Every semester, I have the same cliched question: How did the end get here so fast? I have been working on this blog for 14 weeks now, and this is my last "class entry". But this blog is not going away, so never fear, my one or two possible readers! I have discovered that I love blogging, and I am not too shabby at it. In addition, I will be doing a volunteer internship at WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services) in their Electronic Resources department, so I will have plenty to talk about! Writing this blog, and being in this class has made me realize that I love the many facets of ERM, and want to explore it more. I look forward to sharing my future experiences with all of you.
When I began this class, I believed that it would be collections management for electronic resources; basically, we would be learning about how to select databases, how to analyze usage statistics for collections management decisions, how to purchase databases (so something about licensing) and maybe how to catalog/keep track of those databases in some way. From reading job descriptions for ERM librarians, I also was hopeful we would delve into a lot of the technologies that were discussed therein: SFX, openURL, link resolving. What I came to discover, from just looking at the syllabus and which was brought home throughout the class, was the Electronic Resource Management affects almost every level of librarianship. These resources are so much more complex, in terms of purchase, maintenance, federal legislation, user services and instruction, marketing, everything, than print and this means it takes a whole library working together to truly "manage" them. It also included things that I did not think of as ERM, like ILL and Electronic reserves. When I first saw these, especially ILL on the syllabus, I was excited (because I deal a lot with ILL at work, and think it is an essential service) but confused. What did ILL have to do with ERM, I wondered? But, by the time we got close to that section, I realized it had everything to do with it. Not only is ILL now facilitated online through programs like Illiad, but more and more libraries are requesting texts from databases or purely online journals. As such, the same dilemmas and issues that come with databases--concerns about licensing, technology protection measures, copyright and fair use--are tied up in ILL, in E-reserves. The breadth of issues that electronic resources touch is truly amazing, and makes this class by far one of the most important and informative I have taken at UW Madison.
What ties this whole class together for me is copyright law. I never would have thought that this was the core to understanding how to be an electronic resource librarian, but it really is. The technology is of course extremely important and helpful; one would have a hard time guiding patrons through all the material or even making them available to patrons without ER management systems, without creating easy access to changing links, without usage standards like COUNTER. But what is constantly at the back of it all, at the back of all the technology used to limit access, the skyrocketing price of journals, the incredibly detailed process of licensing, is copyright, and more specifically the fear copyright owners have of how easy it is to now make copies digitally.
This concept first really gelled in my mind when I was writing two blog posts, one from the 22nd of September ("Licensing is a Pit Trap Full of Spikes") and the one the week later ("Georgia on my Mind"). I think that the reason was because these blog posts were my first exposure to how fair use, the copyright law of 1976, CONFU, DMCA, and all the other issues surrounding electronic transmission concretely affect the library world. In the license post, I expressed my fear of licensing. Looking back, I now see that that fear derived out of a fear about not understanding copyright and all the legal language well enough. But that post was the start of my desire to understand the rules and the court cases and the issues as well as I possibly could. Georgia gave me a bit of hope. While we still (!) do not know the outcome, it looks like they were not able to take away most of Georgia's rights. Reading about this case and writing this blog post allowed me to believe that, sometimes, the law can be on our side, if we can back up our decisions from a place of knowledge. Due to these two blogs, which caused me to sort through my feelings and fears, I devoted myself to better understanding these issues not only throughout the rest of the class, but outside of it as well. I have investigated copyright policy at Edgewood, and am working with them to attempt to create a more flexible one. And I am trying to face my fear head on, by not only volunteering at WiLS, but also working with our ER librarian at Edgewood to create better licenses for our library, and even help with negotiation.
Finally, if anyone is reading this blog from the outside and is thinking about taking a class on ERM, do it. At my most recent job interview, earlier this week, I was asked about what I knew about scholarly communication, especially how researchers can maintain their rights in an electronic publishing world. I was able to discuss open access solutions, as well as the importance of negotiating contracts. I could bring up what rights authors had under copyright and explain what resources were available to the researchers to help them further understand their rights and assist them in reading contracts. This not being a library setting, but instead a research group, they were astounded that librarians knew so much about this, and could help. This is something that goes beyond libraries and into publishing and all forms of research. It opens up not only your own understanding, but employment doors. And in these economic times, that last phrase is the best endorsement I can give a class.
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