Thrown Into the Fire: Experiences of New Electronic Resources Librarians

Karen Schifferdecker, Anne Trenholme

I’m the new Electronic Resources Librarian at Western Kentucky University. I have been reflecting on my first 6 months in the role. I love the work, but it has been a huge learning curve. I had managed e-resources on a smaller scale for the K-12 school library where I worked for over a decade, but it is nothing compared to managing e-resources for a large university! I know from taking the ALA’s Fundamentals of Electronic Resources and Acquisitions online course in October/November that there are many of us nationwide and in Canada who are new to full-time management of electronic resources and that we are sharing similar experiences. I’ve never presented at a conference, but I was thinking there might be interest in a panel discussion where several of us can share and discuss – what is it like stepping in and taking on management of e-resources at a college or university? Did we inherit a good system in place or have to truly figure it out as we go? Was there a supervisor or mentor or documentation to guide us or were we just “thrown into the fire”? If you think this might be interesting to attendees, do you have suggestions on how to find other possible panelists? Would it be appropriate to send a message to the listserv? I have been networking mostly with vendors and haven’t really had a chance to meet other (local-ish) e-resources librarians yet.