapters 1-8. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/192

Emery, J., & Stone, G. (2014, July). Techniques for Electronic Resource Management (TERMS): From Coping to Best Practices [Conference]. 2014 AALL Annual Meeting and Conference, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center San Antonio, TX. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/19420/

Flexner, J. M. (1927). Circulation Work in Public Libraries. American Library Association. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015027387052

Interoperability

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

1. Understand the challenges and complexities of accessing library resources, particularly those behind paywalls.
2. Explain the role of OpenURL link resolvers in enhancing interoperability between different library services.
3. Identify the technological issues involved in linking to the main source of a resource, especially when multiple discovery platforms are involved.
4. Analyze how metadata embedded in URLs facilitates access to library resources.
5. Demonstrate how to set up library links in Google Scholar to enhance resource accessibility.
6. Dissect and understand the components of an OpenURL and their importance in library systems.
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of link resolver technology from both system and user perspectives based on case studies.

Introduction

Managing electronic resources in libraries involves a complex web of technologies and services, each presenting its own set of challenges. One challenge is the intricacy of navigating paywalls to access a library's digital content. This section examines the complications that arise when accessing paywalled materials. We explore how technologies like OpenURL link resolvers streamline this process and enhance interoperability between multiple services.

Problem

We take it for granted that we can seamlessly follow links to websites and webpages or do so with minimal fuss. It gets more complicated when we want access to works that are behind paywalls, despite where such works have been found: search engines, bibliographic databases, OPACs (online public access catalogs), or discovery services. In these cases, direct links to sources identified in these services do not provide full text access.

The issue becomes complex when a library subscribes to a journal or magazine. Access is often provided through third-party services, not solely the publisher's default site. Examples of these third-party services include bibliographic databases like EBSCOhost or ProQuest. Also, libraries provide multiple discovery points and ways to access the same works, such as through bibliographic databases with overlapping scopes. Bibliographic databases can tell us that an item exists when we search for it, but a library may not subscribe to the publication or the item might be in the stacks, stored off site or at another library altogether. These issues, along with the challenges presented by paywalls, introduce additional layers of complexity. This includes the need for proxy servers for user authentication, which complicate access further.

Consider the journal Serials Librarian. It is published by Taylor & Francis Online / Routledge. It has the following site as its homepage:

https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/wser20

The journal is indexed in EBSCOhost's Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database. It is also indexed in ProQuest's Social Science Premium Collection (SSPC) database. It's also indexed in Google Scholar, Google Search, a library's discovery platform, and other databases and search engines. This means that an article like the following can show up based on a query on any of the above platforms. This is true even if none of these search or discovery platforms provide full text access to the article:

Brown, D. (2021). "Through a glass, darkly:: Lessons learned starting over as an electronic resources librarian. The Serials Librarian, 81(3–4), 246–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2021.2008581

All these access points are good for the user, but they present a technological problem, too. That problem is: how do I link to the main source?

One way to know if our library provides access to the above source and others like it is through a link resolver. We see the University of Kentucky's link resolver in action when we see a View Now @ UK button or link. When we click on that button or link in a database like the above mentioned LISTA or SSPC, we trigger the link resolver. That routes us through the library's discovery service. In LISTA, that link looks like this:

https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/ehost/SmartLink/OpenIlsLink?sid=9508afc3-4f38-4b9d-b680-71981313e0dd@redis&vid=5&sl=smartlink&st=ilslink_new&sv=sdbn%253Dlxh%2526pbt%253DAcademic%2520Journal%2526issn%253D0361526X%2526ttl%253DSerials%252520Librarian%2526stp%253DC%2526asi%253DY%2526ldc%253D%2526lna%253DAlma%252520Linking%2526lca%253DfullText%2526lo_an%253D156075536&su=https%3A%2F%2Fsaalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com%2Fopenurl%2F01SAA_UKY%2F01SAA_UKY%3AUKY%3FID%3Ddoi%3A10.1080%252F0361526X.2021.2008581%26genre%3Darticle%26atitle%3D%2522Through%2520a%2520Glass%252C%2520Darkly%2522%253A%2520Lessons%2520Learned%2520Starting%2520over%2520as%2520an%2520Electronic%2520Resources%2520Librarian.%26title%3DSerials%20Librarian%26issn%3D0361526X%26isbn%3D%26volume%3D81%26issue%3D3%252F4%26date%3D20220701%26au%3DBrown%2C%20Daniel%26spage%3D246%26pages%3D246-252%26sid%3DEBSCO%3ALibrary%252C%2520Information%2520Science%2520%2526%2520Technology%2520Abstracts%3A156075536

In Social Science Premium Collection, the link looks like this:

https://www.proquest.com/docview.accesstofulltextlinks.detailsorabstractoutboundlinks.externallink:externallink/https:$2f$2fsaalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com$2fopenurl$2f01SAA_UKY$2f01SAA_UKY:UKY$3furl_ver$3dZ39.88-2004$26rft_val_fmt$3dinfo:ofi$2ffmt:kev:mtx:journal$26genre$3darticle$26sid$3dProQ:ProQ$253Alibraryscience$26atitle$3d$2526ldquo$253BThrough$2ba$2bGlass$252C$2bDarkly$2526rdquo$253B$253A$2bLessons$2bLearned$2bStarting$2bover$2bas$2ban$2bElectronic$2bResources$2bLibrarian$26title$3dThe$2bSerials$2bLibrarian$26issn$3d0361526X$26date$3d2021-11-01$26volume$3d81$26issue$3d3-4$26spage$3d246$26au$3dBrown$252C$2bDaniel$26isbn$3d$26jtitle$3dThe$2bSerials$2bLibrarian$26btitle$3d$26rft_id$3dinfo:eric$2f$26rft_id$3dinfo:doi$2f10.1080$252F0361526X.2021.2008581/MSTAR_2645781371/LinkResolver/1193?t:ac=2645781371/Record/D137B205B8D14795PQ/1

Clicking either of the above links in their respective databases redirects us to Primo, the UK Library's discovery service.

If we had clicked on EBSCOhost's View Now link, the Primo link will result in the following:

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=01SAA_UKY&vid=01SAA_UKY:UKY&date=20220701&issue=3%2F4&isbn=&spage=246&title=Serials%20Librarian&atitle=%22Through%20a%20Glass,%20Darkly%22:%20Lessons%20Learned%20Starting%20over%20as%20an%20Electronic%20Resources%20Librarian.&sid=EBSCO:Library,%20Information%20Science%20%26%20Technology%20Abstracts:156075536&volume=81&pages=246-252&issn=0361526X&au=Brown,%20Daniel&genre=article&ID=doi:10.1080%2F0361526X.2021.2008581

Look closely at those links, and you will see that the article's metadata is embedded in the URLs. Among other things, you can see the publication title, the article title, the author's name, the DOI, and more.

Reminder, metadata is data that provides information about other data, such as an article title, author, and DOI. In our examples, citation metadata provides a way to retrieve the correct resource.

That metadata is used to trigger a search query in the library's discovery platform (at UK, that's InfoKat Discovery by Primo). It specifically initiates a GET HTTP Request. A GET HTTP Request is a way that web browsers request information or data from a server or resource. In this case InfoKat Discovery uses the metadata embedded in the URLs.

This is primarily the work of an OpenURL link resolver, which is a system that helps connect users to the full text of articles by using metadata from a citation. The link resolver is designed to provide access to a target (main content) despite the source (where the item was found). It accomplishes this by initiating queries in an OPAC or discovery platform using the metadata embedded in a URL.

OpenURL is a technical solution to the paywall problem. Multiple discovery platforms complicate access, and link resolvers help mitigate this issue. Link resolvers are designed to help users of electronic resources access a source in a library's collection based on a citation/record that the user discovered in a search result, an article's list of references, or wherever else the link resolver might show up. It is meant to work for all items in a library's collection. This includes print items, since print items have records in the catalog or discovery service, and those records have their own metadata-embedded URLs.

Use Cases

Now that we have explored the overall topic, let's dive deeper into how these technologies work at a technical level.

Google Scholar Example

Consider a search scenario in Google Scholar. To start, users can affiliate themselves with a specific library through Google Scholar's settings. Once that affiliation has been set up, Google Scholar leverages an institution's knowledge base to facilitate access to paywalled content. A knoweledge base is a database containing details about a library's collections.

It works like this:

• Metadata extraction: Google Scholar extracts the article's (or other content) metadata, which includes details such as the title, author, DOI, and publication year, from its database.
• Administrative metadata: Additional metadata about the institution, such as an institutional ID number, is added to this information.
• URL query formation: This collective metadata is converted into a URL query designed to search the library's collections through its discovery service.
• User presentation: Users are presented with target options for retrieving the article, or in some cases, they are taken directly to the full text (e.g., if only one target option exists in their library's collections).

The term target options refers to the different ways to obtain the article or acquire access to other content. These options may include:

• Full text access from vendors or publishers. This is why a record in a discovery service may have multiple links to content.
• Information about the article's physical location if available on a library's shelves.
• Options to request the work through interlibrary loan.

To link Google Scholar to an affiliation:

1. Go to https://scholar.google.com/
2. Open Settings
3. Click on the Library Links tab
4. Search for your affiliation
   • e.g., University of Kentucky
5. Add and save

Now when you search in Google Scholar, you should see View Now @ UK links if your affiliation is University of Kentucky. The link should be next to search results in your affiliation's collections.

See Link Resolver 101 for additional details and this historical piece on link resolvers (McDonald & Van de Velde, 2004). Also, Alma provides Google Scholar documentation that is useful to read through. See also Google Scholar's documentation.

Consider conducting a basic keyword search in Google Scholar using the term electronic resources. If you are affiliated with a specific library, such as the University of Kentucky Libraries, you should see a View Now @ UK link next to at least some of the search results. Clicking that link will reveal the OpenURL, which contains the article's metadata and identifies Google as the source:

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/openurl/01SAA_UKY/01SAA_UKY:UKY?sid=google&auinit=PS&aulast=Dadzie&atitle=Electronic+resources:+access+and+usage+at+Ashesi+University+College&id=doi:10.1108/10650740510632208

The original publisher of this article is Emerald, and the full text is available through Emerald eJournals Premier. This information is processed by Primo, UK's discovery and delivery service. Primo redirects our query to the UK Library's proxy service, which is OpenAthens (as of the summer of 2023, formerly it was EZProxy). After securely authenticating through our university account login, we gain access to the full text from Emerald.

Should alternative databases like EBSCOhost and/or ProQuest provide access, and not the original publisher (e.g., Emerald in this case), Primo would present us with options to select our preferred database for viewing the full text.

In scenarios where there is only one source to the content provided by the library, the transfer to Primo to OpenAthens to the Emerald full-text occurs swiftly, providing a seamless user experience.

Dissecting an OpenURL

Understanding the anatomy of an OpenURL can help us comprehend how metadata is transmitted and processed within library systems. Let's dissect a specific Primo URL to identify its individual components.

The following Primo URL is an OpenURL link, which means Primo follows the OpenURL standards. (See ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004 (R2021) The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services. It is composed of fields and values that make up the metadata. For readability, I have broken up the URL into individual lines by metadata fields. The metadata fields begin after the openurl? keyword:

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?
institution=01SAA_UKY&
vid=01SAA_UKY:UKY&
aulast=Dadzie&
id=doi:10.1108%2F10650740510632208&
auinit=PS&
atitle=Electronic%20resources%20access%20and%20usage%20at%20Ashesi%20University%20College&
sid=google

The link resolver technology operates in the background. It translates the metadata to allow it to interact with appropriate library services. In this specific URL, the institution, vid, and sid fields serve as administrative metadata. This metadata help to identify the institution and source information. The key fields used to retrieve the article are:

• aulast: The author's last name
• id: The DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
• auinit: The author's first two initials
• atitle: The title of the article

Administrative metadata is "data that is necessary to manage and use information resources and that is typically external to informational content of resources" Society of American Archives.

These fields play crucial roles in ensuring that the correct resources are fetched from the library's database. This makes an OpenURL an important element in providing access.

One feature of the above URL is Percent-encoding. Percent encoding is a process used to encode URL-unfriendly characters, such as spaces, into a parsable format. Percent-encoding employs UTF-8 encoding. This is a common character encoding standard. Read about UTF-8 percent-encodings and the characters they correspond to.

In Case of Interlibrary Loan

We can see another instance of this within Primo itself. In UK's InfoKat, I search for the phrase electronic resources and filter by the WorldCat options. By filtering for WorldCat options, I'm more likely to retrieve records that are not in UK Library's collections.

The first option is a work titled Electronic Resources. Selection and bibliographic control. Since this is not available via UK Libraries, I would have to request the item through interlibrary loan. When I do that, the link resolver triggers ILLiad, which is used for interlibrary loan. Note how the OpenURL looks much different here. Essentially, the OpenURL is contextual. Its context reflects the service being used (e.g., EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Google Scholar, Primo, Illiad, etc.). The service used determines the metadata elements in the URL. Note that some elements are empty. For example, rft.date=& is an empty value for the date field versus rft.genre=book&, which holds the value book for the genre field. This demonstrates that some metadata fields are optional.

https://lib.uky.edu/ILLiad/illiad.dll?
Action=10&
Form=30&
rft.genre=book&
rft.au=Pattie%2C+Ling-yuh+W.&
rft.title=&
rft.title=Electronic+resources.+Selection+and+bibliographic+control&
rft.stitle=&
rft.atitle=&
rft.date=&
rft.month=&
rft.volume=&
rft.issue=&
rft.number=&
rft.epage=&
rft.spage=&
rft.edition=&
rft.isbn=1000111849&
rft.eisbn=&
rft.au=Pattie,&
rft.auinit=L&
rft.pub=CRC+Press&
rft.publisher=&
rft.place=Boca+Raton&
rft.doi=&
rfe_dat=1196192673&
rfr_id=

Readings

Our readings this week by Kasprowski (2012), Johnson et al. (2015), and Chisari et al. (2017) discuss link resolver technology, migration to new link resolver services, and methods to evaluate link resolver technology from both the systems and a user's perspective. While it may not be necessary to master OpenURL syntax or the intricacies of link resolver URL formatting, as demonstrated here (and in Appendix A), it's beneficial to acquire a basic understanding of how these URLs function in this process.

