E-Resource Management pERMutation (PTPL 2012)
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A presentation given at the 2012 meeting of the Potomac Technical & Processing Librarians in Washington, DC.
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E-Resource Management pERMutation (PTPL 2012)
- 1. E-Resource Management pERMutation Moving From One System To Another
- 4. Agenda: Where We Came From Where We Went What Happened Next Where We Hope To Go
- 5. Where We Came From
- 6. In the beginning there was Endeavor Meridian… Dec 2007
- 7. And EBSCO LinkSource… Dec 2007
- 8. And WebFeat… Dec 2007
- 9. Crisis! Less than a year to find a new ERMS and link resolver! Jan/Feb 2008
- 10. Ex Libris vs. Serials Solutions Feb-May 2008
- 11. Where We Went
- 12. Serials Solutions 360 initial implementation Jul-Sep 2008
- 13. Implementation Issues Jul-Sep 2008
- 15. License Data So much to do, so little time to do it!
- 16. Use Data CSV, XLS, & XML, oh my!
- 17. Use Data Standards are just a loose suggestion, right?
- 18. Use Data Linking data based on resource titles is way smarter than a boring old standard number or code.
- 19. Cost Data New librarian sport: Plumbing the depths of Voyager Oracle tables to develop queries.
- 20. Cost Data
- 21. Cost Data Garbage in, garbage out.
- 22. Cost Data Was it worth the effort? Not really.
- 23. Other Uses Makin’ lists of things.
- 24. Other Uses Overlap Analysis
- 25. We have not used the ERMS for… • Keeping a list of contacts • Renewal notifications
- 26. Where We Hope To Go
- 27. Living with complacency, for now
- 28. Next Generation ERMS = Next Generation ILS?
- 29. Preparing to pERMute again!
- 30. My next ERMS will…
- 31. E-Resource Management pERMutation Questions? acreech@richmond.edu
Editor's Notes
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jantik/271992932/
- Miss anything? Wish I’d said more about ____? Feel free to stop me at anytime, or follow up later. Hecklers can use Twitter.
- This is the alternative title to this presentation, but I wasn’t sure most would get it. Still, I promised some friends I’d give it a mention.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/kiksbalayon/2113369517/See also: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ermahgerd
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/mscolly/145052885/
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/mscolly/145052885/
- Dec 2007Ex Libris/Endeavor Meridian (ERMS)basic license infocontactsno workflow to add more resources/infotried to use it for recording trial feedback, but little uptake by librariansPhoto source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/philippe_arpels/6353278257/
- Dec 2007Ex Libris/Endeavor Meridian (ERMS)EBSCO LinkSource (link resolver)Primary knowledgebase for full-text contentRegularly maintained, but occasionally missing updates due to maintaining several KBsPhoto source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/philippe_arpels/6353278257/
- Dec 2007WebFeat (federated search)Fairly effective – librarians were happy enough with itLimited number of sources, so easy to maintain b/c changes were infrequentPhoto source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/philippe_arpels/6353278257/
- Jan/Feb 2008Learned that Ex Libris plans to phase out support for Meridian by the end of the year. WebFeat is acquired by SerialsSolutions.Formed a committee to decide on a new ERMS, while also considering the link resolver and federated search options.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/genista/2447322/
- Feb-May 2008Contact a wide range of vendors of ERMS, link resolvers, and federated search tools and arrange for demos.Came down to Ex Libris (Verde, SFX, & MetaLib) versus SerialsSolutions (360 Suite).Search results/interface for 360 Search won out over MetaLibEx Libris did not have a unified knowledgebase, so each product would have to be maintained separately, which we were hoping to avoidUse statistics component swayed Law to SerialsSolutionsPhoto source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/genista/2447322/
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/mscolly/145052885/
- Jul-Sep 2008SerialsSolutions 360 initial implementationFocused on building the knowledgebase of resources for the A-Z pages and link resolver firstAdded license info for the largest collectionsWorked with Emerging Technologies Librarian & reference librarians to develop a custom skin and tweak functionality of link resolver and federated searchPhoto source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/1531979022/
- Jul-Sep 2008IssuesTried to pull data out of Meridian, but could not get it into any format SerSol could use to import into our KB, so gave up on the license & contact info already added there.Used data from EBSCO LinkSource to populate the KB, but that contained some errors, which were found later on. Also, database /package/journal names did not match up, so it was a manual process.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/1531979022/
