This concise volume is part of the Chandos Information Professional Series, which aims to provide both readable and practical coverage of subjects of interest to librarians. It is not, as its title may suggest, a how-to guide for managing electronic resources, but rather a broad overview of how electronic resource management has evolved in a specific type of library over the last two decades with some learned speculation about what the future might hold. Or, as Elguindi and Schmidt neatly phrase it in their preface, “How have academic libraries and librarians changed to respond to electronic resources, and where might they be going?” (xvii–xviii). The book’s six chapters cover a variety of important topics related to managing electronic resources, including: staffing and workflows, electronic resource management systems (ERMS), discovery tools, and e-books. Most chapters also contain useful case studies detailing local issues associated with electronic resource management at institutions such as Indiana State University, the University of Notre Dame, and Boston College.

Chapters 1, “Emerging Technical Services Models in the Context of the Past,” and 2, “Electronic Resource Management: Staffing and Workflow,” are the strongest pieces in the book. Each does a nice job of succinctly contextualizing current academic library approaches to e-resource management. In the first chapter, Elguindi and Schmidt identify two waves of organizational change in response to libraries’ steadily increasing expenditures for electronic resources from the mid-1990s to the present. With few exceptions, the first wave saw libraries try to make do with existing organizational structures by adding e-resource responsibilities (e.g., license negotiation and knowledge base maintenance) to already established positions. In the second wave, many libraries underwent reorganizations to create positions or units specifically responsible for electronic resource management. The authors further identify an emerging and—they argue—necessary third wave in which responsibilities for managing all formats, especially electronic resources, are more diffused throughout various public-facing and behind-the-scenes units within organizations. In the second chapter, which builds directly on the first, the authors trace the evolution of the electronic resources librarian position. They note that while many libraries currently spend more on e-resources than on print materials, they often employ relatively few people to manage electronic resources compared to the number responsible for managing print. This state of affairs is untenable argue the authors. They contend that e-resource management should be viewed as the primary workflow in technical services, and all staff should have some level of proficiency with e-resource tasks.

Chapter 3, “Electronic Resource Management Systems: Implementation and Transformation,” discusses the early development of ERMS and the myriad challenges associated with implementing these systems. It also describes widespread disappointment with the limitations of ERMS, including the general lack of interoperability with other systems and the resulting need to input and maintain data in multiple places. The authors also observe that while the next-generation of integrated library systems (ILS), such as Alma from Ex Libris and Sierra from Innovative Interfaces, have been developed as complete resource management systems that incorporate many functions of ERMS, it is too early to tell how successful they will be at meeting libraries’ needs for managing electronic resources.

Chapter 4, “Discovery Systems, Layers and Tools, and the Role of the Electronic Resources Librarian,” gives a brief overview of the history of OPACs, catalog overlays (e.g., VuFind), and federated searching in libraries. The authors make the case that those who manage e-resources are well suited to play a significant role in the selection, implementation, and management of the current generation of discovery tools. Despite their flaws, these discovery systems are necessary tools if libraries are to remain viable starting points in the research process. In addition, the authors see these tools as offering challenges and opportunities for others in technical services—such as catalogers and acquisitions personnel—in that they need to be aware of how the data they work with is being used in systems outside of the ILS, and that they too have a role to play in the management and continual improvement of discovery products. Both this chapter and the chapter on ERMS that precedes it are quite good at quickly synthesizing information about the history of the systems discussed, and offer sensible advice for how technical services can evolve to better meet the needs of end users.

The book closes with two chapters, “Academic Library Consortia and the Evolving Role of Electronic Resources and Technology,” and “Conclusion: E-books and the Future of Technical Services,” that are less satisfying than the others. The chapter on consortia feels somewhat rushed. The description of how a switch from print-centric to electronic-centric collections will affect these organizations—something that should be a meaty topic for a book with this focus—is given very short shrift. Likewise, I was disappointed by the authors’ lack of focus on the implications of patron-driven acquisitions in the concluding chapter on e-books. A separate, fully fleshed out chapter summarizing the authors’ vision for the future of technical services would have been a more welcome conclusion to the book.

Despite these drawbacks, I found this book to be a compelling and enjoyable read. It is clear that the authors were not aiming to treat exhaustively these topics, so certain omissions are understandable. While I think this book would be of most value to library students or those new to the field, it should also be of interest to anyone working in technical services.