Let me re-emphasize that the key way that link resolvers work is by embedding citation metadata within the link resolver URL, including administrative metadata. For this to work, it means we high quality metadata for our records, as our readings note. If we receive a report, perhaps reported by a library patron, about a broken link in this process, the cause could be incorrect or outdated metadata. However, as reported by Montavon-Green (2023), other issues that cause link resolver errors include: titles are not indexed even though the library provides access to them; titles are indexed but patrons are directed to a paywall; glitches in some technology such as a vendor platform; and usability issues. Knowing the parts of this process aids us in deciphering possible errors that exist when the technology breaks.

For this week, see the ExLibres Alma link resolver documentation, which is the link resolver product used by UK Libraries. Let's discuss this documentation in the forum. I want you to find and explain other instances of link resolvers. Be sure to provide links to these examples and articulate ways the technology can be evaluated.

Documentation to read and discuss:

Link Resolver, Usage

Additional information

• OpenURL Crossref Documentation
• URL syntax components
• URL Encode / Decode Percent Encoding
• How Google Scholar works with libraries
• Surface your materials in Google Scholar (OCLC)
• 360 KB: Overview of the Knowledgebase

Appendix A

How I Enhanced Zotero by Hacking OpenURL

Since OpenURL compatible link resolver technology is partly based on query strings, we can glean all sorts of information by examining these URLs: the query string component contains the metadata for the source and the base component contains the vendor, institutional information, and the URL type. When I worked on this section, I was able to learn that Primo/Alma uses two URL types to request resources: a search URL and an OpenURL. We can see this the URLs. The base search URL looks like this:

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?

The base OpenURL differs just a bit (see the end of the URL):

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?

The base search URL appears when searching the university's discovery service. However, the OpenURL only appears when needed and during transit between the source and before reaching the target: e.g., after clicking on a View Now @ UK link and before being redirected to the full text version. I copied my institution's specific OpenURL when I clicked on a View Now @ UK link and before it redirected to the OpenAthens page.

In a previous semester, one of my students in my electronic resource management class noticed that Zotero has a locate menu. The locate menu uses OpenURL resolvers to look up items in a library. By default, Zotero uses WorldCat, but it can use a specific institution's OpenURL resolver. I had forgotten about this. When I investigated whether my institution was listed in the Zotero locate menu, I found that it was not listed on Zotero's page of OpenURL resolvers.

At the time, I didn't know what my institution's exact OpenURL was, but I was able to figure it out by comparing the syntax and values from other Primo URLs listed on Zotero's page of OpenURL resolvers. By comparing these OpenURLs, I was able to derive my institution's specific OpenURL (base component plus institutional info), which is:

https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=01SAA_UKY&vid=01SAA_UKY:UKY

I added that to Zotero, and it worked. Then I posted the OpenURL info to Zotero's forum, and they added it to their OpenURL resolver page. If others are curious about how to add this info to Zotero, another library has created a video on this. The directions cover adding a specific OpenURL to Zotero and on how to use Zotero's Library Lookup functionality.

Readings / References

Chisare, C., Fagan, J. C., Gaines, D., & Trocchia, M. (2017). Selecting link resolver and knowledge base software: Implications of interoperability. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 29(2), 93–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2017.1304765

Johnson, M., Leonard, A., & Wiswell, J. (2015). Deciding to change OpenURL link resolvers. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 27(1), 10–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2015.999519

Kasprowski, R. (2012). NISO's IOTA initiative: Measuring the quality of openurl links. The Serials Librarian, 62(1–4), 95–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2012.652480

Additional References

McDonald, J., & Van de Velde, E. F. (2004, April 1). The lure of linking. Library Journal. Library Journal Archive Content. https://web.archive.org/web/20140419201741/http://lj.libraryjournal.com:80/2004/04/ljarchives/the-lure-of-linking/

Montavon-Green, J. (2023). Link resolver survival skills: Using a team-based approach to diagnosing and fixing link resolver problems Serials Spoken Here. Serials Review, 49(3–4), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2023.2174400

Electronic Access

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

1. Understand the Principles of Access: Students will learn that access is the foundational principle of librarianship, shaping discussions around censorship, usability, and information retrieval, especially in the context of electronic resources.
2. Differentiate Proactive and Reactive Troubleshooting: Students will explore the framework provided by Samples and Healy (2014), learning how to manage electronic access through proactive troubleshooting (preventing issues before they occur) and reactive troubleshooting (addressing issues reported by patrons).
3. Analyze the Complex Nature of Electronic Resource Management: Students will critically engage with the challenges of managing constantly shifting electronic resources, from changing URLs to metadata compatibility issues, and how these issues differ from managing physical collections.
4. Authentication Technologies: Students will understand the key authentication technologies used by libraries, including IP/proxy-based systems like EZproxy and SAML-based systems like OpenAthens, and their implications for access and user privacy.
5. Impact of Workflow Standardization and Organizational Structure: Students will learn the importance of standardized workflows in improving the management of electronic resources and the challenges posed by diverse organizational structures across libraries.

Introduction

Access is the paramount principle of librarianship. All other issues, from censorship to information retrieval or to usability, are on some level derived from or framed by that principle of Access.

This week we devote ourselves to a discussion of electronic access. To start, let's begin with Samples and Healy (2014), who provide a nice framework for thinking about managing electronic access. They include two broad categories, proactive troubleshooting and reactive troubleshooting of access.

• proactive troubleshooting of access: "defined as troubleshooting access problems before they are identified by a patron". Some examples include:
  • "letting public-facing library staff know about planned database downtime"
  • "doing a complete inventory to make sure that every database paid for is in fact 'turned on'
• reactive troubleshoot of access: "defined as troubleshooting access issues as problems are identified and reported by a patron". Some examples include:
  • "fixing broken links"
  • "fixing incorrect coverage date ranges in the catalog"
  • "patron education about accessing full text"

The goal here, as suggested by Samples and Healy (2014), is to maximize proactive troubleshooting and to minimize reactive troubleshooting. The Samples and Healy (2014) report is a great example of systematic study. The authors identify a problem that had grown "organically." They collected and analyzed data, and then generalized from it by outlining a "detailed workflow" to "improve the timeliness and accuracy of electronic resource work." Practically, studies like this promise to improve productivity and work flows and foster job and patron satisfaction. Such studies also help librarians identify the kinds of software solutions that align with their own workflows and patron information behaviors. If interested, I suggest reading Lowe et al., 2021 about the impact of COVID-19 on electronic resource management. Six authors individually describe access issues at their respective institutions. They show how issues of pricing, acquisitions, training, user expectations, and budgets affect electronic access. I suggest reading articles like this in light of the framework provided by Samples and Healy (2014). Stories like these, about this impact of the pandemic on electronic access, can help guide us in developing proactive troubleshooting procedures. They can minimize future issues, pandemic or otherwise, at our own institutions.

Samples and Healy (2014) say something important against a common assumption about electronic resources, particularly those provided by vendors:

The impression that once a resource is acquired, it is then just 'accessible' belies the actual, shifting nature of electronic resources, where continual changes in URLs, domain names, or incompatible metadata causes articles and ebooks to be available one day, but not the next (The Complexity of ERM section, para. 6).

Hence, unlike a printed work that once cataloged may be shelved for decades or longer without major problems of access, electronic resources require constant and active attention to maintain access. Ebooks, for example, can create metadata problems. Often what's important about scholarly ebooks, in particular, are the chapters they include. Hence metadata describing ebook components is important, along with providing links to those chapters in discovery systems. This difference between item-level cataloging and title-level cataloging, as Samples and Healy describe, can lead to confusing and problematic results when considering different genres and what those genres contain.

Or, note that they discuss the series of links involved starting from the source of discovery to the retrieval of an item. It can be difficult to determine which of these links and which of those services is broken when access becomes problematic. From our last section, consider all the URLs that are processed and all the technologies used in going from target to source.

Let me highlight key findings from their report:

• Workflows: why does this keep coming up? It's because workflows help automate a process. They simplify and smooth out what needs to be done. This is only possible when things are standardized.
• Staffing: Part of the problem here is that ERM has had a major impact on library organizational structure, but one where different libraries have responded differently. This lack of organizational standardization has its benefits regarding overall management practices and cultures, but it also has drawbacks. These drawbacks form the difficulty in establishing effective, generalized workflows that include key participants and minimize dependencies on any one person.
• Tracking: if there's no tracking of usage, there's no method to systematically identify patterns in problems. And if that's not possible, then there's no method to solve those problems proactively. It becomes all reactive troubleshooting. And reactive troubleshooting, as Samples and Healy indicate, results in poor patron experiences. We'll discuss tracking during the week on Evaluation and Measurement section.

We commonly get the line that discovery systems are a great solution to all the disparate resources that librarians subscribe to. Or, if we do think about problems with such systems, we are often presented with a basic information retrieval problem: such that the larger the collection to search, the more likely a relevant item will get lost in the mix. Carter and Traill (2017) point out that these discovery systems also tend to reveal access problems as they are used. The authors provide a checklist to help track issues and improve existing workflows.

Buhler and Cataldo (2016) provide an important reminder that the mission of the electronic resource librarian is to serve the patron. This should remind us that the internet and the web have flattened genres. By that I mean they have made it difficult to distinguish among works like magazine articles, news articles, journal articles, encyclopedia articles, ebooks, etc.

Myself, I grew up learning about the differences between encyclopedia articles, journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, book chapters, handbooks, indexes, and dictionaries because I grew up with the print versions. By definition, these works were tangible things that looked different from each other. Today, a traditional first year college student was born around the year 2006 and grew up reading sometime in the last decade. The problem this raises is that although electronic resources are electronic or digital, they are still based on genres that originated in the print age. Yet as digital works, they lack the physical characteristics that distinguished one genre from the other. For example, by looking at each web page, what's the difference between a longer NY Times article (traditionally a newspaper article) and an article in the New Yorker (traditionally a magazine article)? Aside from some aesthetic differences, they are both presented as web pages.

Bracketing aside my years of experience with these sources, it's not altogether obvious, based on any kind of cursory examination, that we can tell that they're entirely different genres. However, there are important informational differences between the two, how they were written, how they were edited, how long they are, and who they were written by that lead us to consider them as different genres. Even Wikipedia articles pose this problem. Citing an encyclopedia article was never an accepted practice, but this was only true for general encyclopedias. It was generally okay to cite articles from special encyclopedias because they focused on limited subject matters like art, music, science, culture, and were usually more in-depth in their coverage. Examples include the Encyclopedia of GIS, the Encyclopedia of Evolution, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia of Virtual Art Carving Toraja--Indonesia, and so forth. Studies show that Wikipedia provides in-depth coverage like some special encyclopedias and short articles like some general encyclopedias, thus helping to flatten the encyclopedia genre (general vs. special), too.

The flattening holds true for things like Google. The best print analogy for Google is that of an index, which was used to locate keywords that would refer users to source material. The main difference between these indexes and Google is that the indexes were produced to cover specific publications, like a newspaper, or specific areas, like the Social Science Citation Index or the Science Citation Index. Both of these are actual, documented, historical precursors to Google and to Google Scholar. But today, these search engines are erroneously considered source material (e.g, "I found it on Google"). In comparison, we would not have considered a print index as source material, but rather as a reference item, since it referred users to sources. Nowadays, it's all mixed up, but who can blame anyone?

Example print indexes:

• Photos of the New York Times Index
• Photos of the Newspaper Index for the Washington Post
• Photos of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature

Access and Authentication

In this section, we'll delve into the technological frameworks that facilitate access to and authentication of library electronic collections. Given that a significant portion of these resources are behind paywalls, libraries employ specialized software to verify user credentials before granting access. These authentication measures are not just best practices but are often mandated by contractual agreements with content providers.

There are two main technologies used to authenticate users. The first is through an IP / proxy server, and the second is through what is called SAML authentication. We address these two authentication types below.

Proxy Authentication

EZproxy (OCLC) is the main product of the first type. When we access any paywalled work, like a journal article, you may notice something like ezproxy.uky.edu in the string of text in a URL. For example, the following is an EZProxy URL:

https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/science/article/pii/S030645730500004X

Note that UK Libraries, which I use in these examples, is transitioning away from EZProxy and adopting OpenAthens, which is SAML based. More on that below.

The interesting thing about this URL is that it has a uky.edu address even though the article is in a journal that's hosted in Elsevier's ScienceDirect database. The www-sciencedirect-com part of the address is a simple subdomain of ezproxy.uky.edu. You can tell because the components are separated by dashes instead of periods. As a subdomain, it is no different than the www in www.google.com or the maps in maps.google.com. The original URL is in fact:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030645730500004X

As opposed to the first URL, the interesting thing about the original URL is that it is in fact a sciencedirect.com address. Even though "sciencedirect" appears in the uky.edu URL, it is not a "sciencedirect.com" server. They are two different servers, from two different organizations, and are as different as uky.edu and google.com.

The reason we read an article or some other paywalled content at a uky.edu address and not at a, e.g., sciencedirect.com address is because of the way proxy servers work. In essence, when we make a request for a resource, like a journal article or a bibliographic database that's provided by a library, our browser makes the request to the proxy server and not to the original server. The proxy server then makes the resource request to the original server, which relays that content back to the proxy server (EZproxy). This then sends the content to our browser. This means that when we request an article in a journal at sciencedirect.com or jstor.com, our browser never actually makes a connection to those servers. Instead, the proxy server acts as a go-between.

See Day (2017) for a more technical and yet accessible description of the process.

Proxy servers provide access either through a login server or based on the user's IP address. If we're on campus, then our authentication is IP based, since all devices attached to the university's network are assigned an IP from a pre-defined range of IP addresses. This attempts to make access to paywalled content seamless...when on campus.

