Managing Electronic Resources: A LITA Guide Free

I remember F.W. Lancaster's late twentieth century sayings regarding the paperless society which drew library and information professionals' attention to three important issues namely “choosing the electronic world”, “adapting to life in this society”, and “considering library users as individuals with individual needs”. Since taking effective steps towards meeting such demands needs relevant guiding resources, and because “many librarians find electronic resource management to be an especially challenging endeavor, both because electronic resources themselves are a constantly moving target and because most librarians have little education or professional development in the area” (p. ix), this edited eight-chapter book collected by five experienced librarians is designed to fill the void through addressing the concepts and issues of managing electronic resources in a manner that is applicable to all types of libraries and institutions. In Chapter 1 the fundamentals of successfully managing electronic resources collections, basic personal management skills, and the concepts relating to the electronic resources life cycle are theoretically discussed. Chapters 2 to 7 provide readers with practical aspects of managing electronic resources. Based on the electronic resources life cycle (the acquisition, accessibility, maintenance, and renewal of electronic resources), they deal with the nuts and bolts of an all-inclusive policy for managing (building and developing) electronic collections. Economics (budgeting), law (licensing, copyright, and contract), evaluation (using usage statistics for better understanding and assessment of status quo), and human resources (librarians or staff responsible for A-Z of managing electronic resources) are among other complementary issues debated in these informative chapters. Finally, taking a futuristic approach, Chapter 8, Looking Ahead from Now to 2020, predicts potential events and changes ahead for electronic resources. It is somehow like a SWOT analysis with which the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of managing electronic resources are envisaged. Regardless of many strengths of the work, as Isfandyari-Moghaddam and Bayat (2008, p. 854) emphasize “users are the main component of information centers because the dynamism and survival of libraries in general is highly dependent upon users' welcome of and increased use of resources”, it would have benefited from a discussion regarding user education programs and information literacy instruction. Altogether, armed with helpful insights, concepts, and strategies, such an easy-to-read as well as logically ordered guide book, in its turn, shows up the highway of theory to practice from a managerial perspective. This guide and text book is of value for librarians, information professionals, information economists, managers, interested researchers, and LIS professors and students.