The Impact of Locally Developed Electronic Resource Management Systems

As libraries dramatically increased their numbers of licensed electronic resources in the 1990s, such as online journals and databases, they realized the need for a record-keeping system that would help manage the details of acquiring and maintaining them. Since no off-the-shelf product existed, some libraries developed their own tools to manage electronic resources. This chapter discusses the development of locally designed electronic resource management systems; the process of developing the tools at several academic institutions is traced, with a focus on the aspects of the systems unique to each university. Locally developed electronic resource management systems have lead academic institutions to engage with other institutions and vendors building similar tools. As a result, community-wide efforts in identifying key elements for managing electronic resources have begun to emerge. These efforts lay the foundation for the future successful development of tools and standards to assist in electronic resource management.