If we are off-campus, access is authenticated via a login method to the proxy server. When we attempt to access paywalled content from off-campus, we will see an EZproxy login URL. This looks something like this for accessing the ScienceDirect database:

http://ezproxy.uky.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com

Aside from ScienceDirect, you can see a list of other subscribed content that requires EZproxy authentication here:

https://login.ezproxy.uky.edu/menu

SAML Authentication

The second main technology used to authenticate and provide access is based on what is called SAML authentication. The main product that provides SAML authentication for libraries is OpenAthens.

SAML, or Security Assertion Markup Language, is an XML-based standard that exchanges and authorizes data between parties, in particular, between an identity provider (IdP) and a service provider (SP).

Unlike a proxy / IP authentication process, SAML's main function is that of a identity verification system. Under this method, libraries offer a single sign-on process, and once authenticated, patrons have access to all SAML ready content or service providers. The process is similar to the Duo Single Sign-On service universities and other organizations use for authentication. In the OpenAthens case, users are authenticated via an identity provider, which would be the library or the broader institution (and usually via some other software service). The library provides identification by connecting to its organization's identity management system, such as adfs, or Active Directory Federation Services. Once a patron has been authenticated, a confirmation is sent to the content provider, which then provides access to the content to the patron.

For more details, see What is SAML? and this detailed OpenAthens software demo.

One of the benefits of the SAML method is that URLs are not proxied. This means that content is not delivered to the patron from a proxy server like EZproxy. Instead, patrons access the original source directly. From a patron's perspective, this facilitates sharing clean, non-proxied URLs. As far as I can tell, one of the downsides might be privacy related. With a proxy server, users don't access the original source, but instead the source is delivered through the proxy server, which by definition, masks the patron's IP address and browser information. This wouldn't be true under the SAML method.

Note: The library would have access to EZproxy logs, which would include much of the user's activity while using the proxy.

In a bit more detail, a SAML-based authentication process is described below:

1. User Request: A user tries to access a resource on the service provider (e.g., a paywalled library article).
2. Redirection: If the user is not already authenticated, the service provider redirects the user to the identity provider (IdP), often passing along a SAML request.
3. Authentication: The IdP challenges the user to provide valid credentials (e.g., username and password). If the user is already authenticated with the IdP (e.g., already logged into a university portal), this step may be skipped.
4. Assertion Creation: Upon successful authentication, the IdP generates a SAML assertion, which is an XML document that includes the user's authorization information.
5. Response: The IdP sends this SAML assertion back to the service provider, often as part of a SAML response package.
6. Verification: The service provider verifies the SAML assertion (often by checking a digital signature) to ensure it came from a trusted IdP.
7. Access Granted: Once the assertion is verified, the service provider grants the user access to the requested resource.
8. Session: A session is established for the user, allowing them to access other resources without needing to re-authenticate for a certain period.

In the context of a library, the IdP could be a university's authentication system, and the service provider could be a database of academic journals. When a patron tries to access an article, they would be redirected to log in through the university's system. Once authenticated, the university's system would send a SAML assertion to the journal database, confirming that the student is authorized to access the content.

This method is particularly useful for organizations like universities that have multiple service providers (e.g., different databases, internal services, etc.) but want to offer a single sign-on (SSO) experience for their users.

Conclusion

The Samples & Healy (2014) and the Carter & Traill (2017) articles address troubleshooting strategies with electronic resources. One additional thing to note about these readings is how the organizational structure influences workflows and how the continued transition from a print-era model of library processes to an electronic one remains problematic. Even once that transition is complete, both readings make the case that strategy and preparation are needed to deal with these issues.

The Buhler & Cataldo (2016) article shows how confusing e-resources are to patrons and how the move to digital has complicated all genres, or "containers", as the authors name them. Such "ambiguity" has implications not only for how users find and identify electronic resources but on how librarians manage access to them.

I added the EZproxy and OpenAthens content in order to complete the technical discussions we have had in recent weeks on integrated library systems, electronic resource management systems, link resolvers, and standards. These authentication and access technologies complete these discussions, which cover the major technologies that electronic resource librarians work with to provide access to paywalled content in library collections. Both technologies aim to provide seamless access to paywalled content, as nearly as seamless as accessing content via a search engine or other source. Although neither will ever be able to offer completely seamless access to paywalled sources in library collections, the job of an electronic resource librarian is to make sure they work as well as possible. This will often mean working with vendors and colleagues.

Additional Sources

• How SAML works and enables single sign-on
• Differences Between SAML V2.0 and SAML V1.1
• AD FS Overview

Readings / References

Samples, J., & Healy, C. (2014). Making it look easy: Maintaining the magic of access. Serials Review, 40, 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2014.929483

Carter, S., & Traill, S. (2017). Essential skills and knowledge for troubleshooting e-resources access issues in a web-scale discovery environment. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship , 29(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2017.1270096

Buhler, A., & Cataldo, T. (2016). Identifying e-resources: An exploratory study of university students. Library Resources & Technical Services, 60, 22-37. https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.60n1.23

Additional References

Breeding, M. (2008). OCLC Acquires EZproxy. Smart Libraries Newsletter, 28(03), 1–2. https://librarytechnology.org/document/13149

OCLC. (2017, September 22). EZproxy. OCLC Support. https://help.oclc.org/Library_Management/EZproxy

OpenAthens transforms user access to library resources, replacing EZproxy and IP address authentication. (2021, June 2). About UBC Library. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2021/06/02/openathens-transforms-user-access-to-library-resources-replacing-ezproxy-and-ip-address-authentication/

Botyriute, K. (2018). Access to online resources. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73990-8

Day, J. M. (2017, April 25). Proxy servers: Basics and resources. Library Technology Launchpad. https://libtechlaunchpad.com/2017/04/25/proxy-servers-basics-and-resources/

Lowe, R. A., Chirombo, F., Coogan, J. F., Dodd, A., Hutchinson, C., & Nagata, J. (2021). Electronic Resources Management in the Time of COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Six Academic Libraries. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 33(3), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2021.1949162

Chapter Three: E-Resource Stewardship

This chapter on e-resource stewardship explores the complex and essential aspects of managing electronic resources within libraries. The following sections cover:

1. the ERM workflow, which details the procedures and practices involved in the effective handling of digital materials;
2. markets and economics of e-resources, which offers insights into how copyright law influences the financial dynamics and market trends that shape electronic resource availability and pricing;
3. licensing, which focuses on the legal considerations and contractual agreements essential to obtaining and providing electronic content;
4. negotiations for e-resources, which examines the strategies and techniques employed in securing favorable terms and conditions for libraries and their patrons; and
5. acquisitions and collection development, which helps illuminate the careful planning and execution involved in curating a diverse and relevant digital collection.

The goal with these sections is to provide a holistic view of e-resource stewardship, equipping you with the knowledge and skills necessary for the contemporary electronic resource landscape.

Workflow

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

1. Understanding Workflows: Workflows play a central role in electronic resource management (ERM), helping to integrate tools and systems while addressing the complexities of managing electronic resources in libraries.
2. Interoperability and Standards: Effective ERM depends on the ability of systems to communicate with each other. Standards like CORE, COUNTER, and SUSHI are essential for ensuring interoperability between systems, such as integrated library systems (ILS) and ERM software.
3. Economic Realities of ERM: The financial aspects of managing electronic resources, including acquisitions, subscriptions, and vendor relations, are critical. These challenges have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, making workflow-based standards even more important.
4. Customization and Flexibility: ERM solutions must be flexible and customizable to meet the unique workflow needs of individual libraries. This makes understanding workflow analysis crucial for selecting the right systems.
5. Ongoing Learning: The readings emphasize the evolving nature of electronic resource management and highlight the importance of continuously engaging with standards, technologies, and best practices to manage the complexities of modern librarianship.

Introduction

We now shift our focus to the centrality of workflows in electronic resource management. A workflow refers to a series of organized steps or tasks that are followed to complete a specific process. In the context of electronic resource management (ERM), workflows involve the systematic coordination of tools, systems, and people to manage the selection, acquistion, access, and maintenance of electronic resources such as databases, e-books, and journals. Effective ERM workflows ensure that these resources are seamlessly integrated into library systems like integrated library systems (ILS) and library service platforms (LSP). At the same time, they also address challenges related to licensing, budgeting, usage tracking, and troubleshooting. In short, workflows provide a framework for streamlining processes, enhancing efficiency, and ensuring that library users can access resources without disruption.

Before we proceed, let's recap our prior work. In the the preceeding sections, we learned about:

• what it means to be a librarian who oversees or is a part of electronic resource management,
• what kinds of criteria are sought for in new hires, and
• why electronic resources have introduced so much constant disruption across libraries.

Among other things, this latter point is due to the fact that the print-era involved (or at least more so) a linear process of collection management and information use that was fundamentally altered with the introduction of electronic resources.

Then we learned about the functions and modules offered by:

• electronic resource management software,
• integrated library system software, and
• library service platforms.

To understand those systems better, we learned about standards, technical reports, and recommended best practices by studying documents prepared by NISO and its members, and component technologies such as:

• OpenURL link resolvers
• Access and authentication technologies:
  • EZProxy
  • OpenAthens

We also learned about:

• technical and workflow standards

And we learned:

• why standards are important, whether they are technical or address workflows,
• why interoperability is required, and
• what happens when access to electronic resources break.

Readings

Our readings in this section provide foundational insights into the complex workflows involved in electronic resource management (ERM). These articles guide us through key concepts like knowledge bases, workflow-based standards, and the challenges of integrating electronic resources into library systems. The readings show how libraries navigate the technical and financial aspects of managing electronic resources and contextualize topics on licensing, budgeting, and systems interoperability.

The first Anderson article (chapter 2) helps us understand the role of knowledge bases in ER management, particularly how they function alongside integrated library systems (ILS), then later as separate ERM systems, and finally as modules in ILSes. This latter development resulted in the development of library service platforms (LSPs).

Anderson frames resource management by discussing five parts: knowledge bases, budgets, administration, licensing, and reports. It outlines the challenges these systems face for these parts to work together. The article also introduces emerging concepts like licensing, COUNTER, and SUSHI, which are topics that will be explored more thoroughly later.

An ERM knowledge base (KB) contains a repository of structured information about library holdings. Multiple KBs exist and are used to facilitate the management and access of electronic resources. They typically include metadata about electronic journals, databases, e-books, and other digital assets that librarians manage. The most basic KB should contain metadata about inventory information or holdings data such as: publication title, identifiers like ISSNs for serials, ISBNs for monographs, etc. But KBs are also used to manage catalog data, link resolver data, interlibrary loans, subscription information, and more. See GOKb Global Open Knolwedge Base) as an example and a list of publications about this open source product: GOKb Publications.

In Anderson's second article (chapter 3), the emphasis shifts to the importance of analyzing a library's workflow before selecting ERM software. Anderson underscores that workflow-based standards, even if they are not true technical standards, are important due to the diverse operational needs of libraries. Anderson's article invites us to think critically about how different libraries may prioritize distinct aspects of the ERM process. This article should help you draw connections to Samples and Healy and their discussion of proactive versus reactive troubleshooting.

These two readings highlight the financial pressures inherent in ERM, particularly regarding acquisitions, budgets, subscriptions, and purchasing, as discussed in Anderson's paper on the Elements of Electronic Resource Management and in the multiple discussions about the role vendors play in electronic resource management. The market and the economics of this area of librarianship weigh heavily on everyday realities.

We will follow up on this in the next section when we will read about the market and the economics of electronic resources. For example, in both Anderson readings, we learn about the CORE recommended practice (RP), or the Cost of Resource Exchange, developed by NISO. CORE brings together three aspects of our previous discussions: software, funds, and interoperability. The CORE RP describes how ILS and ERM systems communicate the costs of electronic resources between each other. Its existence hints at the pressures librarians have had in dealing with complex budget issues. Although these articles were published before the pandemic, the pandemic continues to make these issues more complicated for libraries.

While we spent time discussing technical standards, we also learn about TERMS. This is an attempt to standardize the language and processes involved with electronic resource management. Aside from the CORE standard, we learn about standardizing attempts at licensing, which includes the COUNTER and SUSHI usage-related standards that outline the communication, collection, presentation, and the formatting of usage statistics for electronic resources such as ebooks, journals, databases, and more.

We have discussed interoperability and what it takes for multiple systems to connect and transfer data between each other. We primarily discussed this with respect to link resolver technology. We did this not just because we should know about link resolvers as important components of electronic resource management, but also because link resolvers are a good example of the kind of work that is involved for systems to communicate properly. There are other forms of interoperability, though. Coming back to CORE again, the Anderson article (chapter 2) provides a link to a white paper on the interoperability of acquisitions modules between integrated library systems and electronic resource management systems. This paper defines 13 data elements that were determined to be desired in any exchange between ILS software and ERM software. These data elements enable these software systems to communicate usefully with each other. By that, I mean, the data points enable meaningful use of both the ILS software and the ERM software, and include:

• purchase order number
• price
• start/end dates
• vendor
• vendor ID
• invoice number
• fund code
• invoice date
• selector
• vendor contact information
• purchase order note
• line item note
• invoice note (Medeiros, 2008).

That white paper contains examples and worthwhile use cases and stories from major libraries, and these cases are helpful reads. The paper provides a sense of how standards are created through a process of comparing, contrasting, and coordinating needs and contexts among different entities.

These Anderson readings are great because they illustrate the whole ERM process. If you are able, visit the journal issue for these two readings and read the other chapters that Anderson has written, but in particular, the Electronic Resource Management Systems and Related Products.

In short, this section's topic provides a foundation for the remaining topics we study. In particular, they will help frame what we learn when we study the markets and economics of the electronic resource industry, the process of licensing and negotiation, and about the evaluation and statistics of usage. Think of this section as a foundation, a transition between, and a reflection on all we have studied thus far, and what we will study going forward.

