Presented at the 2010 Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference. Abstract: How do electronic resources librarians learn to perform the tasks necessary for their work? This presentation will discuss a recent survey of over 300 academic electronic resources librarians, findings of which may improve understanding of workflow issues and ways to improve LIS education for prospective entrants into this relatively new--but steadily growing--area of librarianship.

1. Finding Their Way:
Electronic Resources Librarians’
Education, Training, and Community
Rachel A. Fleming-May, Jill E. Grogg, Associate Professor and
Assistant Professor Electronic Resources Librarian,
School of Information Sciences, The University of Alabama
The University of Tennessee

2. E-Resource Expenditures
• “Between 1994/95 and 2001/02, expenditures
on electronic resources for the typical
university research library have grown almost
400% to almost $1.4M.”
• “Electronic journals now account for 26% of a
library's overall serials expenditures…” 9

3. 2004-2008
Year Number Average Average Total E-Serial
of E-Serial Materials Expenditure/Total
Libraries Expenditure Expenditure Materials
Expenditure
2004 110 $2450920 $8983972 27.28%
2005 107 $3037918
2006 109 $3543449
2008 111 $5031412 $11368091 44.26%

4. Is the ER Librarian a passing trend?
“New professions develop when a disturbance
causes the authority in a specific area to become
obsolete or replaced by the need for new
expertise. As the professions or sub-specialties
develop their expertise in order to respond to the
disturbance, the area develops a consistency in
its skills and role and balance are restored.”1

5. Position Announcement Analysis: 2002
• Between 1996 and 2001, 101 e-resource
positions were advertised in College &
Research Libraries News2
• Between 2002 and 2006, 122 such
advertisements appeared

6. Preferred Job Skills
• Position announcements combined more
“traditional” tasks from public and technical
service areas:
– Reference and bibliographic instruction
– Resource evaluation
– Cataloging
– Online searching
– Acquisitions2,3

7. Preferred Job Skills
• Position announcements also included
relatively “new” skills:
– License negotiation
– Technical integration of disparate e-resources2

8. Experienced Required
• 81% of announcements analyzed by Albitz
required no (40%) or between one and three
(41%) years of experience
• This indicates employers are expecting LIS
programs or on-the-job training to contribute
to preparing e-resource librarians2

9. Position Announcement Analysis: 2007
• Advertised responsibilities for e-resources
positions are amorphous at best
• List of responsibilities beyond the capacity of
one individual
• “Kitchen sink” positions – positions only a
“superhuman could perform successfully” 4

10. Preferred Job Skills
• Public services responsibilities diminished (no more
reference, bibliographic instruction)
• “ER coordination”
• Acquisitions, renewals, and cancellations
• License and pricing negotiations
• Troubleshooting technical problems
• Completely new to 2007 study: Link resolvers,
federated search, trials, usage data4
• Increased participation in consortia requires unique set
of skills5

11. Previous experience of
current ER librarians
• E-Resource Librarians enter positions with
little or no experience with ER management
• Many internal candidates from
reference/bibliography, serials, acquisitions,
collection development, etc.
• Reassignment of current duties – reallocation
used to address need for ER management4

12. A Student’s Voice
“First, ask yourself if you are suited to this kind
of work … a happy, effective electronic
resources librarian must enjoy puzzles and
must not get frustrated by problems that do
not stay fixed. You will have to accept the fact
that many of your colleagues may not
completely understand what exactly it is that
you do or how you do it.”6

13. Requisite Skills
(ranked by total # of appearances in 100 job ads)
1. Web-mastering 7. Programming
2. Cataloging 8. ER Knowledge
3. ILS 9. Licensing
4. ER Management 10. Acquisitions
5. Instruction 11. Hardware admin
6. Supervision 12. Reference7

14. What are library schools doing?
• Of top 12 skills most often listed in 100 job ads:
– Cataloging, acquisitions, knowledge of ER, and
supervision covered on average in three to five
courses per program
– ILS, hardware, programming, reference, instruction, a
nd Web-mastering covered in two courses per
program
– ER management and licensing appear in one or no
courses per program7

15. An Adjunct’s Voice
“How have library faculty changed?
“Library faculty also encourage a broader view
of classes and experience among students.
They still do not read as broadly as they
should, focusing on a narrow set of
‘classics’, but they are more open to works in
the social sciences …”8

16. Our Survey:
• Email to lists for electronic resources librarians
• Vague description in email (to limit self-selection)
• Asked about
– Duties, responsibilities, and specific tasks associated
with position
– How well prepared by MLIS program to execute
specific job successfully
– Source of skills for accomplishing job (MLIS program
or elsewhere).