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/mscolly/145052885/
- License dataCreated the workflow of adding all new license dataTried to use the end dates for triggering the renewal evaluation process, but since not all licenses had end dates specified, I eventually decided to create my own tool. (First a column added to an existing spreadsheet, and later my own creation which evolved into an Access database.)Got through a good part of the As before being pulled away to a bigger project – use data collectionPhoto source: http://liblicense.crl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/licenseagreements/standlicagree.pdf
- Use dataTransferred login information for vendor use reports from the old spreadsheet I created to gather them when I first arrivedVerified that they were still working, and added new ones as I obtained them.Began collecting use reports from vendors as far back as I could to build a history of use data for our resources, but unfortunately some vendors don’t provide much of an archive for these reports.Photo source: http://www.projectcounter.org/r3/Release3D9.pdf
- Use dataCleaned up the COUNTER reports and uploaded them to the 360 Counter moduleThis did not go as smoothly as one would hope. In the early days, the import mechanism was very, very picky. A blank row at the end of the report would throw most of the reports back with errors.I also learned in this process that very few publishers, even with explicit examples given by Project COUNTER, will provide clean reports in the exact format they need to be.Photo source: http://www.projectcounter.org/r3/Release3D9.pdf
- Use dataWhen I generated my first consolidated report, I also learned that inconsistencies in titles (including preceding articles or not, using ampersand instead of and, etc.) meant that they did not always match up year to year.I didn’t worry about this at first, because most of the time I was being asked for big numbers (e.g., total downloads for 2008), but later I had to go back and re-do most of the reports so that the titles matched the titles listed in the KB so that it could also find the cost dataPhoto source: http://www.projectcounter.org/r3/Release3D9.pdf
- Cost DataThis was the most challenging implementation, and one I abandoned after last year’s overhaul of the cost portion of the 360 Resource Manager module. More on that later.First, I had to figure out how to get the data out of our ILS, Ex Libris Voyager. The main way to do this is through a Microsoft Access connection to the Oracle database, which consists of a mass of linked tables and some canned queries and reports.There is no real data map that explains what is in the tables and how it’s connected. Maybe they’re afraid libraries might use this to help their competitors? Or build our own? Anyway, you have to have a pretty solid knowledge of how the tables are connected before you can even think of pulling the right data out of them.This process took over a year of periodically banging my head on the thing, and using some examples other Voyager libraries had managed to create.Eventually, I was able to extract the cost information.Photo source: screenshot of the Access Reports query I beat into submission
- Cost DataSecond, I had to connect that data with the corresponding resources in the KB.I borrowed the method from Dani Roach at the University of St. Thomas – use the SerSol 3 digit alphanumeric code for a database and the longer alphanumeric code for the journal.These codes were added to an unused field in the order record (Vendor Title #), and that field was pulled along with other cost information.Photo source: screenshot of the Access Reports query I beat into submission
- Cost DataNext, I munged the data from Voyager into the import format required by the Cost Data Uploader tool.At the time, only one transaction per year per resource could be recorded, so for resources that had been invoiced more than once in the year, I had to manually combine that cost information and fudge the invoice dates/numbers.I also discovered that local practice of end of year payments not always being paid out of the correct ledger/fiscal year meant that the data was fuzzy already. This is another reason why I abandoned the cost data import after the first couple attempts.Photo source: screenshot of the Access Reports query I beat into submission
- Cost DataThis was the most challenging implementation, and one I abandoned after last year’s overhaul of the cost portion of the 360 Resource Manager module. More on that later.Finally! A cost/use report automagically generated by 360 Counter!Sort of. Worked for some resources, but not all.Issues:Same as the COUNTER reports – titles had to match, and some reports were inaccessible to me to update with the corrections due to a moving wall for edits.No way to amortize one-time costs over the life of the resource.Ultimately, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to obtain, clean, and update the data when I was putting in about as much work as I would if I were to do it manually.Photo source: screenshot of the Access Reports query I beat into submission