Conclusion

In this section, we explored the workflows that are central to electronic resource management. We continued to learn about the importance of standards, interoperability, and we began to gain insight into the financial pressures that libraries face. The readings also provided insight into how systems like ILSes and ERMSes must work together and will help further our upcoming discussions about market dynamics, licensing processes, and the evaluation of resource usage. By understanding their centrality and the basic challenges in developing them, you will be better equipped to manage electronic resources more effectively in real-world library settings.

Readings / References

Anderson, E. K. (2014). Chapter 2: Elements of electronic resource management. Library Technology Reports, 50(3). https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4492/5257

Anderson, E. K. (2014). Chapter 3: Workflow analysis. Library Technology Reports, 50(3). https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4493/5259

Additional References

Anderson, E. K. (2014). Chapter 4: Electronic resource management systems and related products. Library Technology Reports, 50(3). https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4491

CORE Standing Committee (NISO). (2010). CORE: Cost of Resource Exchange. https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/core-cost-resource-exchange

Medeiros, N., Miller, L., Chandler, A., & Riggio, A. (2008). White Paper on Interoperability between Acquisitions Modules of Integrated Library Systems and Electronic Resource Management Systems (p. 28) [White Paper]. Library of Congress. https://old.diglib.org/standards/ERMI_Interop_Report_20080108.pdf

Samples, J., & Healy, C. (2014). Making it look easy: Maintaining the magic of access. Serials Review, 40, 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2014.929483

Market and Economics

By the end of this section, you will understand:

1. How copyright laws create monopolies on intellectual property and the implications of these monopolies for library budgets, particularly regarding electronic resources.
2. The limitations of the First Sale Doctrine for digital content and why it does not provide the same lending rights for ebooks as it does for physical books.
3. How digital rights management (DRM) and proprietary file formats impact libraries' access to ebooks and ejournals, often leading to rental or licensing agreements rather than outright ownership.
4. The effects of rising costs in academic journal subscriptions on library budgets and how citation-based metrics influence purchasing decisions for journal collections.
5. The financial challenges associated with Gold Open Access (OA) publishing, including the rising costs of article processing charges (APCs) and their impact on research funding.
6. The legal challenges facing digital lending models, as exemplified by the case against the Internet Archive, and how these challenges might shape the future of library collections.
7. The potential implications of the 2022 OSTP public access mandate for the accessibility of federally funded research and how it may affect both Gold OA and Green OA models.
8. How technological and legal constraints on digital resources can limit libraries' abilities to provide access, forcing them to make difficult choices regarding the scope of their collections and their budget allocations.

Introduction

I think it's fair to claim that current copyright laws heavily influence the price of electronic resources. In this section, we cover the basics of copyright, how copyright creates monopolies, and how those monopolies, in the digital era, are able to demand substantial sums of money for electronic resources. Finally, we'll explore how this impacts library budgets.

First we'll lay the foundation on a discussion of copyright. I show how digital works have disrupted some basic ways that libraries function. Then I'll discuss the impact that this law has on complicated e-resource collections and costs.

Copyright

Copyright law grants a monopoly to the person or corporate owner of an intellectual property. That is, copyright owners have exclusive rights over the material that they own, where the owners may be a person or an organizational entity. Section 106 of the law grants copyright owners the following rights:

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Source: Copyright Section 106

These exclusive and all-encompassing rights are designed to allow copyright owners a monopoly of their property. It is important to motivate the creation of intellectual property, but without restrictions on a monopoly, there would be little to no benefit to the public. For example, if the exclusive rights listed in Section 106 were followed without limitation, then it would mean that the exchange of money for a work between a copyright holder and a buyer, for something like a printed book or a DVD, would not entail a transfer of ownership of that physical copy. That is, it would not allow the buyer of the physical item any distribution rights of the item once the first exchange has been made. Under such a scenario, libraries would be able to buy physical books but would not be able to lend them.

To address this, the First Sale Doctrine (also see the Justice Department's explanation) places a limitation on the list of exclusive rights listed in Section 106. The first sale doctrine, made precedent in the early 20th century and then codified into law in 1976, allows you, I, or a library to buy a physical copy of a work (a book, a DVD, a painting, etc.) and own that specific copy. The first sale doctrine does not grant reproduction rights, as listed in Section 106 of the 1976 copyright law, but it does allow anyone to distribute the singular, physical representation or embodiment of the work that they have purchased. The first sale doctrine is why libraries were able to thrive throughout the 20th century, lend material, and preserve it. More mundanely, it's also why I can buy a book at a bookstore and later give the book away or sell it to someone when I'm done with it.

The digital medium makes things messier, as it tends to do. There are two big reasons for this. First, digital works are not subject to the same distribution constraints as physical works are, and the first sale doctrine is about distribution rights and not reproduction rights. If I have a physical copy of some book and give you my copy of that book, then I no longer have that copy. However, if I have a copy of a digital file, then as we all know, it is trivial to share that file without losing access to my own copy. Since digital works can be copied and distributed without losing access to the copies or to the original, the First Sale Doctrine does not necessarily apply to digital copies. Consequently, in the digital space, there are fewer limitations Section 106, and this includes on lending.

Second, digital works are like software, or at least, they are intertwined with the software and hardware needed to display them. This is true for all kinds of documents, like HTML pages, which need a web browser or a text editor to read them; or audio files, which need a media player to listen to them. But consider ebooks as an example. Whether a printed book is as small as a quarto or as large as a folio, whether it is all text, whether it includes images, or whether it has pop-ups makes no difference to its basic distribution potential and ergo its copyright status. These physical works are self-contained. Ebooks arrive in all shapes and sizes, too. Project Gutenberg distributes public domain ebooks in multiple file formats that include plain text documents, that have no presentation markup (bold, italics, etc.), HTML documents with markup, XML documents like EPUB, and then also PDFs and others. Recently, they started using AI to convert their books to audiobooks. Why so many file formats? Text is text, right? In the print space, a book is simply text printed on pages of paper, even if it is sometimes printed on different sized pages or uses different type settings. But these markups exist because they each offer presentational advantages that are tied to specific pieces of software and hardware. This makes them unlike the formats used for printed books.

Ebooks are also complicated by proprietary, encrypted file formats, like the ones that Amazon uses for Kindles (other e-reader and other stores also), or the popular MP3 file format for audio recordings that only recently became patent free. While file formats like these may not be necessarily counted as software, depending on how we define software, it is certainly true that file formats and the specific software applications that display or play them are intertwined. If you are old enough, you may remember the headaches caused with files created as .doc files in early version of Microsoft Word. These files would later failed to display properly in a future Microsoft Word version or in some other word document software or on some other operating system. WordPerfect 5.1 was a popular word processing applications in the 1990s, and it's not clear if files created with that application, or other popular word processing applications at that time, would open today, at least without intervention. In short, these complexities introduce obstacles to the first sale doctrine and raise other copyright issues because of the connection to software, which is also often copyrighted.

The main idea here, though, is that copyright holders and publishers have little financial interest in selling actual digital copies of works since they cannot prevent future distribution without special technologies. Instead, they are motivated to license material, retain ownership, and explicitly tie that material to specific pieces of software and hardware, like the Kindle, which would have to be bought to read Kindle ebooks. That, we should note, adds additional expense.

Take note of the recent lawsuit against the Internet Archive (IA) in Hachette v. Internet Archive. In the early days of the pandemic, the Internet Archive lent books through OpenLibrary.org. The IA only lent these books if a library owned a physical copy and they limited lending to the amount of physical copies owned. This is called Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). It's a method that mirrors how physical copies are lent and which the IA argued was Fair Use. Four publishers sued the IA and won the initial suit. The decision was appealed but emboldened other media companies to sue the IA. In September 2024, the IA lost the appeal when the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling. At stake is the basic notion of whether ebooks can be bought or must be perpetually licensed, until at least they enter the public domain. Given IA has lost the appeal, CDL will likely cease to exist unless legislation changes it.

Impact on Ebook Collections

What does this mean for libraries in the digital age? It means that libraries buy less and rent or license more. Renting means that they continually pay for something for as long as they want access to it. As Sanchez (2015) puts it,

At its simplest, this takes the form of paying x dollars per year per title during the length of the contract (Forecasting sect, para 4).

The conundrum is this: When the total supply of works increases, e.g., the total number of published books increase, as they do each year, then it means renting more and more without ever acquiring. It also means that libraries may have to hold collections at a stable number or provide access to less works over time. When budgets are cut or remain stagnant, this ultimately entails a decline in the collection a library has to offer. Or if not a decline in the collection, then cuts in some other areas of a library, like the number of librarians or other staff. This is the conundrum that Sanchez raises in his article.

If that alone were the issue, maybe librarians could discern other sustainable ways to proceed, but Sanchez (2015) raises additional issues and questions: what if publishers raise the prices for digital content at an annual rate faster than what they already raise for print content? It's a reasonable assumption. If so, does that mean that librarians will be able to afford fewer titles, digital or print, unless they raise their budgets, and, as they weed, how would that impact the physical space of the library? See figure 2.3, specifically, from Sanchez's article. The plot shows just how much could be lost and how little gained if the forecasts Sanchez discusses come true.

There are ways to put constraints on the supply of an item in the digital landscape, as opposed to limiting supply in the physical space, which involve fewer methods. That is, it's easy for publishers and others to restrict the supply of physical works. They simply have to limit the physical works that are manufactured (e.g., the number of print runs). But given the nature of digital content, restricting supply is driven by the technologies available to do so, and since there are so multiple publishers and distribution points, then each one of these points will often create their own unique type of constraint on the supply. The result is that there will be a number of confusing methods implemented to limit constraint, even if these limitations are marketed as selling points. In practice, this may mean that only a limited number of people may "check" out a work from a library at one time, or access a database at one time, and so forth. Thus, the budget issue has an impact on access and usability.

There have been recent attempts to address these issues. Paganelli (2022) describes some state by state efforts to lessen the financial burdens on libraries that e-content entails. However, as Paganelli notes, these efforts have not succeeded. And Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, has highlighted the growing attacks on library budgets that make this the outcomes for library budgets more pessimistic. From a publisher's perspective, Sisto (2022) argues that the general narrative about the tension between libraries and publishers is misleading. Instead, the author argues, the landscape is much more complex, and the publishers have made a number of attempts to "make their e-lending policies better for librarians" (2018-2019: Policy Updates and Different Opinions sect, para 6). Personally, I'm not sure I buy (or lease) all of Sisto's arguments, but I think one thing is clear: the e-lending market is complex and miscommunication abounds.

Read more about copyright:

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

Impact on eJournal Collections

Although ebooks likely represent the biggest impact on public library budgets, academic libraries are more concerned with scholarly journals. Like Sanchez (2015), Bosch, Albee, & Henderson (2018) show that the major issue is that academic library budgets are declining or holding flat even though prices continue to increase for journal titles and at the same time that more articles are published. This raises an interesting phenomenon: although researchers are hurt by the lack of access to research, researchers are also part of the cause of the supply (we publish too much!).

The authors also note that part of the drive to publish includes a drive to publish in so-called prestigious journal titles, where prestigious is determined by how well cited the title is. The authors refer to a few citation-based metrics that the research community uses to determine prestige. These include the long-established Impact Factor, which can be examined in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provided by Clarivate Analytics, as well as newer ones, like the SJR, which is provided via Scopus/Scimago.

One motivation for using a citation metric as the basis of evaluating journal titles is because citation metrics indicate, at some level, the use of the work. That is, a citation to an article in a journal title means, hopefully, that the authors citing that article have read the article and used the knowledge to produce new knowledge. This makes such citation tools useful for librarians when deciding to purchase a journal.

However, citation metrics should never be the sole or even primary tool to evaluate research. While they may provide good information, there are caveats. First, there are different fields of research, and some fields cite at different rates and at different volumes than other fields, and also for different reasons. This is why, in Table 5 of the Bosch, Albee, and Henderson (2018) article, the cost per cite for journals in the Philosophy & Religion category are so much higher that the cost per cite of titles in other categories. Authors in P&R simply have different citation and publishing behaviors than authors in other categories. Second, citations do not capture all uses of a journal. For example, there are journal titles that I might use in my courses but may not use in my research, and this is true for other faculty. Yet citation metrics won't reflect that kind of use. The authors refer to altmetrics, which was invented to help capture non-citing uses of scholarly products, but altmetrics is dependent on data sources and scholarly behavior that are problematic themselves. Third, there are issues with the metrics themselves. The Impact Factor is based on an outdated calculation and is thus not an appropriate statistical measure. The other metrics were created to address that but may have other problems. And four, the use of the metrics, regardless of which one, tends to drive publishing behavior, such that journal titles with higher metrics tend to attract more submissions and more attention, thus driving more citations to them. Such skewing drives demand to publish in those journals. Thus, citation based metrics are comparable to a kind of capitalist economic system where, as the sociologist of science Robert Merton noted, the richer get richer (in citations) and the poor get poorer. The issue then is that prestige, defined in this way, does not necessarily indicate quality: only use.

The authors also discuss some issues with Gold Open Access (OA) and the idea that Gold OA may compound the cost problem. Gold OA is a publishing model that involves authors paying a publication fee, or an article processing charge (APC), once a manuscript has been accepted by a journal (there are other types of Gold OA cost models). We can do a quick off the cuff and rough calculation to see why this might compound the problem. Using PLOS ONE, one of the largest gold OA journals, as an example, we see that their 2024 APC is $2,290. In 2023, they charged an APC of $1,931. This is $359 more than the prior year and represents and 18.6% increase. It is also $695 more than what they charged in 2020, when I first wrote this draft and represents an overall 43.57% increase (see Table 1 below).

Imagine twenty authors from any single institution publishing in PLOS ONE. If each author from that institution pays the full amount, then that's a total cost of $45,800 paid from that institution. This is much more than the most expensive category, Chemistry, as reported in Table 1 of the Bosch et al. reading. So even if open access reduced costs to libraries, it still may not reduce cost on taxpayers, who fund much of of this research.

Gold OA costs are generally paid out of research funds (like grants) and not out of researcher's pockets.