17. Our Respondents… “How many
long have
you worked
• 338 Respondents in your
current
– Variety of [electronic
resources]
• levels of position?
experience
• years since 14%
acquiring MLIS
7%
– Variety of position
titles and 49%
responsibilities
30% 0-3 years
un/related to
4-7 years
Electronic
Resources
0-3 years 4-7 years 8-11 years 12+ years

18. …AND WHAT WE ASKED THEM
ABOUT (IN A NUTSHELL):
• Specific tasks for which they had
responsibility
• Where they learned how to
accomplish those tasks
Emphasis on M.L.I.S. education

19. Tasks: Acquisition and Renewal of Electronic Resources

20. Tasks: Technical Issues/Maintenance

21. Tasks: Planning/Publicizing/Evaluating Electronic Resources

22. Tasks: Training/Personnel Management

23. Tasks: Unrelated to Electronic Resources

24. WHEW!
Where’d they learn how to do all that stuff?
Their M.L.I.S. programs must’ve been pretty
good…

25. Where did you learn the skills necessary…
…or not. Only 14.6%
told us that they
learned about e-
resources
management in the
M.L.I.S. course of
study…only 2% (5
people) in a course
specifically about e-
resources.

26. HOW WELL DID YOUR MLIS PROGRAM
PREPARE YOU TO ACCOMPLISH TASKS
RELATED TO…
Well, they must’ve learned how to do
perform some of the tasks of an electronic
resources librarian, right?

27. ≤13% felt their
M.L.I.S. program
prepared them
“somewhat well or
extremely well” to
accomplish each
task.
Acquisition and
Renewal of
Electronic
Resources

28. M.L.I.S. Programs
fared a little
better in
cataloging and
metadata
preparation…
Technical and
Maintenance
Issues

29. Planning, Publicizing, and Evaluating Electronic Resources
Why are so many
electronic resources
librarians not involved
in IR initiatives/planning
(34%) and Scholarly
Communications
Initiatives (35%)?

30. Training and
Personnel
Management
Respondents even
rated M.L.I.S.
preparation poorly
in “traditional”
areas of
librarianship

31. WELL, BUT LIBRARIANSHIP HAS
CHANGED OVER THE YEARS, AND 41%
OF RESPONDENTS FINISHED THEIR
MASTER’S 12 YEARS AGO (OR MORE).
Surely education is more reflective of the
responsibilities of this type of position now….

32. Surprisingly, recent graduates
M.L.I.S. M.L.I.S.
program, electronic
didn’t report receiving program, electronic
resources appreciably better training resources part of
management- during the course of the MLIS. curriculum
specific course 6%
1%
Informal consultation/querying
of/discussion with colleagues at
other institutions (listservs, etc.)
On the job training, in
25% house
17%
Where did you learn the
skills necessary…(M.L.I.S.
On the job
Completed within 7 years) training, outsourced
7%
Books and Journals
22% Conferences and
workshops, off-site
22%

33. Where are they On their own and
learning this stuff? from each other.

34. Really??
Yes. Specifically, through
• Informal consultation/querying of/discussion with
colleagues at other institutions: 87.8% (223)
• Conferences and workshops away from home
institution: 76.8% (189)
• Consultation of books and journals 74.4% (189)
…with a little help from their employers:
• On the job training provided by employer , in house:
46.5% (118)
• …outsourced instructor: 25.2% (64)

35. SO, WHAT CAN BE DONE?

36. 2007 CM Article: Recommendations
• Internships/practica
• Independent studies
• Taking classes in other departments (business
schools, etc.)
• “Issues in” courses taught by practitioners
• Continuing education courses7
Four of these require a commitment from
current ER professionals

37. Our Recommendations:
• Lobby LIS education to improve preparation
through coursework and practical experiences
• Lobby ALA to bridge education-practice gap
(where are ER skills in the Core
Competences?)
• Regular faculty not adjunct (economic
situation)

38. A Professional’s Voice
“No one person can know, understand, or keep
track of all the intricacies of ER librarianship as
they evolve, which makes the development of
consistent, systematic, broadly available
training opportunities critical.” 4

39. Questions?
Rachel Fleming-May, Assistant Professor, School
of Information Sciences, University of
Tennessee, rfmay@utk.edu
Jill E. Grogg, Electronic Resources
Librarian, University of
Alabama, jgrogg@ua.edu

40. Bibliography
1. Downes, K.A. & P.V. Rao. (2007). “Preferred Political, Social, and Technological Characteristics
of Electronic Resources Librarians.” Collection Management 32(1/2), 3-14.
2. Albitz, R.S. (2002). “Electronic Resources Librarians in Academic Libraries: A Position
Announcement Analysis, 1996-2001.” portal: Libraries and the Academy 2(4), 589-600.
3. Fisher, W. (2003). “The ER Librarian Position: A Public Services Phenomenon?” Library
Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services 27(11).
4. Albitz, R.S. & W.A. Shelburne. (2007). “Marian Through the Looking Glass: The Unique
Evolution of the Electronic Resources Librarian Position.” Collection Management
32, (1/2), 15-30.
5. Clement, S. (2007). “Skills for Effective Participation in Consortia.” Collection Management
32, (1/2), 191-204.
6. Zuniga, H. (2008). “A Student’s Voice.” Colorado Libraries 34(3), 55-56.
7. Bradford, M.L. et al. (2007). “Education and Electronic Resources Librarianship.” Collection
Management 32, (1/2), 49-69.
8. Weir, R.O. (2008). “A Look at Today’s Library Students and Faculty: IU.” Indiana Libraries
27(2), 83-85.
9. Case, M.M. (2004). “A Snapshot in Time: ARL Libraries and Electronic Journal Resources.” ARL
Newsletters (235), 88.