Whose job is it? reorganizing electronic resources management in the absence of an Electronic Resources Librarian

Beginning in the fall of 2013, the staff at Xavier University Library participated in a library-wide “recalibration” assessment in order to identify areas that needed either a refocus or addition of resources. Resources could include additional staff, money, space, and planning. The staff ranked Electronic Resources as the top area in the library that needed more resources allocated in order to increase productivity and user satisfaction. Electronic resources were being handled in a team approach by 4 separate librarians sometimes with overlap of tasks and confusion of duties. The library was not able to dedicate one librarian position to just electronic resources due to lack of staff resources so the team approach was still the model that the library had to use. There was a serials paraprofessional position that was working primarily with print serials so the need to shift electronic serials tasks to that position was needed, as well as, looking at other paraprofessional staff and students to take on some of the tasks. The library director, along with the 4 librarians that made up the original Electronic Resources Group, was tasked with the recalibration process. The Electronic Resources Lifecycle by Oliver Pesch and the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians were used as guides to determine more efficient workflows and the best staff to handle them. The presentation will outline the process and the outcomes that will lead to greater efficiencies, free up professional librarians’ time, and reallocate duties to paraprofessional staff and students