- Keep tabs on resources we’ve canceledBased on a brilliant suggestion by someone at a SerSol informal user group meeting at NASIG a few years ago, I created some Notes (which act more like lists) for resources we’ve canceled.They stay active in the KB so that any related data remains with them. Also, one of our librarians has a habit of reinstating canceled subscriptions within months of their cancelation.After 3 years, I remove them from any sort of active status in the KB, and the Note (list) helps me know which ones were canceled when.Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/owlpacino/3531718174/
- Overlap analysisThis is one of the features of SerialsSolutions. I’m not sure if other ERMS have it.We generally use it to assess potential new resources to see how unique they would be.One draw-back is that it’s limited to 300 “databases” at a time, and right now we have 378 (this includes publisher ejournal/ebook collections), so I have to go through and remove a bunch from the list every time I want to use this tool.Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steelmore/236396466
- Things we have not used the ERMS to do ContactsI’ve added a handful, mostly to see how it works, but the process is somewhat cumbersome.Since I’m primarily the only person who needs to know who to contact, I’ve relied on my Outlook address book, which is much easier to populate and retrieve on the fly.If I ever leave this role, I plan to put as much contact information into the ERMS as I can, but for now it’s not sustainable or functional enough. Alerts for resource renewalsAs I mentioned earlier, this function is tied to the license data, and there’s no quick way to update when resources are renewed, aside from editing the end date.Since I need to pull together cost and use data for the subject librarians in order to make renewal decisions, it’s easier to handle that outside of the ERMS.Training the subject librarians to use the ERMS is out of the question. Getting them to check a box on a paper form is somewhat challenging as it is. Adding another workflow would be nearly impossible.Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shereezielke/381987080/
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/mscolly/145052885/
- Living with complacency for nowWe’ve had SerialsSolutions for 4 years now, and in that time they’ve made changes that we welcomed, as well as those that “broke” workflows or functionality we were using.It functions pretty well as a KB/inventory and link resolver. Our librarians are less inclined to use the federated search function, and I’m still using outside tools to handle other aspects of ERM.Not particularly motivated to move all that data on a whim, though.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/f-ilia/5025870260/
- Next gen ERMS = Next gen ILSIdeally, we’d like to have the electronic resource management workflow integrated with all other library resource management workflows, and not living outside and parallel to them.We are looking at web-scale discovery solutions, and in the process have been evaluating the effectiveness of the front and back-end of our ILS.Maybe the next step is a next generation catalog like Alma or Entota, but not for us unless the price comes down dramatically. Also, we’re not too keen to jump on products that are still working out significant bugs.That being said, there are rumblings in that direction.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/warthog9/3270560363/
- Preparing to pERMute againMigration, like death and taxes, is inevitableMy assistant and I are diligently keeping the data in our KB as clean as we can, and most of it is portable, so as long as the next ERMS can ingest data, we’re in a better place than where we were with the last migration.I’m terrible at documentation, but I have some workflow aspects documented here and there, and am working on more. I tend to have the philosophy of “give me your new tool and I’ll figure out what workflow fits it” rather than the other way around, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective).Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jsmoorman/3670114378/
- Most important features I want in my next ERM:Customizable workflow-oriented functions as well as inventory/KB aspects.KB seamlessly feeds all ER-related data (i.e. link resolver, A-Z list, MARC).Integration with the acquisitions component of our ILS.Business intelligence-like tools that can generate reports about our resources on the fly, incorporating usage, cost, uniqueness of content, and other metrics.Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/4546245011/
- Photo source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jantik/271992932/