Due to the establishment of the WSU-Davis campus, including a library, the growth of distance education and the needs of a student body composed largely of working commuters, Stewart library will attempt to provide as many resources as possible in an electronic format available on and off-campus.

Most electronic resources collected by Stewart Library fall into the following categories:

• Article databases
• Journals
• Reference resources
• Books

Other types of electronic resources may be collected as needed to support University curriculum areas or general reference needs.

Stewart Library receives access to a number of electronic resources as part of it s membership in the Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) and other consortia. Purchase of these materials is determined by the consortia with representation from their members. Stewart Library’s representatives provide input based on decisions by the Collection Management & Reference teams.

Proposals for new electronic resources purchased directly by Stewart Library come from students, faculty, staff, and subject bibliographers. Subject bibliographers determine if the request is worth pursuing. If the request is pursued, the Electronic Resources Process is followed. (For additional information, see the Electronic Resources Process.)

Because of the rapidly increasing number and complexity of electronic resources, responsibility for coordinating the purchase of and access to these resources has been given to the Head of Reference & Information Services.

Factors considered in purchasing new electronic resources include:

• Need
• Off-campus availability
• Cost
• Demand
• Quality of indexing and search capabilities
• Ease of use
• Suitability to curriculum support
• Technical support requirements
• Compatibility with existing network system
• Licensing restrictions
  

Wherever possible, purchases will be made through consortia such as BCR to realize the greatest possible savings.

(Reviewed & revised 2003)

Electronic Resources Procedures

NOTE: The Electronic Resources Coordinator (ERC) position is being implemented in two stages. Currently, the position has responsibility for electronic journal resources only. The Head of Reference & Information Services continues to have responsibility for all databases. Once journals are managed, responsibilities of the ERC position will be extended to cover databases and other electronic resources as well.
Rationale: The increasing number and complexity of electronic resources has made it difficult to handle such resources using the current ad hoc procedures. Therefore, responsibility for coordinating these resources will be centralized with the Head of Reference & Information Services (RIS). Procedures follow:

1. Subject Librarian:
   1. Identifies a product (patron request, brochure, etc.)
      
                AND
      1. Identifies vendors who offer, which vendor is preferred and why
      2. Determines best product, prepares justification and presents product to Collection Management team for discussion.
         OR
   2. Turns product request over to ERC
      1. ERC identifies best vendor and gives information to subject librarian.
      2. Subject librarian prepares justification and presents product to Collection Management team for discussion.
   3. If access to the product is not IP based, subject librarian must justify need for product, even though use is cumbersome (exceptions: CDs for stand alone station or checkout)
   4. CDs for check out will be treated as regular circulating materials and will not go through this process.
   5. Trials and tests will be set up and administered by the ERC.
      
   
   
2. If Collection Management team approves acquisition, subject librarian informs Head of RIS who will then inform the ERC of the decision. If acquisition is not approved, subject librarian can remove product from consideration, hold for a later date, or do more research and resubmit.
   
   
3. If product acquisition is approved:
   1. ERC negotiates license. Terms, where possible, should include:
      1. July - June billing
      2. IP access
      3. Remote access (including Ezproxy)
      4. Use of fulltext for Ereserve & ILL
      5. Original licenses will be kept by Administration, copies by the ERC.
      6. Other items (from licensing evaluation checklist or necessary for Bibliographic Services)
      7. ERC is listed as contact for everything except billing/renewal or technical. Acquisitions Assistant is billing/renewal contact, Systems Librarian is technical contact, where this is different from general contact.
   2. If any licensing quirks that would affect use significantly are identified, ERC will refer to Head of RIS for consideration. Head of RIS will make final decision, in consultation with subject librarian and Collection Management team, if necessary.
   3. ERC completes necessary forms/license to activate product, gets the University Librarian’s signature, and working with the Acquisitions Assistant, purchases the product.
   4. The ERC notifies the Systems Administrator that a new Ezproxy link is needed as soon as the URL is available.
   5. When the product is activated, the ERC is responsible for having appropriate person add the link to the Database Finder. Where ever possible, only the Ezproxy link should be used. Non-IP based, web accessible products will be made available in the most appropriate manner.
   6. If it meets the guidelines for cataloging, ERC forwards URL and other necessary information to the Head of Bibliographic Services.
   7. If necessary, ERC, in consultation with the Head of RIS, will provide training or access to such training.
   8. The Head of Bibliographic Services is responsible for cataloging & processing the item if it meets the guidelines for inclusion.
   
   
4. RENEWALS: The Acquisitions Assistant forwards renewals to the Head of RIS. The Head of RIS will confirm the renewal with the subject librarian and the ERC. In the case of a major price increase or interface change, the subject librarian and the ERC will research options and make a recommendation to the team. The subject librarian will relay decision to the Head of Reference and the ERC. The ERC will inform the Acquisitions Assistant and the Head of RIS will initial all orders.
   
   
5. UALC: ERC and Head of RIS will make sure each is informed of changes and additions. ERC will be responsible for seeing that links are added to web page, and will also inform the Systems Librarian, the Head of Bibliographic Services and Library staff as necessary.
   
   
6. Consortium Purchases: Subject librarian will be representative to consortium. Process will follow general Electronic Resources process described above.
   
   
7. Electronic Journals:
   1. Freely available on internet.
      1. Subject librarians are free to add journals to their pages. However, if they wish these journals to be cataloged or be added to the main web pages, they must follow the procedures below.
      2. Subject librarian will submit journals to be added to the main web pages to the ERC .
      3. If it fits the guidelines for cataloging, the ERC will notify the Head of Bibliographic Services for cataloging.
      4. ERC will have Web Support Assistant add links. (Location of links determined by ERC and subject librarian.)
   2. Journals free with print subscription or original online subscription:
      1. Journals will be added following collection management policies and procedures. All journals for which we have aprint subscription will be added automatically, unless licensing or access presents problems. In those cases, the subject librarian, ERC and Head of RIS will make the final decision.
      2. Where possible, access will be through Ebsco.
      3. If journal is available via Ebsco, it will be treated as any journal. The ERC will be responsible for seeing that appropriate information is added to the web page.
      4. If the journal is not available via Ebsco, it will be treated as any other Electronic Resource, following the procedure above.
         
         
8. The ERC, working with the Systems Team will maintain statistics pertaining to Electronic Resources. The ERC  will also maintain a database with pertinent information on all electronic resources. The ERC will be responsible for liaison with outside services such as: Serials Solutions

(Reviewed & Revised 2003)