Page 161 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes policy development, particularly because of the time required to educate other librarians on the
issues. Respondents addressed policy challenges in differing ways. Less than half of the
respondents have developed any particular policy, and most policies relate to electronic resource
trials, inclusion of resources in the A-to-Z list, and the addition of resources with access restrictions.
Some libraries create task forces to deal with policy development issues.
Others send emails with justifications for decisions, or simply deal with issues as they arise
rather than creating and following a specific policy. The perceived impact of a lack of policies on
electronic resource management was also varied. Some respondents see policy writing as
cumbersome and time-consuming. Others felt that policies may be too restrictive or may make
some management tasks more difficult. Still others feel that there is no way to create a universal
policy or that their management practice is non-standard and therefore their policies would not
be valid. Another impact of the lack of policy development responses was the pressure to keep
up with peer institutions, which a policy might prohibit or even become meaningless if the
administration does not buy into the policies.
While at times painful and time consuming, policy and procedure development are essential for
electronic resource management. The time invested in the creation and writing of documentation
will provide benefits now and in the future. A library that has a policy concerning the
requirements of specific types of electronic resources can use that policy to eliminate investigation
or consideration of vendor products that do not meet desired standards.

Example: If your policy states that only those resources that are openURL compliant
will be added to your collection, then time can be saved by not adding non-openURL resources.
8.4.3 Workflow

Related to planning and policy development, workflow and the documentation of the workflow
is a crucial aspect of electronic resources management. Some of the librarians indicated that they
documented part or all of their electronic resource management workflow in order to determine
what is not getting done. Others did so to create consistency, particularly in terms of requests
from other librarians. Others found the documentation to be comforting to other employees,
even if the workflow changed and made the documentation outdated. Some found documentation
necessary to ensure each step is completed in a particular process, to better prepare for staff
changes and leaves, or to begin a database trail. Still others believed documenting the workflow
led to a better understanding of what is going on and improved communication of workflow
tasks to others in the library.
While the reasons for documenting the workflow are numerous, several libraries perceived
compelling reasons to not take on this task. Some believed the workflow is too cumbersome to
document. Others work in libraries in which most electronic resource management is done on
a case-by-case basis because there are too few common issues to make workflow documentation
relevant. Some cited lack of time and personnel, while others indicated that the organizational
culture precludes the documentation process (e.g., no one documents anything; cannot use the
documentation in benchmarking; turf issues). Some also stated that the workflow is still
undetermined and therefore cannot be documented.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
13. Many libraries attempt to transfer and incorporate the print workflow onto electronic
resource management.

156 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY