Electronic Journal Management Systems: Experiences from the Field

Citation

Allardyce Irvine, L. (2007), "Electronic Journal Management Systems: Experiences from the Field", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 80-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710722069

Managing electronic resources is a major challenge facing academic libraries today. Electronic resources, particularly journal collections, are chameleon‐like in nature with a tendency to change form and content regularly. Initially electronic journals followed the path of their print predecessors and were managed similarly, but the speed and volume with which electronic journals appeared soon saw a significant change in the way that journal content began to be presented and marketed. The result is a much bigger market of similar‐but‐different products which share some‐but‐not‐all characteristics and which change regularly. Journal content can be purchased as electronic only, bundled with a print option, come as part of a subject cluster, appear within a hybrid database of bibliographic and full‐text content or be part of a very large cluster.

The huge popularity of electronic resources with end users has forced libraries to concentrate a huge amount of effort in making access as easy and efficient as possible. Part of the complexity in managing this access is the fact that electronic resources form only part of large academic collections especially in older libraries. The task of managing acquisition and access to large digital and print collections is difficult and complex. Existing systems and processes for managing print collections have been adapted to accommodate digital resources but the size of digital collections and the constant changes to titles and content have made this task almost impossible.

Libraries are looking increasingly to vendors for systems to manage their collections. The problem is that there are many systems on the market, all doing almost but not quite the same thing, themselves evolving from year to year with additions and enhancements. In many ways it seems that the choices for libraries are almost endless but that is part of the problem. There are so many products to choose from with varying add‐ons and extras, yet it is difficult to know if any of them can do quite what is required. Add to this financial and technical constraints and the task of choosing the right product seems almost impossible. So what do you do?

In May 2004, Gary Ives sent a request to a number of discussion lists asking just that question. He asked libraries to share their experiences of managing electronic resources. The response was impressively detailed and enthusiastic. This book is the result. Having a collection of papers on this topic is appealing enough, but the great advantage of this edited collection is the excellent organisation. The book has 12 case studies arranged in chapters. Each chapter is packed with practical detail but this is made very accessible with a summary, introduction, conclusion and section headings. In addition most chapters have screen images of the systems that are described.

In terms of content almost all of the current major systems are discussed – TDNet, SFX, Serials Solutions, EBSCO A‐Z as well as library systems such as Dynix, SIRSI and Innovative. There are also discussions of home‐grown solutions using Microsoft Access, Excel and web pages. Ives has made an impressive selection of case studies. Although there is so much detail to make the book unappealing as a beginning to end read, there are a good selection of topics to choose from including more theoretical pieces as well as a useful index.

The case studies themselves are comprehensive, mostly taking the form of background to the situation, decision making processes, evaluative criteria when choosing a particular system, problems experienced along the way and plans for the future. The authors of the papers provide an impressive amount of detail and are generous in sharing both the good and bad outcomes of their choices.

This is a comprehensive collection of case studies which will appeal to a range of library staff involved in electronic resource management. It is jam‐packed with practical detail and very thoroughly organised with excellent signposting. There is no doubt that this is a welcome addition to the literature in this area. It is always useful to find out what solutions others facing similar challenges apply and why. In the end it may serve only to confirm what you suspected all along – the reason it is so difficult to find a system which can do exactly that you need, is perhaps because there is no such system.