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Explore the evolution of ERMs from past predictions to future possibilities, highlighting challenges & solutions. Learn about ERM data elements, interoperability, and the shift towards Unified Resource Management.
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Dis-integration and re-integration –ERMs in the wider context - predictionsELECTRONIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSA Solution with Its Own ChallengesUniversity of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa August 16-17, 2007 Robert Bley Sales Account Manager Ex Libris
Back to the future… • Predictions from the past…The Future of Library Systems, Seen from the Past, by Karen Coyle, in Journal of Academic Librarianship 33(1), p138.
Back to the future… What most futurologists got right: • Remote access to the library • Reduced need for physical storage • Regional catalogues facilitating ILL
Back to the future… Predications that came close(ish) to the mark: • Computers take-over all ordering, cataloguing, check-in, and circulation • Glowing future for librarians as “information consultants” • Speech interfaces • Libraries of the future would be less expensive • Automation of concept-linking • “Thinking machines” answering reference questions
Back to the future… What most futurologists got wrong: • OPAC would be the focus of library development • No IPR issues anticipated • Disintermediation - not anticipated • User independence – not anticipated • Home access would be via the TV • Search engines outside library control • The competitive information landscape
Back to the future… Lessons:
Agenda • “Internal” functionality • User-facing functionality • Integration • Conclusions and “predictions”
An E-Resources Management System: the vision “A system that supports management of the information and workflows necessary to efficiently select, evaluate, acquire, maintain, renew/cancel and provide informed access to e-resources in accordance with their business and license terms” - Ivy Anderson, Robin Wendler (Harvard University Library) and Ellen Duranceau (MIT Libraries)
The bottom line: • ERM is about more than payments and licenses etc. • ERMs are (or will become) the library’s corporate memory for all factors related to electronic resources at all levels • In filling that role, ERMs become central to all process and all services within the library • Interoperability with ERMs is vital for all players in the information chain – including publishers
Legacy systems ILS Serials ILS Acq Homegrown ERM Licensing ILL ILS OPAC Spreadsheets & paper records ERM’s role Process management Link Server interaction ILL / resource sharing Business transaction Financial system interoperability Permission authority Central and integrated The bigger picture
ERMs today touch many different areas VLEs Authentication Serials Library Web Applications Link resolvers OPACs • Content providers (& agents?): • Statistics • Holdings • Licenses • Orders, Renewals • Help Desk Campus Finance Systems Metasearch ILL Management Acquisitions
Re-forming around a new model ERM Digital Objects Discovery
The DLF ERMI data model: A useful starting point Interface Print Standalone Package Constituents (e-journals, e-books) 17
DLF ERMI entity relationship model Prevailing terms Bib. record e-Interface Admin Licensee e-Package License e-Constituent Access Licensor Acquisitions Vendor Cost Usage Workflow Trial e-Product
Beyond ERM: “Unified Resource Management” • Unified solutions that go beyond traditional silos and boundaries • Print – Digital – Electronic • Multiple formats (MARC, RDA, dc, RDF,…) • Owned – Subscribed – Pay Per Use • Support business processes and task-based workflows • Support standardization and interoperability to reduce cost of ownership
What we can expect in the immediate future? • Discovery and delivery tools will become more distinct from ILS/LMS in presentation and function • ERMs will feed just-in-time data to any public service applications (including discovery, link resolvers, metasearch, library web apps, VLEs and institutional portals) • ERMs will eventually subsume (and then, expand on) large portions of current library systems’ “Acq and Serials” functionality and responsibility • EDI is not enough…
The immediate future (2) • As the notion of an ILS morphs, interoperability among the ERM and other vendors’ systems becomes essential – not just for management, but also because … • Library efficiency measures and statistics will assume a streamlined management process and interoperability with other institutional and external systems
The immediate future (3) • Increased demand on content providers from ERMs and libraries for rapid implementation of SUSHI, License Expression transmission, etc. • Increased transparency from content providers on pricing (esp. titles within packages) for meaningful cost-per-use numbers
Top 7 Standards Wish List 7. Standard for communicating IP address changes to content providers 6. Standard for vendors to communicate real-time availability (that is, advise when they’re down and when they’re back up) 5. A sub-library level unique library identifier – something like the SAN but international in scope. ISO 15511 (ISIL) doesn’t do it … 4. A unique collection identifier for aggregations and databases: like an ISBN per e-package
Wish List… 3. ACQUISITIONS – a set of standard structures that would encapsulate elements relevant to an acquisitions transaction: • Order record • Invoice record • Vendor information • X.12 and current EDI doesn’t do the job
Wish List 2. SUSHIhttp://www.niso.org/committees/SUSHI/SUSHI_comm.html - Will soon enable evidence-based librarianship
Wish List • License exchange formathttp://www.editeur.org/onix_licensing.html -Will make it easier to tell users what they can(‘t) do -Will ensure compliance – linked to link resolvers, proxy servers and so on… -Will make for easier comparisons -Will reduce ambiguity -… and paperwork! - There may be a role for intermediaries here?
