In the Eye of the Storm: ERM Systems are Guiding Libraries' Future

Abstract

Electronic resource management (ERM), as a tool for library management, grows in importance every day. The ERM industry has matured greatly over the past decade. Just ten years ago, the first journals began to be published on the Web in significant volume; by 2007, many smaller colleges and some large research libraries have moved to complete or nearly complete electronic-only access (Ives, 2006). The Association of Research Libraries reports that the average ARL research library now spends over 31% of its materials budget on electronic resources, with a large proportion of these libraries spending more than 50% of their materials budget on electronic resources (Kyrillidou & Young, 2006).