The 2022 public access mandate issued by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy might make things more interesting. The OSTP memorandum states that "federally funded research must be publicly accessible without an embargo on their free and public release." This mandate requires that federal agencies with research and development expenditures to develop their own policies, and that could mean that such policies result in Gold OA agency-specific mandates or Green OA mandates. Green OA allows pre-prints to be made available (article versions before peer-review) or post-prints (article versions after peer-review) but not publisher versions (versions after formatting, etc.). We'll see how this plays out.

Conclusion

The intersection of copyright law, technology, and library economics presents a complex and evolving landscape for libraries in the digital age. Copyright laws were originally designed to incentivize creation and protect intellectual property. Today, they play a central role in shaping library budgets and the management of electronic resources. This is made plain as libraries shift from owing physical collections to licensing electronic resources. The First Sale Doctrine, which historically enabled libraries to lend physical books, does not apply to digital works in the same way. This was confirmed by the recent court battle between the Internet Archive and several publishers. The implication places significant constraints on libraries' abilities to offer digital content.

As libraries face the challenge of renting rather than owning ebooks and ejournals, budget constraints grow more severe. The impact of these constraints is felt not only in public libraries but also in academic institutions, where the need to access high-cost scholarly journals competes with limited financial resources. The trend towards Gold Open Access offers some potential for greater access to research. However, the rising publication costs for authors and grant funders may strain research funding and complicate the landscape further. That is, while it may reduce the financial burden on libraries, the burden is still on taxpayers in the end.

Furthermore, recent legal battles, such as the Internet Archive case, highlight the broader struggle over digital rights and the control of e-lending models. As libraries contend with these legal and financial pressures, state and federal mandates for public access to research, like the 2022 OSTP mandate, may further alter the dynamics of digital collections in the future. Ultimately, libraries must navigate, or at least be aware, of an intricate web of legal, technological, and economic factors in order to serve their communities and promote access to knowledge in the digital age.

Readings / References

Bosch, S., Albee, B., & Henderson, K. (2018). Death by 1,000 cuts. Library Journal, 143(7), 28–33. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/death-1000-cuts-periodicals-price-survey-2018

Sanchez, J. (2015). Chapter 2. Forecasting public library e-content costs. Library Technology Reports, 51(8), 9–15. Retrieved from https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/5833

Additional References

Garfield, E. (1999). Journal impact factor: A brief review. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal, 161(8), 979–980. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1230709/

Paganelli, A. (2022). Legally Speaking—States Unsuccessful in Providing Financial Relief of eBook Terms for Libraries. Against the Grain, 34(3). https://www.charleston-hub.com/2022/07/legally-speaking-states-unsuccessful-in-providing-financial-relief-of-ebook-terms-for-libraries/

Sisto, M. C. (2022). Publishing and Library E-Lending: An Analysis of the Decade Before Covid-19. Publishing Research Quarterly, 38(2), 405–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-022-09880-7

Licensing Basics

By the end of this section, you will understand:

• The role and importance of licensing in electronic resource management.
• How copyright and contract law form the foundation of licensing agreements.
• The difference between types of licenses, including end-user and site agreements.
• The core components of licensing agreements and their impact on library operations.
• The importance of tools like ERM software and LSPs for managing hundreds of licenses effectively.
• Best practices for negotiating licensing terms to benefit both libraries and their patrons.
• Key legal concepts relevant to licensing, as as in personam rights, First Sale Doctrine, and intellectual property.

Introduction

I think it's fair to say that what characterizes electronic resource management the most is licensing. For if something is licensed, then it's most likely e-content or an e-resource, and by definition, it's not owned by a library. This entails that it's a temporary item in the collection, and thus requires special management.

Licensing requires understanding other aspects of electronic resource management, too. An ERM librarian's job duties might be solely focused on the technical aspects of the work, i.e., those things we covered in the prior chapter. However, an ERM librarian whose primary job duty is to participate in the licensing process must have a good grasp of the technical. This is because it is the technical that is licensed. This is why we spent time on the technical aspects before studying licensing.

Before we get into licensing, we should refresh ourselves on the basics of copyright law, since what is being licensed is a fact of copyright. Since licensing involves negotiating, signing, and managing contracts, we should know something about contract law, too, and how the two types of laws are related.

Copyright and Contracts

There is a complicated tension between copyright law and contract law. In short, copyright is a temporary right because of its close connection to the concept of the public domain. In the US, copyright was established in the Constitution under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, which states:

[The Congress shall have Power ...] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The clause in the U.S. Constitution grants copyright holders specific, exclusive rights. This inherently creates a tension between public and private interests. On one hand, these exclusive rights operate much like private property. As such, it allow copyright owners to control the use of their creations and even transfer or sell these rights through contracts, which are in personam by nature (Rub, 2017). On the other hand, these rights are not absolute. They are granted for a "limited time" and with the ultimate aim of serving the public interest by enriching the cultural and intellectual commons.

This dual nature of copyright—its function as a form of private property that can be transacted, and its overarching goal to promote public welfare—adds layers of complexity to its legal treatment. While copyright law grants certain exclusive rights that can be enforced against individuals through in personam legal actions, these rights are also designed to be temporary and ultimately benefit the public. Therefore, copyright exists as both a personal right that can be legally enforced against specific individuals and a mechanism intended to serve broader societal goals.

The term in personam refers to a legal action made against or affecting specific individuals involved in a contract. In copyright and licensing, in personam rights mean the legal claims apply to parties named in the agreement, such as a publisher or library, rather than the general public. For example, when a library licenses electronic resources, the obligations and privileges apply specifically to the library and the publisher.

This distinguishes licensing agreements from general copyright laws, which set broader public rights. Licensing agreements create specific enforceable obligations between the contracting parties, and this reflects the unique conditions that they negotiate.

In short, copyright exists in a unique space where it functions as a basic right, embedded in the earliest part of the US Constitution. It exists as a temporary bulwark against public ownership for the public good; and unlike other basic rights, copyright is transferable, since it is a type of property right.

Copyright is a type of property right. However, other types of rights cannot be treated as property and are non-transferable. These include natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), civil rights (right to vote, right to a fair trial, protections against discrimination), political rights (right to protest, run for public office), and social rights (right to healthcare, education, and housing).

This all gets more complicated when licensing enters the picture, and this has to do with three things. First, the history of software reflects the history of print, in as much as source code relied on a physical medium, like a floppy disk or magnetic tape, to be distributed just as a book had to be printed to be distributed. Second, the internet, as well as increasing and more accessible bandwidth speeds, enabled software to be distributed as easily as other digital objects. Third, it wasn't originally clear that software, or source code in particular, was copyrightable, but the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress eventually decided that it was. This eligibility became codified in an 1980 amendment to the 1976 Copyright Act. This cemented the ability for software copyright owners to license their source code. Once that code was free of a physical expression, it could evade the First Sale Doctrine. This set the stage for licensing rather than ownership.

See:

• Fifty-Five Years of Software Copyright
• Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980
• Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the United States
• The Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980

Licensing Agreements

It is important to understand how copyright forms the foundation upon which licensing operates. Copyright law provides the framework for the exclusive rights authors and creators have over their works. However, it is through licensing that these rights are transferred, shared, or restricted in specific ways. Licensing is essentially the mechanism that allows copyright holders to control how their works are used by others. This is particularly the case in the context of digital resources where direct ownership is not transferred. Therefore, an understanding of copyright law is crucial for appreciating why licensing is necessary and how it enables libraries to provide access to electronic resources without owning them outright.

Licensing agreements put this framework into action. They offer copyright or intellectual property (patents, trademarks) owners a contractual framework that functions as an agreement among two or more parties. They enable the parties involved to participate, within some range of time in an owner's intellectual property under certain conditions. Librarians enter into licensing agreements of all sorts. Licenses cover bibliographic databases, ILS/ERM software, and of course, e-content.

Entering a licensing agreement for e-content means that libraries do not own that content but only have access for a limited period of time, as defined in the contract. This is unlike print works, which fall under the first-sale doctrine. The existence of a licensing agreement between a library and an intellectual property owner entails lack of ownership of the item (here I define item within the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model).

Licenses

Weir (2016) provides a nice outline of licenses and what they include. According to Weir, there are two general types of licensing agreements:

• End user agreements: these are generally the kind that people accept when they use some kind of software or some service.
• Site agreements: these are the agreements librarians get involved in when they negotiate for things like databases. Here, site refers to the organizational entity.

Licenses must include a variety of components. Weir (2016) outlines the parts of a standard license. They include:

• Introductions: this includes information about the licensee and the licensor, date information, some information about payments and the schedule.
• Definitions: this section defines the major terms of the contract. Weir includes, as examples, the licensee, the licensor, authorized user, user population, and whether the contract entails a single or multi-user site.
• Access: This covers topics such as IP authentication and proxy access.
• Acceptable use: Included here are issues related to downloading, storage, print rights, interlibrary loan (ILL), and preservation.
• Prohibited use: What people cannot do: download restrictions, etc.
• Responsibilities: What the licensee's (the library) responsibilities are. Be careful about accepting responsibility for actions that the library would have a difficult time monitoring. Then also, what are the licensor's responsibilities. This might include topics such as 24 hour access.
• Term and terminations: Details about the terms of the contract and how the contract may be terminated. Be aware that libraries are attached to either municipal, county, or state governments and must adhere to relevant laws.
• Other provisions

Additionally, licenses generally must include:

• scope: what rights are being granted and what limitations exist,
• duration: how long the license will last,
• territory: where the license applies,
• fees or royalties: whether the licensee has to pay for the license, and if so, how much,
• revocation terms: under what circumstances the license can be revoked, and
• warranties and liabilities: any guarantees provided by either party and limitations on liability.

As an example, the California Digital Library, via the University of California, provides a checklist and a copy of their standard license agreement.

The checklist covers four main sections, additional subsections, and is well worth a read:

• Content and Access
• Licensing
• Business
• Management

Standardizing Agreements

Like the technologies that we have covered, NISO and its members moved toward forming a document that helps create a common license framework. The result was SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding. Although all licenses share some basic similarities, as discussed in Weir (2016) above, the details of the hundreds of licenses a large library has to handle can get lost in a sea of variability.

SERU as a NISO recommended practice helps to resolve this. It fosters a common approach to some aspects of the licensing process and in fact can be used as "an alternative to a license agreement" if both a provider and a library agree to use it. Like the standard licensing structure that Weir (2016) outlines, SERU includes parts that describe use, inappropriate use, access, and more but also posits other stipulations, such as confidentiality and privacy.

NASIG Core Competencies

We have addressed the NASIG Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians (NCC) in earlier sections. The NCC is a reminder of the centrality of licensing for the ERM librarian. Section 1.2 states:

Thorough knowledge of electronic resource licensing and the legal framework in which it takes place. Since licenses govern the use of most library electronic resources and have conditions that cannot knowingly be violated, an ER librarian with responsibilities related to licensing must demonstrate familiarity with how and for whom an organization licenses content, as well as the concepts, implications, and contract language pertaining to such issues as archival rights, perpetual access and interlibrary loan. A practical working understanding of issues such as copyright and fair use will allow ER librarians to obtain the least restrictive, most library-friendly licensing terms during publisher/vendor license negotiations.

Even though we have covered NCC in earlier sections, it's a reminder that when we talk about electronic resource management, we talk about a comprehensive list of responsibilities, skills, technologies, and more, and that we should keep this on our radar. Second, Regan (2015) specifically mentions these competencies with respect to the importance of learning more about the licensing process.

Regan (2015) also highlights the importance of advocating. People may be nervous about the idea of having to negotiate a license for an e-product, but in reality, such work is not done outside of a team. And that team will likely include people who work outside of libraries. This makes it important to advocate for the library and the licensing process. That is, the licensing processes should also be framed as an advocacy process.

LIBLICENSE

LIBLICENSE is a resource to assist librarians in crafting, adopting, and managing licenses for electronic resources. The project is aimed at university libraries, but is relevant to other library types, too. The model licenses page provides a link to the main template, but also links to additional model licenses that cover the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada from a variety of institutional perspectives, including consortial licensing.

The LIBLICENSE model license includes helpful details, such as types of authorized uses and provisions on:

• course reserves
• course packs
• electronic links
• scholarly sharing
• scholarly citation
• text and data mining

It's important to note that anything that is covered in a license is subject to negotiation between the library and the vendor. That does not meant that terms will be accepted between the parties, but if something is unfavorable or not in the best interests of your institution and patrons, then that needs to be discussed by all parties.

These model licenses are invaluable not only from a practicing perspective but also from an educational perspective. The more you review them, the more comfortable you will become working with them. And, as we will learn in the next section, one of the most important parts of the negotiating process is being prepared to negotiate. That entails being familiar with the basic license model.

Managing Licenses

Large libraries have to manage hundreds of licenses to develop collections and provide access to e-content. Electronic resource management software like CORAL, an open source system designed to manage electronic resources, or a Library Service Platform (LSP) with a corresponding ERM module, are essential tools for managing these licenses effectively. However, using these products still requires careful coordination between different library units to streamline workflows.

Departments like circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, and interlibrary loan are all affected by specific clauses in e-content licenses. This means that each unit must adapt its practices to comply with these agreements. For example, interlibrary loan clauses in licenses can determine whether and how digital resources may be shared between libraries. This directly influences the policies and procedures of the ILL department and requires that the ERM librarian work with the ILL department when negotiating a licensing agreement.

Taulbee and Montavon-Green (2022) describe the complex process of migrating from print to e-resources during the early 2000s and transitioning to a new LSP a some years before the pandemic. Their proactive efforts to digitize and catalog their licenses in Alma ultimately improved efficiency of ILL services and the overall management of licenses. This example highlights the positive impact that thoughtful licensing management can have on library operations, and their work is a prime example of proactive troubleshooting.

While ERM software like CORAL reduces manual tracking and potential errors, its implementation also requires thorough staff training. Integrating multiple workflows across departments is complex, but it is crucial for maintaining compliance with licensing clauses and ensuring that the library can meet its patrons' needs effectively.