Other vendor <--> library transmissions? Publisher to Library • Suspected license breach communications to library • Interaction with library financial systems on pay-per-use titles • Non-e-journal and non-e-book identification and electronic delivery (for instance, patents, technical reports, digital objects) Library to Publisher • Customer incident reporting to publisher when resource misbehaves • License expression delivery/receipt with library-based changes (versioning)
…but the most important standard is simple, available and being used now! • Web services • Well used in enterprise-level business computing • Fundamental architecture for large-scale complex business applications • Trend in business: Creating service-oriented business applications using Web services for all aspects of communication among the many applications involved in an organisation's business & information infrastructure • Application in libraries: Allows back-end MARC-based systems to feed presentation systems based on more mainstream formats (e.g. XML). • Allows innovative presentation / interpretation and social computing
User-facing systems The OPAC Institutional repositories Other local repositories Remote resources VLE/MLE Institutional portal and portlets Amazon, Google, Ask… Flickr, FaceBook, Connotea, YouTube, del.icio.us, and many many others….
User-facing systems The most “2.0” of current library systems is the OpenURL Connects open sites with library-controlled resources Effectively the ERM’s “catalogue” But there’s much more to 2.0…
User-facing systems: expectations • “Community” • Interactivity, not passive consumption of information • Question “does my library have this book?” is now “is this book available anywhere in any format?” • “What does my library have on this topic?” is now “what exists on this topic, anywhere?”
User-facing systems: expectations • Users need to know what they can(‘t) do with a resource • Users need to know about relevant license terms • Users need to know about technical requirements, concurrent user limits • Users need to know about downtime
Delivering on those expectations • Web services: Enables back-end (MARC-based) systems to feed presentation systems using mainstream formats (e.g. XML) • Allows innovative presentation / interpretation and “social computing” • “Just in case” web-crawling gives faster response times, plus access to a wider range of resources in a single search
Delivering on those expectations • Web services: Enables license terms and other information of interest to end-users to be “pulled” from back-end systems (such as ERM systems) to end-user interfaces.
3rd party applications Web Services (SOAP) Web services / SOAP OpenURL Link resolver Portal/ federated search tool Library Management System ERM Staff interface ERM System
Front -end Databases ProQuest EBSCOHost Back-end Journals Digital Repositories Knowledge Bases ILS Repositories Voyager DigiTool Sakai Aleph DSpace BlackBoard Institutional Websites Internet Services Unicorn TV News CMS/LMS Moodle Google Scholar … … … Institutional External ERMs and end-user services in the wider context Discovery & Delivery Metasearch Primo repository H A R V E S T I N G ERM Link resolver …
In conclusion – the “back end” • E-products have changed the priorities for standards in data interchange, but we still need some library-specific standards • Previous models for automated library management are changing, largely because of e-products • The ERM will be the nexus/crossroad/bridge between libraries and content providers and other suppliers • The ERM will ultimately supplant the ILS for many (perhaps even most) back-room functions (my opinion :-) ) • Content providers will need to exchange data with such systems • The most important developing standards for streamlining the “back end” are (1) the electronic expression of license terms and (2) the automation of COUNTER stats collection
In conclusion – the “front end” • The most important “standard” for streamlining the “front end” is already there: Web Services. • Enables re-integration within the library • Taking the service to the user • Making them better informed, without them having to see “back end” systems and their interfaces • Better integration with systems outside the library, the institution and the industry
In conclusion • Main problem with Web 2.0 technologies lies in the creation of even more “information silos”: blogs, wikis, the library catalogue, digital library collections and so on. • Technology standards now enable provision of all these features on the front end, while facilitating better internal resource management. • The new generation of the Web involves not just a more interactive (Service Orientated Architecture) approach (e.g. social computing), but it also facilitates dynamic communication between systems behind the scenes.
Predictions • No library futurologists predicted the rise of a vibrant information environment outside the library • So my predictions might not take account of some similarly crucial future development • Need to look at examples and technology, and social, political and economic developments outside the library world That said… • A mix and match approach will be used increasingly to build user-orientated systems • ERMs will be a key component
Physical Assets (1980’s) Physical ++e add-ons (1990’s) Decoupled architecture enables libraries to revolutionize the front-end while continuing the back-end evolution The evolution of library systems Repository softwareERMs OpenURLetc… Electronic/Digital Assets (2000’s) User Experience (2006) Unified Resource Management (future) + ERM URM ILS
Re-forming around a new model ERM Digital Objects Discovery
Thank You! Robert Bley robert.bley@exlibris.co.uk