Evaluating and Purchasing Electronic Resources- The University of Pittsburgh Experience

1. Evaluating and Purchasing Electronic Resources- The University of Pittsburgh Experience Sarah Aerni Special Projects Librarian University of Pittsburgh Friday, 15 April 2005

2. Overview of this presentation • Brief introduction to general principles of acquisition and collection development at libraries in the United States. • A summary of the evaluation and purchasing process for electronic resources at the University of Pittsburgh • Time for questions and discussion

3. Collection Development for journals in the United States • Generally, collection development follows two strategies: (1) historical precedent and/or (2) a focused collection development policy created by an institution. • More practically, the methods of deciding which journal literature to acquire and maintain are often based on what users at the institution need, as well as what resources those who administer them are familiar with.

4. Collection Development Groups • There are collection development groups within the major library associations. • American Library Association has the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). • Association of Research Libraries has the Collection Services group • International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions has an Acquisition and Collection Development group.

5. Evaluating electronic resources and decisions about purchasing • From a collection development standpoint, there are similarities and differences for electronic resources. • They can often be treated like print resources when looking at coverage and content. • However, electronic resources are often priced differently and other technical issues may be involved with acquiring and making them available to users.

6. E-Resources at the University of Pittsburgh Library System • Our methods for evaluating which electronic journals to purchase generally follows our policy for print journals, with some differences. • The process up until now has been characterized as “somewhat haphazard” and is often driven by individual requests for resources or information.

7. History behind the process • As electronic resources became prevalent, a Networked Resources Committee was formed to advise the library director about what to purchase. • This evolved into the Networked Resources Group. About 10 people (librarians, information systems people and acquisitions specialists) met every other week to work on issues relating to electronic resources.

8. The Networked Resources Group • The responsibilities of the Networked Resources group included: • Accepting requests for materials from subject bibliographers and others who had contact with faculty and graduate students. • Working to acquire and purchase CD-Roms. • Assigned new requests to a member of the committee, who would set up a demonstration, evaluate the resource afterwards and send the purchase (or not) recommendation to a senior staff member • Announcements were sent out via email after new resources were bought.

9. Evolution of the process • The group has been slowly phased out. • In its place, a Coordinator of Collection Development position has been created. • Now subject specialists send all their requests to him, and he watches over them as the decision, acquisition and implementation processes are carried out. • We are about to buy a new piece of software to help him manage this process.

10. Factors used to evaluate existing databases • Price • Search Interface (ease of use) • Subject coverage (years, disciplines, journal titles, etc) • Licensing Issues • Usage Statistics

11. An important part of the initial purchase process- the trial period • Many vendors come to campus and give a presentation about their resource to reference librarians and other subject specialists. • As is the case here at Wuhan, Pitt often receives a trial subscription to the resource. This trial typically lasts 2-4 weeks. • Usage and comments are monitored, and this, along with a formal evaluation by the collection development coordinator, are the basis for the recommendation to buy or not. • Often very few comments are received from users and the librarians must make a decision.

12. Deleting, Changing and Upgrading Resources • Very haphazard; not done as frequently. • Upgrades are easier. As things get discontinued, upgrades are added to the system. • Electronic links often become outdated. These should probably be checked more often than they are. We often rely on users to tell us about problems. • No systematic review is currently done. Rather, it is often done on a case by case, or project basis (i.e., the loss of the SilverPlatter Platform).

13. The Process after a resource is bought is also complicated • Evaluation -> Decide to Purchase -> Licensing Process -> Purchasing Process -> Enter bibliographic information into OPAC -> Create information page for inclusion into library website -> Enter into federated search engine -> Announce to all • Many people are involved! • This process often breaks down, causing frustrations.

14. New software coming soon to help us with this process! • Meridian will help monitor the status of all products in the system and will make the process more transparent. • It will serve as a database to track our electronic agreements and details about the licenses, such as number of simultaneous users, access information for branch libraries, etc. • We will keep track of trial products too, and our reasons for deciding for or against certain ones.

15. How has our University covered the costs of these expensive new resources? • Cost structures vary. Some have large up-front costs and then a smaller maintenance cost each year. • Others have regular subscription fees just like print subscriptions. • Price often depends on the number of FTE equivalent students and faculty at the University. • We have some flexibility with our acquisitions budget to switch money from print to electronic resources.

16. How to Find out about New Products • Phone Calls • ALA (American Library Association) Meetings • Email • Company websites • Marketing documents • Demonstrations • Personal Relationships (According to our Coordinator for Collection Development, this is especially important).

17. Discussion and Questions • Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. • As I don’t do much of this work for my job, I will try to refer your questions on to someone who may know the answer better. Please leave your email address if you are interested in this.

18. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dennis Smith, Coordinator for Collection Development at the University of Pittsburgh, for his help with preparing this presentation.