Effective licensing management not only ensures compliance with legal terms but also enhances resource accessibility for patrons. Taulbee and Montavon-Green (2022) highlight the strategic importance of these ERM tools in the libraries.

Conclusion

In conclusion, licensing is a vital aspect of electronic resource management that builds on the foundations of copyright and contract law. It enables libraries to access digital content without owning it, ensuring resources are available to patrons while negotiating specific rights and responsibilities. By understanding licensing agreements, ERM librarians can better navigate the complexities of intellectual property, ensure compliance with legal standards, and advocate effectively for favorable terms that benefit their institutions and users. A solid grasp of these concepts allows librarians to manage electronic resources efficiently, ensuring continued access and fostering the growth of library collections in the digital age.

Glossary of Legal Terms

• In Personam: Refers to legal actions or rights that apply to specific individuals or entities involved in a contract. In the context of licensing, it means that obligations or claims are enforceable against the parties named in the agreement.
• First Sale Doctrine: A legal concept that allows the purchaser of a copyrighted item to resell, lend, or dispose of that specific item without needing permission from the copyright holder. This doctrine does not apply to digital works in the same way it applies to physical items.
• Copyright Law: The body of law that grants authors and creators exclusive rights to control the use of their creative works for a limited period of time. These rights include reproduction, distribution, and public performance.
• Licensing Agreement: A legal contract that permits the use of a copyrighted work under specific conditions, such as time, location, and intended usage. Licensing allows rights holders to retain ownership while granting limited rights to the licensee.
• Public Domain: Refers to works whose copyright has expired or never existed, allowing them to be freely used by the public without permission.
• Contract Law: The body of law governing agreements between parties. It defines how contracts are formed, executed, and enforced, and it plays a key role in licensing agreements.
• Exclusive Rights: Rights granted to copyright holders to control how their work is used. This includes rights to reproduce, distribute, and create derivative works.
• Intellectual Property (IP): A category of property that includes creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, and names used in commerce.
• End User Agreement: A type of licensing contract often used in software, which the user must agree to before using the software or service.
• Site Agreement: A licensing agreement that allows a specific organization, like a library, to access and use resources across multiple users or locations.

Readings / References

North American Serials Interest Group. (2013). NASIG core competencies for electronic resources librarians. https://nasig.org/Competencies-Eresources

Regan, S. (2015). Lassoing the Licensing Beast: How Electronic Resources Librarians Can Build Competency and Advocate for Wrangling Electronic Content Licensing. The Serials Librarian, 68(1–4), 318–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2015.1026225

SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding, NISO, http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/RP-7-2012_SERU.pdf

Additional References

Rub, G. A. (2017). Copyright survives: Rethinking the copyright-contract conflict (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 2926253). https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2926253

Taulbee, C., & Montavon-Green, J. (2022). Using license terms to streamline interlibrary loan and electronic resources communication. Journal of Library Resource Sharing, 31(1–5), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/26915979.2023.2200223

Weir, R. O. (2012). Licensing Electronic Resources and Contract Negotiation. In R. O. Weir (Ed.), Managing electronic resources: a LITA guide. Chicago: ALA TechSource, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Licensing and Negotiating

By the end of this section, you will understand:

• The importance of principled negotiation and assertive communication in the licensing process, focusing on how to maintain professionalism even during challenging negotiations.
• How to avoid stereotypes that can hinder effective communication between librarians and vendors, and why addressing these misconceptions is crucial for successful negotiations.
• The value of involving your library community and internal parties during the negotiation process to ensure alignment and support.
• The role of written documentation in negotiations, including why it is essential to clearly record agreements and expectations to protect both parties.
• The significance of establishing workflows and checklists for negotiation, ensuring consistency and thoroughness throughout the licensing lifecycle.
• How repeated practice and preparation can reduce anxiety and improve your effectiveness as a negotiator, including utilizing external resources.

Introduction

Now that we know the basic structure and contents of a license for electronic resources, we can discuss the negotiation process.

Last week we learned that some licensing may be avoided due to projects like SERU and projects like LIBLICENSE will help streamline the process. Each of these help standardize the boilerplate that is commonly used among electronic resource licenses. However, when we negotiate for products, especially big ticket products, we need to know what that process might look like and how to engage in it.

Principled Negotiation

Abbie Brown (2014) offers a number of great tips in her talk, and I want to highlight them.

First, her discussion of principled negotiation and assertive communication is important. Principled negotiation is about keeping negotiations professional, even when it feels personal or possibly emotional in the licensing process. It involves negotiating based on interests (i.e., your library's) rather than on positions and aiming for mutually beneficial outcomes. Before you enter negotiations, keep in mind the objective you want to attain; and use reason, creativity, and problem solving skills to get there.

Assertive Communication

Assertive communication is being willing to express yourself. It means expressing your needs clearly, respectfully, and often succinctly without crossing into aggression. Aggression is not ever warranted. Brown's (2014) suggestion to have other people look at your emails, that might have been written in anger, before sending is golden.

Stereotypes

Brown (2014) also discusses, based on her experience, some stereotypes that get in the way of negotiating. These include:

• Librarian stereotypes
• Library stereotypes
• Vendors stereotypes:

Stereotypes, from either direction, should be avoided. For example, vendors may assume that librarians are inflexible or overly focused on cost-saving. Librarians may think that vendors are solely profit-driven. Either of these kinds of stereotypes will lead to distrust. And among other reasons, they represent a kind of background {mis}information that causes miscommunication. People exist on each side of the table, and although each side has their own self-interests, stereotypes prevent connection. Reflecting on any stereotypes we have can reduce anxiety in the negotiation process.

Community

As a negotiator, Brown (2014) described having to work with lots of people and having to negotiate with people in her own library. This is a great insight. It's important to talk through issues with colleagues and vendors. Aligning relevant parties and even users ensures that everyone is on the same page before approaching vendors. This helps underscore the importance of building internal consensus.

Put it in Writing

Brown's (2014) point about putting things in writing will help you. Written documentation serves as a binding record and helps all parties avoid misunderstandings and provides a reference if disagreements arise. What we put down in writing thus entails a kind of commitment. As such, wording matters. You therefore want to write write well and succinctly.

Negotiation Workflows

Smith and Hartnett (2015) provide a real world example of the negotiating process that includes a work flow around licensing. Remember, document everything and revisit your documentation. Use that documentation to formalize checklists. Having a workflow in place around licensing will helps ensure that all bases are covered.

Dygert and Barrett (2016) cover the specifics of licensing: what to look for, what shouldn't be given away, how to negotiate principally, and more. Dunie (2015) gets into the specifics of the negotiation process, which includes definitions of terms, business models, and strategies.

Conclusion

Becoming a skillful negotiator takes practice, but this section will help prepare you for the process. The main point I want to make is this: if you find yourself in a position where one of your job responsibilities is to negotiate with vendors for e-resources (or for anything else), then come back to these sources of information and spend additional time studying them. Repeated exposure to the negotiation experience will make the process less intimidating and improve your effectiveness over time. Sources like these, and others like them, such as those listed by Garofalo (2017), will prepare you if you study them. Being prepared is the most important step.

Readings / References

Brown, A. (2014). Negotiation of E Resource licensing pricing terms. (2014, September 17). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LET4MWO7egI

Dunie, M. (2015). Chapter 3. Negotiating with content vendors: An art or a science? Library Technology Reports, 51(8), Article 8. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/5834

Dygert, C., & Barrett, H. (2016). Building your licensing and negotiation skills toolkit. The Serials Librarian, 70(1–4), 333–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2016.1157008

Garofalo, D. A. (2017). Tips from the trenches. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 29(2), 107–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2017.1304766

Smith, J., & Hartnett, E. (2015). The licensing lifecycle: From negotiation to compliance. The Serials Librarian, 68(1–4), 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2015.1017707

Additional References

ALA. (2006, August 25). Libraries and licensing. https://web.archive.org/web/20180611070938/http://www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/librariesandlicensing/LibrariesAndLicensing

Chesler, A., & McKee, A. (2014). The shared electronic resource understanding (seru): Six years and still going strong. Information Standards Quarterly, 26(04), 20. https://doi.org/10.3789/isqv26no4.2014.05

Acquisitions and Collections Development

By the end of this section, you will understand that:

• Format influences acquisition and access workflows.
• Electronic resources have necessitated more specialized roles within libraries.
• Collection Development Policies (CDPs) are crucial for managing electronic resources effectively.
• OER initiatives are growing, and libraries may need to decide how deeply to involve themselves in the acquisition and cataloging of these resources.

Introduction

Collection development and acquisitions have become more complex with the rise of electronic resources. In contrast to the more linear acquisition processes of print resources, electronic resources require different contractual and technological considerations. Librarians now must navigate issues like differing licensing agreements and the complex technologies involved in handling electronic resources like ebooks, journal articles, databases, etc. This shift from print to electronic has fundamentally transformed collection workflows. As Martin et al. (2009) highlight:

As much as we would like to think our primary concerns about collecting are based on content, not format [emphasis added], e-resources have certainly challenged many long-established notions of how we buy, collect, preserve, and provide access to information (p. 217).

Collection Development

The conventional wisdom is that content, not format, should be the focus of collection management. Harloe & Budd (1994) argue that "collection managers should focus on the content of the information provided, regardless of the actual form in which the information arrives" (p. 83). However, this perspective overlooks practical considerations. Format impacts cost, licensing, and ultimately, accessibility. If format matters, we need to ask: How does format either prevent or facilitate access? This question links acquisitions, collections development, and usability, since usability is an access issue. We'll address usability more deeply in a later section.

In a collection development course, you would primarily focus on content. You would also consider the work involved in creating a collection development policy (CDP). Content and CDPs are key to the acquisition, collection, and management of e-resources. However, it is equally important to understand how the management of electronic resources has affected librarian workflows and reshaped library organizational hierarchies.

Organizational Hierarchy

The complexity of library organizational hierarchies has increased with the rise of electronic resources. I developed an organizational chart based on librarian departmental reports written during the late 1950s and early 1960s at the University of Kentucky---before electronic resources took over. These reports are archived at the University of Kentucky's Special Collections Research Center. While organizational charts have been around since the 1800s, they became more commonly used in libraries only in the latter half of the 20th century. Based on my research, I inferred an organizational structure during that period (see Fig. 1).

Aside 1: The most recent organizational chart for UK Libraries is from 2019, and they may have decided to stop making them. Much has changed since then, including a new Dean, but the general point I am making should hold about the complexity of the modern library.

Aside 2: The concept of organizational charts dates back to the 19th century, Based some cursory searching, the first known chart was created in 1855 by Daniel McCallum, a railway general superintendent. McCallum, with the assistance of a draftsman and civil engineer named George Holt Henshaw, designed an organizational chart for the New York and Erie Railway to showcase the division of administrative duties and the number and class of employees engaged in each department (Organimi 2020, Lanteria 2021). This chart was initially referred to as a "Diagram representing a plan of organization" and was not yet called an organizational chart (Organimi 2020, Pingboard).

The terminology "organization chart" became more common in the early 20th century, and by 1914, a certain Brinton advocated for broader use of organizational charts (Wikipedia Organizational Chart). The use of organizational charts gained more traction in industrial engineering circles and became more popular among businesses and enterprises in the latter half of the 20th century (Miro 2021).

These early developments set the stage for modern organizational charts, which have now become crucial tools for delineating responsibilities, hierarchy, and the structural framework within organizations across various sectors. From a historical perspective, a study of organizational charts of the years can shed insight on how the organization evolves, especially when cross-referencing that evolution with other changes, such as the introduction of electronic resources in libraries.

Comparing my chart to the most recent one provided by UK Libraries (see aside below) shows additional complexity. The growth in electronic resources, associated technologies, and markets explains much of this complexity. New specialized roles have emerged to manage these resources, including digital content specialists and e-resource managers. Additionally, larger and more diverse student populations have influenced library structure, as have evolving theories and practices of library management.

But again, consider the influence of format. Technology and electronic resources account for a substantial part of the increasing complexity seen in modern organizational charts. Lamothe (2015) finds that continuously updated electronic reference resources maintain high usage, whereas static e-resources see declining use. This raises questions about the expectations patrons have regarding content freshness. This type of dynamism, directly influenced by format, no doubt increases the complex requirements needed to manage e-resources.

Open Educational Resources

Now let's discuss Open Educational Resources (OER), a hot topic in today's academic libraries. Textbook prices, England et al. (2017) notes, have skyrocketed in recent decades. College students' budget are up to $1,240 per year in books and supplies. Public elementary and secondary schools expend nearly 2.5 billion dollars per year on textbooks. In response, libraries have notably moved to highlight open educational resources at some level. For example, UK Libraries provides resources about Open Educational Resources and provide a LibGuide on OER.

Sites such as oercommons.org, openstax, LibreTexts, and others function as digital libraries of open access educational resources. These initiatives aim to reduce the costs associated with proprietary educational materials by providing high-quality, open access alternatives. This book is itself an OER.

While OER initiatives are often pushed to faculty as alternatives to proprietary textbooks, we should ask whether librarians should play a more direct role in acquiring these resources. For example, should librarians catalog OER items and add them to library catalogs or discovery systems, thereby promoting OER at a broader level (see Hill & Bossaller, 2012 for a comparable discussion)? Traditionally, libraries, public or academic, have not collected textbooks. Should they start now? Would this transform their mission, or could it enhance their role as educational institutions?

Aside: If interested in following developments in open educational resources, then I highly recommend subscribing to the SPARC Open Education Forum email list.

Collection Development Policies of Electronic Resources

A collection development policy (CDP) is crucial for guiding the collection, acquisition, and assessment of electronic resources. Unfortunately, not all libraries have a CDP. If you end up working at such a library, I highly encourage you to convince your colleagues of its importance. A CDP should define a collection, and then include most if not all the following topics:

• Mission, vision, and values statement
• Purpose of CDP statement (scope may be included here)
• Selection criteria: general guidelines and specific considerations for populations, genres, resource types, etc.
• Assessment and maintenance criteria
• Criteria for challenged materials criteria (esp important at public, K-12 libraries)
• Weeding and/or replacement criteria

Librarians that have included electronic resources in their CDPs provide useful case studies. For instance, two CDP policies, one from the University of Louisiana (UL) and one from the Lexington Public Library (LPL), contain sections on electronic resources. The UL CDP is not their main policy but a sub-CDP that focuses on electronic resources. The LPL's policy is their main policy. Both approaches reflect the libraries' unique missions and communities.

