Electronic resource management (ERM) is the system and technique used by library professionals to track the selection, acquisition, access, maintenance, usage, evaluation of a library's electronic resources. The innovation of ERM conducted in the University Library, University of Calcutta has been discussed. It provides innovative insights into how technology transfer has operated in the University Library for digitising the documents. E-resources are a vital reference source for different types of library users. The main focus is on how ERM is done through the digitisation of resources in the digital library of the University of Calcutta. Digital libraries have been set up in all the campuses by the University Library System so that users can download e-resources from any campus. The University Library maintains an online catalogue for information search and retrieval. Theses have been digitised, and full texts are available. Through the innovation of the Digital Library System of the University, it would enhance the University's education and research value.
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Electronic Resource Management(ERM) is the system and techniques used by library professionals to monitor the selection, acquisition, access, maintenance, licensing, usage and evaluations, of a library's electronic information resources. These resources include electronic journals, electronic books, streaming media, databases, CD-ROMs, and computer software.
Due to the rapid growth of e-resources in libraries, the maintenance of these resources has become more complex. So the libraries have to develop strategies to manage and deliver e-resources conveniently to the users keeping in mind the ‘five laws’ of Dr S.R. Ranganathan. Therefore, Electronic Resource Management (ERM) has become a challenge among library professionals. To meet these challenges, library professionals and vendors of e-resources decided to develop electronic resource management systems (ERMS) for the management of e-resources in a more systematic way. Breeding (2004) defined two facets of managing electronic resources: firstly, the details of delivery of the content to library users and secondly, staff management related to acquisition, payment and licensing. The adoption of ERM leads to systematic management and thus optimum access to library resources.
ERM calls for the formulation of library policies for collection development of e-resources that would ensure uniformity in approach, the relevance of e-resources requirements and assessing economic feasibilities. There are different ERM software available, both commercial and open source. Some of these ERMS are Ex Libris’s Verde ERM, Interface’s Innovative ERM, MIT’s VERA, OCLC’s Web-Share License Manager, SemperTool’s SMDB, TDNet ERM Solutions, University of Notre Dame’s CORAL, and others.
In the Indian scenario, from amongst the Management schools/institutes, Indian Institute of Management like Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad is using the Integrated Library Management Software “KOHA” for automation. Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore uses “VTLS-Virtua” for library management. The library system is run by the library automation software “Libsys” in Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta. Xavier Labour Relation Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur uses library automation software “Alice for windows” of Softlink Asia. The library has introduced the integrated library management software ‘Libsys’ in Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow. “VTLSVirtue” has been implemented in Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon uses fully automated “Libsys” software. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Library, Delhi and IIT Kharagpur use LIBSYS as Library Automation software. IIT Madras uses Library Automation software VTLS. The Library resource management software used by the University of Calcutta is SOUL developed by INFLIBNET.
The objective of this chapter is to study the innovation of Electronic Resource Management conducted in the University Library, University of Calcutta. It provides innovative insights into how technology transfer has operated in the University Library. The project of Electronic Resource Management has been supervised by the University Librarian and other library personnel.