The role of the ER Librarian is aptly described in the abstract of Albitz and Shelburne's article "Marian Through the Looking Glass: The Unique Evolution of the Electronic Resources (ER) Librarian Position" as being between the two disparate spheres of business and librarianship. After spending the semester in this class, I am convinced that this is the most astute description I have yet heard of the position of an ER Librarian. However, some things surprised me about this 2007 study. Firstly, I did not expect this to be a study, rather just a missive from the field. In the literature review, they mention studies of ER Librarian job postings done from 1990-2000 and 1996-2001. To me, these years can literally be compared to the Dark Ages, due to the fact that many libraries were still focused on CD-ROMs during this time, and fewer had large collections of online works. E-Books were relatively unknown, due to the large file size and slow transfer rates. New, more current studies need to be done, if they have not been completed already, and perhaps they can be compared to this one. It seemed that there were not many respondents to the study, and that perhaps this could mean that there is more to learn about ER Librarians. Lastly, many of the things that were asked seem to be incomparable to the data collected in the two previous studies, which made me question the findings. There are still some things to be taken away from the article.
Job Descriptions
Albitz and Shelburne describe ER Librarian jobs as "kitchen sink" positions; I have felt this when reflecting on whether to apply for the ER jobs in my job searches. It seems to me that some libraries must be dreaming: you may never find anyone who could do all that is being asked of the job descriptions. The findings show that public service is no longer highlighted in the job description, rather the ER Librarian is supposed to focus on the management of electronic materials. This makes sense, since the older studies came out before electronic materials had become more prevalent. Perhaps the ER Librarian did not have enough to do with electronic resources and needed to split their time to help other sections of the library. The following is a list of job tasks that appeared in this article associated with current ER Librarians:
- ER coordination
- Department liason
- Department management
- Management of acquisitions
- Renewals
- Cancellation
- License and pricing negotiations
- Troubleshooting technical problems
- Management of a link resolver or federated search product
- Coordination of trials of products
- Management of statistics and usage data
The respondents of this study said that they reported to Technical Services or Acquisitions, rather than to Public Services. In the older studies, the findings showed that most ER Librarian jobs reported to Public Services and a fewer amount report to Technical Services, and their most frequently cited responsibilities are reference and bibliographic instruction. All of this shows to me that the current trends in ER librarianship are moving away from having ER Librarians also perform public service like reference and instruction, likely due to the fact that they have enough work to keep them busy without multitasking. The following duties were also transferred off of the ER Librarian: OPAC Support, web management, online searching, and scholarly communication.
Background in ER
One factoid that I found interesting from this study is that no one had reported that they had held a similar position to their ER Librarian position before their current appointment. The authors of this article say it is because no one applying for these jobs has relevant experience, and that may be true. Many of the ER Librarians were internal candidates or were reassigned in to their positions (67%). Furthermore, in my own job search, it seems to me that I see a lot of these jobs open right now. Is this due to a high turnover? Unhappiness in the job? Or are there more jobs being created? This question is not answered by the researchers, but I feel it could be a combination of all three. The field will continue to change, as will the job descriptions, as technology advances and electronic resources become more technologically complex. It will take a person who can keep up with these changes to stay in the ER world and be happy in it. As Albitz and Shelburne sum it up: "[I]t is important to be willing to take the initiative and learn on your own (26)." Without this, the life of an ER Librarian is sure to be fraught with frustration. All of this being said, I feel that it could be a very good job, and that if one is prepared with a good basis in technology and ERM systems, it is likely a good job for someone just starting out on their job hunt.
No comments:
Post a Comment