Actionable Step: If your library lacks a CDP, start by identifying collection gaps and collaborate with colleagues to create a vision for your collection. Draft a simple version and seek feedback for continuous improvement.

Conclusion

This section addressed the complexities of collection development for electronic resources, the impact of format on workflows and organizational hierarchies, the role of OERs in libraries, and the critical importance of collection development policies for e-resources. Electronic resources have reshaped not only what libraries collect but how they organize and manage their staff and workflows.

Readings / References

England, L., Foge, M., Harding, J., & Miller, S. (2017). ERM ideas & innovations. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 29(2), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2017.1304767

Lamothe, A. R. (2015). Comparing usage between dynamic and static e-reference collections. Collection Building, 34(3), 78–88. https://doi.org/10.1108/CB-04-2015-0006

Martin, H., Robles-Smith, K., Garrison, J., & Way, D. (2009). Methods and strategies for creating a culture of collections assessment at comprehensive universities. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 21(3–4), 213–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411260903466269

Additional References

Harloe, B., & Budd, J. M. (1994). Collection development and scholarly communication in the era of electronic access. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 20(2), 83–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/0099-1333(94)90043-4

Hill, H., & Bossaller, J. (2013). Public library use of free e-resources. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45(2), 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000611435253

Chapter Four: Patrons

The chapter on patrons addresses the critical intersection between users and electronic resources within libraries. These sections explore three main topics:

1. User experience, which offers an analysis of how patrons interact with digital materials, emphasizing usability, accessibility, and satisfaction;
2. The evaluation and measurement of e-resource usage, which provides an examination of methods to assess, monitor, and enhance the utilization of e-resources to help ensure that librarians meet the diverse and evolving needs of their communities; and
3. Security and privacy concerns, which sheds light on the imperative of safeguarding user information and privacy in the digital age. This includes considerations related to authentication, data protection, and ethical handling of personal information.

These lectures reflect a user-centric approach to e-resource management, and they serve as an essential guide for ERM librarians committed to enhancing patron engagement, trust, and satisfaction.

User Experience

By the end of this section, you will understand that:

1. User Experience (UX) is Multi-Dimensional: UX encompasses parameters like actors, objects, contexts, and interfaces. Understanding these parameters helps in evaluating how effectively users interact with library systems.
2. Importance of Gathering Data from Diverse Users: UX research must include diverse patron feedback&emdashfrom students to faculty, and from users with disabilities&emdash;ensuring that the user experience is inclusive and addresses the needs of all patrons.
3. User Research Methods Enrich UX Understanding: Incorporating user research methods, such as card sorting and think-aloud protocols, adds depth to understanding user needs and behaviors. These methods help librarians develop a more user-centered approach to system design and evaluation.
4. There are Different Types of Data to Inform UX: Libraries can use both usage data (how users interact with a system) and breakage data (issues or obstacles users face) to inform decisions. Using both data types provides a fuller picture of system performance and user challenges.
5. System Complexity Affects UX: As librarians gain expertise with systems, they may lose sight of novice user challenges. Regular UX studies can help bridge the gap between librarian expertise and novice needs, ensuring the library systems are accessible and usable for everyone.
6. Actionable User-Centered Design Principles: Strategies such as chunking, highlighting important elements, simplifying choices, and managing complexity can make user interfaces more intuitive, reducing user anxiety and improving overall usability.

Introduction

What is user experience? Dickson-Deane and Chen (2018) write that "user experience determines the quality of an interaction being used by an actor in order to achieve a specific outcome" (Intro section, para 1). Parush (2017) highlights adjacent terms like human-computer interaction (HCI) and usability. Let's say then that HCI encompasses the entire domain of interaction between people and computers and how that interaction is designed and that user experience (UX) focuses on the quality of that interaction. These are not precise definitions, and some people might use the terms UX and HCI interchangeably. However, as ERM librarians, the job is to focus on the quality of the patron's experience with electronic services. This entails understanding both the systems and technologies involved and the users interacting with them.

Dickson-Deane and Chen (2018) outline the parameters involved with UX. Let me modify their example and frame it within the context of an ERM experience for a patron:

• Actor: A user of the web resource, like a library website.
• Object: The web resource, or some part of it.
• Context: The setting.
  • What's happening?
  • What's the motivation for use?
  • What's the background knowledge?
  • What's the action?
• User Interface: The tools available by the object and the look and feel.
  • More specifically, Parush (2017) states that "the user interface mediates between the user and computer" and it includes three basic components:
    • controls: The tools used to control and interact with the system: buttons, menus, voice commands, keyboards, etc.
    • displays: The information presented to the user or the hardware used to present the information: screens, speakers, etc.
    • interactions and dialogues: The exchange between the system and the user including the use of the controls and responding to feedback.
• Interaction: What the actor is doing with the UI
• (Intended/Expected/Prior) User experience: The intended or expected use of the object. The user's expectations based on prior use.
• (Actual) User experience: The actions that took place; the actions that had to be modified based on unintended results.

These parameters would be helpful for devising a UX study that involves observing patrons interacting with a system and then interviewing them to complete the details. Note that the same kind of systematic thinking can be applied to evaluate other user experiences, like those between a librarian and an electronic resource management system. Often the focus is on patron user experience, but it's just as important to evaluate UX for librarians and to consider UX when selecting an ERM system or an ILS/LSP system.

In any case, these parameters help us step through and highlight the complicated process of interacting with a computer, generally, or a library resource more specifically. As with other topics we've discussed in this book, we can incorporate these parameters into a workflow for evaluating UX.

Complex Library Websites

It is as a result of the complexities involved and because of a focus on systems that Pennington (2015) argues for a more UX centered approach to library website design. Think about your own state of knowledge of ERM before you started learning about this area of librarianship. For example, now that you know somewhat how link resolvers function, your experience using them and your understanding of their technical aspects provides you with a set of skills and experiences that make you more likely to identify the cause of a malfunction if you find one. With this ability to identify problems, problems becomes easier to solve, and the experience itself involves less anxiety. However, most users and patrons of these systems will not have any technical knowledge of these systems. Thus, when these systems break on them, their frustration with the experience might lead to unfortunate outcomes: they may not retrieve the information they need; they may not reach out to a librarian for help; or they may stop using the library's resources in preference for a resource of inferior quality. We need to remember that this happens, and if possible, to build in proactive troubleshooting processes that anticipate and solve them before they do happen to patrons.

Here's the crux, though. As you gain more skill and expertise with these systems, you will eventually lose the ability to see these systems as a novice user, and that distance will only grow over time. To mitigate this, it is essential to actively gather data from a diverse range of users (Pennington, 2015). For example, gathering data from different user demographics, such as students versus faculty, users with disabilities, or children versus teens, can reveal varying UX challenges that are often overlooked by experienced librarians. UX research that includes diverse patron feedback ensures that the needs of all user groups are taken into account. In short, user experience research nurtures a user centered mindset.

Indeed, Kraft et al. (2022) used focus groups and surveys to collect user experience data on a library's implementation of its A-Z Database List. As the authors point out, librarians have long made efforts to reduce the use of library terminology in their messaging to patrons since this only serves as a point of confusion. However, their focus group participants described contrasting opinions about how color was used on the site, and how color was used had some dramatic, surprising effects on which sources were selected to pursue. The study highlights that when gathering user feedback, it is important to consider a variety of user research methods to get a fuller picture. We can even add additional methods, such as card sorting (for understanding how users group and label information) and think-aloud protocols (where users verbalize their thoughts while using a system). These methods provide additional insights that can complement focus groups and surveys. All methods have their strengths and weaknesses, but selecting the appropriate approach based on research goals is key to effective UX evaluation.

The Data That Exists

In addition to user studies that require conducting direct research and reading prior studies that require literature searches, we should also know that libraries already possess a wealth of data to explore, and this data could provide needed insight. Here, as we've learned before, workflows play an important role in applying mechanisms to track, report, and fix problems with electronic resource systems. Browning (2015), for example, describes the use of Bugzilla. This is an application that's commonly used for software development for bug tracking and generating reports about broken code. Once problems are identified, tools like Bugzilla can be used to categorize and to facilitate quick solutions. It's an interesting and novel adaptation of an application designed for a different purpose, but it highlights an important takeaway; there are thus two key types of data that provide insights into UX: data about usage and data about breakage. Whereas usage data helps us understand how users interact with a system and what they do (Fry, 2016), breakage data focuses on identifying errors or issues that users encounter, as described by Browning (2015). Both kinds of data are crucial and combining both perspectives offers a more comprehensive understanding of user experience.

Conclusion

I agree with McDonald (2016) that despite having around 30 or so years of experience with web-based and other electronic resource types, we are still in the throes of disruption. There's much yet to learn about designing for the web, just like there's a lot left to learn about how designing physical spaces. Nothing will be settled for a while. Although I doubt if there will be any single dominate user experience or user interface, since there are many cultures, backgrounds, and aesthetics, I'm sure the low-hanging fruit problems will work out soon enough. Remember though that 95% of the cause of all of this complexity is due to copyright issues, which necessitate the entire electronic resource ecosystem and the complications that are introduced by working with vendors who work with different, but overlapping, publishers, etc. If something major were to change about copyright, then it's a whole new ballgame.

But in conclusion, when considering how UX research fits into library work, remember the importance of gathering data from users themselves: data that reveals both what works well and what doesn't. In conducting UX work, refer also to the information-seeking literature when it's appropriate to do so. This literature will yield insights into the processes people use to use these systems. It's essential to reflect on user-centered design principles, such as chunking, highlighting, simplifying choices, and managing complexity. These are strategies that can help design user interfaces that are intuitive and accessible for all users.

Readings / References

Browning, S. (2015). Data, data, everywhere, nor any time to think: DIY analysis of e-resource access problems. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 27(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2015.999521

Kraft, A., Scronce, G., & Jones, A. (2022). Virtual focus groups for improved A-Z list user experience. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(4), 102541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102541

Pennington, B. (2015). ERM UX: Electronic resources management and the user experience. Serials Review, 41(3), 194–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2015.1069527

Additional References

Adams, A. L., & Hanson, M. (2020). Primo on the go: A usability study of the Primo mobile interface. Journal of Web Librarianship. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19322909.2020.1784820

Dickson-Deane, C., & Chen, H.O. (2018). Understanding user experience. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (4th edition., pp. 7599–7608). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch661

Hamlett, A., & Georgas, H. (2019). In the wake of discovery: Student perceptions, integration, and instructional design. Journal of Web Librarianship, 13(3), 230–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2019.1598919

Parush, A. (2017). Human-computer interaction. In S. G. Rogelberg (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2nd edition, pp. 669–674). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483386874.n229

Pennington, B., Chapman, S., Fry, A., Deschenes, A., & McDonald, C. G. (2016). Strategies to improve the user experience. Serials Review, 42(1), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2016.1140614

Evaluation and Statistics

By the end of this section, you will understand that:

• Measuring electronic resource usage involves complexities due to the varied ways users interact with content.
• Web server logs can provide valuable data on usage, but they come with significant limitations and do not always capture the user's intent.
• Project COUNTER is a key initiative in standardizing how electronic resource usage is defined, measured, collected, and shared.
• COUNTER provides four major reports (Platform, Database, Title, Item), each offering insights at different levels of electronic resource usage, which are crucial for informed decision-making.
• Usage metrics not only help in assessing the value of electronic resources but also contribute to collection development and budget justification.
• The effective use of metrics often involves both quantitative and qualitative approaches to provide a fuller picture of library impact.
• Creativity and technical skills can enhance the analysis of usage data, such as transforming access logs into dynamic visual tools.
• Usage data is vital for libraries to demonstrate their value to stakeholders, but interpreting this data requires careful consideration of its context and limitations.

Introduction

We've discussed problems with defining terms, and we have learned that much effort has been expended into standardizing them. We have also seen that the topics that we've covered—technologies, standards, access, usability, workflow, markets, licensing—are linked in some way. All this complexity makes the usage measurement complicated. The complication arises when electronic resources (or basically all activity on the web and internet) are accessed from client machines, and a computer server records the client's access in a log file. Logs like these make it seem that we can have accurate data about usage, but it's not a guarantee. The insights we may glean are always difficult to acquire no matter how much data is available to us.

999.999.999.999 - - [18/Nov/2022:04:40:38 +0000] "GET /index.html HTTP/1.1" 200 494 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:107.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/107.0"

Example web server access log entry, with obfuscated IP address. Simply by visiting a site, the web server is able to log the client's IP address, the time stamp, the page the client requested, the client's operating system type and version, and the client's web browser type and version.

Access log data like above can be good data, but we have to be mindful that all data has limitations, and that there are different ways to define what usage means. For example, the log snippet above indicates that I visited a page named index.html on that server, but does that mean that I really used that website even though I accessed it? Even if we can claim that I did, what kind of use was it? Can we tell from that log entry? In short, log data like this can't really capture the user's intent.

Note that we can learn a lot from web server access logs, and there is software, like Google Analytics, that would be able to collect additional usage data.

As with other things we have discussed, there have been efforts to standardize electronic resource usage. It's an important process because usage data informs collection development and benefits the library in other ways. Discussions about usage do belong to the domain of electronic resource librarianship, but it also overlaps with other areas of librarianship, such as systems librarianship or collection development. Here we might see job titles like library systems administrator.

Project Counter

Project Counter is the primary attempt to standardize how usage is defined, measured, collected, and shared. It is a Code of Practice that provides informative and consistent reporting of electronic resource usage. From Project Counter:

Since its inception in 2002, COUNTER has been focused on providing a code of practice that helps ensure librarians have access to consistent, comparable, and credible usage reporting for their online scholarly information. COUNTER serves librarians, content providers, and others by facilitating the recording and exchange of online usage statistics. The COUNTER Code of Practice provides guidance on data elements to be measured and definitions of these data elements, as well as guidelines for output report content and formatting and requirements for data processing and auditing. To have their usage statistics and reports designated COUNTER compliant, content providers MUST provide usage statistics that conform to the current Code of Practice.

This code of practice was designed to solve a problem that will likely never be solved altogether, but it's still an important and useful effort.

The main goal of Project Counter is to provide usage reports. The reports, for release 5 of Counter, cover four major areas:

• Platforms
• Databases
• Titles
• Items

Pesch (2017) provides a helpful introduction to the history of Project Counter and the migration from Counter version 4 to version 5. Table 1 in the Pesch article describes the four major reports (listed above). These reports include usage metrics at the broadest level and of things like EBSCOhost databases, ProQuest databases, SAGE resources, Web of Science databases, and so on. These reports come into play when users/patrons search in the overall platform but not in any single database provided by the platform. For example, UK Libraries subscribes to the ProQuest Databases and for us that includes 35 primary databases. Users can search multiple databases at the same time or search any single one. The same holds for platforms like EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and others. These report levels continue to form the framework for release 5.1, which continues to build on the goals of its predecessors by providing standardized, comprehensive, and easy-to-use reports.

The four major reports each serve different but complementary purposes in understanding electronic resource usage. As mentioned above, the Platform Report provides a birds-eye overview of usage across multiple resources. This is essential for understanding the overall value provided by platforms like EBSCOhost or ProQuest. The Database Report yields insights into individual database usage, such as the Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database, which is part of the EBSCOhost collection. This helps electronic resource librarians assess the relevance and impact of specific collections. The Title and Item Reports offer granular data. These reports detail the usage of specific journals, articles, or chapters. Such reports support detailed collection analysis and decision-making for renewals or cancellations.

The transition from COUNTER 5 to 5.1 introduces improvements to the clarity and consistency of these metrics. Per the COUNTER website, it addresses ambiguities that might have led to misinterpretations in previous versions. By emphasizing transparency and accuracy, COUNTER 5.1 aims to make usage statistics more actionable for libraries and content providers. This provides justification of resource investment and can help improve the user experience.

Scott (2016) illustrates a nice use case for how Counter reports can inform collection development. We've addressed the Big Deal packages that more libraries are trying to move away from because such deals often include access to titles that are not used or not relevant to a library community. Here Scott shows that it might be possible to avoid subscribing to some services using this data, but it's also important to closely read through and understand the problems associated with interlibrary loan, the metrics, and other limitations described in the Conclusion section of this article.

The Value of Metrics

We move away from Project Counter with the Stone and Ramsden (2013) article. I introduce this article because it highlights how metrics can be used to assess the value of a library, which is often underestimated by administration but constantly required in order to garner the resources needed to improve or sustain a library's resources. Here Stone and Ramsden investigate the correlation (not causation) between library usage and student retention. Increasing the latter is the Holy Grail of college and universities. The more students who attend college or university and finish, the more successful the college or university's mission is. However, universities struggle with keeping students and often lose nearly 25% of their students each year. If this were a public library report, it might be interesting to see how well electronic library usage correlates to continued usage and how such a correlation might result in outcomes defined by the library. One nice thing about the Stone and Ramsden article is that it does not depend on quantitative metrics alone but supports its findings through qualitative research. There's only so much a usage metric can say.

Using Metrics

I would like you to be aware of the code{4}lib journal and this article by Zou. Although this article overlaps with some security issues, a topic that we'll cover in the final section, the article also provides a way of thinking outside the box about the metrics that you have access to as an electronic resource librarian. Here, Zou describes a process of taking EZproxy logs (compare the example entry with the web server entry I included above) and turning them into something useful and dynamic by incorporating additional technologies. Recall that EZproxy is software that authenticates users and provides access given that authentication. We use EZproxy at UK whenever we access a paywalled journal article. That is, you've noticed the ezproxy.uky.edu string in any URL for a journal that you've accessed via UK Libraries' installation of EZproxy, and the URL https://login.ezproxy.uky.edu/login is the log in URL. Zou specifically references the standard way of analyzing these logs (take a look at the page at that link), which can be insightful and helpful, but Zou's method makes the analysis of these logs more visual and real-time. The main weakness with Zou's method is that it seems to me to be highly dependent on Zou doing the work. If Zou leaves their library, then this customized analysis might not last. Still, it's good to know that if you have an interest in developing skills with systems administration, with other technologies, and with some basic scripting language, this kind of thing, and more, is possible.

Getting Creative

Smith & Arneson (2017) detail creative and fun ways to collect usage data about resource usage when vendors do not provide usage data. In the first part of this article, Smith describes how they analyzed their link resolver reports to infer what users were accessing in their collections. Arneson's section describes using a Linux file search utility called grep to construct search queries of the EZproxy logs and deduce usage of specific electronic resources. Since both methods require sifting through log entries like the one I highlighted above, the process requires some sleuthing, testing, time, and patience. However, once figured out, the process and reports can easily be automated.

Conclusion

Librarians used a variety of techniques to collect usage data in the print era, but again, electronic resources have complicated things. First, because more data is available about usage with electronic resources, before that data can be used, it has to be defined. Project Counter is an attempt to define what usage means and how to report it.

Quantitative metrics should will never be able to provide a complete picture of how a library's collections are used, but they are an important part. Not only do they help librarians manage their collections, they also help librarians show proof of their collection's importance to their communities. Furthermore, with a little skill, practice, and creativity, usage logs can also be used to build cool apps (Zou, 2015) or help fill in the gaps when vendors fall short in their requirements (Smith & Arneson, 2017).

With all this data, though, comes a host of privacy issues, which we discuss in the next and last section.

Readings / References

Pesch, O. (2017). COUNTER release 5: What’s new and what it means to libraries. The Serials Librarian, 73(3–4), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2017.1391153

Scott, M. (2016). Predicting use: COUNTER usage data found to be predictive of ILL use and ILL use to be predictive of COUNTER use. Serials Librarian, 71(1), 20–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2016.1165783

Stone, G., & Ramsden, B. (2013). Library impact data project: Looking for the link between library usage and student attainment. College & Research Libraries, 74(6). http://doi.org/10.5860/crl12-406

Zou, Q. (2015). A novel open source approach to monitor Ezproxy Users’ activities. code{4}lib Journal, 29. http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/10589

Smith, K., & Arneson, J. (2017). Determining usage when vendors do not provide data. Serials Review, 43(1), 46–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2017.1281788

Privacy and Security

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain the importance of privacy and security in the context of library services, especially in the transition from physical to electronic resources.
• Identify historical and contemporary examples of privacy issues in libraries, such as due date cards and government surveillance.
• Understand the role of metadata and how even seemingly innocuous data points can reveal sensitive information about patrons.
• Describe the significance of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its role in encrypting data to protect user privacy on library websites.
• Evaluate the trade-offs involved in using website analytics tools on library websites, including the privacy concerns associated with tracking user interactions.
• Discuss how third-party vendor practices may conflict with library values regarding user privacy and data security.
• Suggest privacy-conscious alternatives to commonly used analytics tools to improve data privacy for library users.
• Recognize the ethical implications of privacy decisions and develop strategies for balancing user data collection with patron confidentiality.

Introduction

Breeding (2016) begins with the following statement:

Libraries have a long tradition of taking extraordinary measures to ensure the privacy of those who use their facilities and access their materials.

This is mostly true but not entirely so. When I was an undergraduate in the early 1990s, I remember going to the library to look for books on a sensitive topic. I saw a book on the shelves that looked relevant, and when I pulled it off the shelf and opened it, I noticed that a friend had checked the book out before me because their name was written on the due date card in their handwriting. Even though I had grown up with these due date cards in library books, the privacy issues with these cards had never occurred to me. At the time, I decided not to check out that book because of that issue.

We might be comforted in thinking that the kind of information that was supposedly revealed to me in that book would not scale up easily. It was a serendipitous event that involved me looking for a book on the same topic and then just happening to pick the one book that my friend had used. It's not likely, then, that this might pose a big problem at scale.

However, let's think of that information in that due date card as metadata (data about data), and then ask, how could we use it? The sociologist Kieren Healy did that kind of thing with membership lists from colonial times. He showed that using limited data like the one I found in that book, some important things could be discovered. For example, Healy imagined that if the British had access to simple social network analysis (SNA) methods in 1772, they could have identified that Paul Revere was a patriot and then have used that information to prevent or interfere with the American Revolution. I encourage you to read his blog entry and his follow-up reflection because it is a neat what-if hypothetical case study.

Modern Privacy Concerns

Most libraries in North America have removed due date slips, of course, and while this has removed the problem above, the overall migration from paper-based workflows to electronic ones have raised other problems. For example, in the early 2000s, not long after the Patriot Act was passed after 9/11, FBI agents ordered Connecticut librarians to "identify patrons who had used library computers online at a specific time one year earlier". Per the law, the librarians involved were placed under a gag order, which prevented them from speaking out. This led to a lawsuit against the US Attorney General. Eventually the librarians were released from their gag order and allowed to discuss the event. More currently, books bans have led lawmakers to attempt to enshrine laws that allow parents to receive emails of works their children borrow from libraries. And it's not all digital. New "Snitch State" tactics have motivated some librarians to remove books from their shelves. Surveillance comes in all shapes.

Technical Aspects of Privacy

Privacy and security issues can present as more mundane but still be important. Since users of libraries of all types visit library homepages, then encrypting web and internet traffic is important. For example, the major web browsers announced that they would no longer support Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol versions 1.1 or earlier and any site that had not yet migrated to TLS version 1.2 or above would be inaccessible.

TLS is used to encrypt web traffic and can be verified via the https protocol in a URL and the lock icon in your browser's URL bar. It is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure communication over the internet. Using TLS cryptography means encrypting data transmitted between a user's browser and a website. This ensures that sensitive information such as login credentials and payment details remain private and protected from eavesdropping or tampering. TLS replaces the older Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol but itself must be continually updated as anti-security technology becomes more advanced.

This news from the web browser companies was released in early March 2020, just before the pandemic. The browser vendors thus postponed blocking poorly encrypted websites. Still, it took time for some websites to begin using the new version of TLS and some websites, including library home pages, were inaccessible via some web browsers for a while even with the advanced notice.

Vendor Issues

Breeding (2016) introduces a variety of technologies and policies that are related to security and privacy. These encompass important technological considerations, like web traffic encryption. There are also important policy considerations, too, like how third party vendors, like Primo etc., implement privacy and security mechanisms. DiVittorio and Gianelli (2021) discuss the issue of privacy and security issues with third party vendors. Overall, their findings highlight the lack of alignment between the values of librarians and the profit-based motives of vendors. It's important to note how unresponsive vendors were to their requests to participate in data collection. Remember that SERU has a section in its recommended practice dedicated to Confidentiality and Privacy. In case you work at a library that does not use SERU, this is how SERU can be useful to you. It can inform about the kinds of provisions that a library ought to have in a license if the default provisions a vendor proposes do not include the necessary components.

There are pros and cons with intentionally choosing services that make library usage less private. For example, a number of library sites use Google Analytics to track site usage and other metrics. Google Analytics specifically track how users interact on web pages. It collects page views, session duration, traffic sources (where users are coming from when they first come to your site), click and user flows, geolocation and device information, and more. The data helps website owners, including library website owners, to understand usage patterns, such as which pages are most popular, how long users stay on the site or page, which website features are most useful or problematic, and so on.

Understanding how patrons use library websites is important, but this means that our actions, albeit somewhat anonymized, on these library sites are being collected and stored by Google (or some other analytic service). Anonymization generally means that identifiable personal information is stripped from data. The data that Google collects is technically pseudonymized. This means that although the identifiers that Google (or some other analytics company) uses are not immediately traceable, and individual's identity could be linked back if certain data points were combined, such as in the Paul Revere case. Unlike in the late 1700s, today we have much more advanced methods, data sources, and computation to make that happen. This means that we really should have to trust these sites with that information. Still, the fact that libraries use these services raises some ethical questions. That is, libraries are trusted institutions, and the use of analytics tools like this introduces issues about how private patron data is.

Also, web pages, library web pages included, can be made up of multiple types of code, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This code can be sourced from external servers and services. For example, the fonts that a web page uses might be sourced from a separate font server that's not controlled by a library. Including third-party code entails more tracking mechanisms, since anytime a page is visited that contains a font sourced from another server, or any other code, the third party server can log that information. This enables more cross-referencing capabilities.

Remember that security and privacy issues like this can be mundane and not necessarily trendy. However, there is a trade-off. If we want to learn more about how users interact with library websites in order to improve usability and accessibility, then we have to have some of this data. Here's where a privacy policy might come into play. And technical solutions are game, too. Some analytics software, such as Matomo or Plausible, were designed to be privacy-friendly. (Note, though, that I have not personally vetted or used either of these products.)

Conclusion

Like all things I've covered in this work, the move to electronic resources has disrupted how we think about and handle the privacy and security of our patrons. The DiVittorio and Gianelli (2021) article highlights how more than ever much of what we might like to protect and keep secure is out of librarians' control, and that this has potential ramifications for our communities, and especially, for our marginalized and unprotected ones.

When you become librarians, it's important to think about the usability of your services, but it's also important to think about your patrons' privacy. Be proactive in searching for technical solutions, in developing privacy policies, and in negotiating with vendors to ensure that your patrons' privacy is safeguarded.

Readings / References

Breeding, M. (2016). Chapter 1. Issues and technologies related to privacy and security. In Privacy and Security for Library Systems. Library Technology Reports, 52(4), 5-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/ltr.52n4

DiVittorio, K., & Gianelli, L. (2021). Ethical financial stewardship: One library's examination of vendors' business practices. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2021/ethical-financial-stewardship/