Talbott, H., & Zmau, A. (2018). Electronic Resources Librarianship: A Practical Guide for Librarians.

The trend over the past 25 years that has seen journals and textbooks moving to digital formats necessitated the creation of a new professional position, the electronic resources librarian, to manage these collections. Documentation for this new area of librarianship is thus not extensive, and job descriptions may vary widely from one institution to the next. Electronic resources librarianship: A practical guide for librarians, number 52 in Rowman & Littlefield’s Practical guides for librarians series, makes an important contribution to filling the need to better describe this library role. The authors have written a fairly complete handbook to “walk you step by step through the first few months of being an electronic resources librarian” (xv). Part I includes chapters on e-resource terminology, working with vendors, acquisitions, troubleshooting access problems, licensing, usage statistics and assessment, and collection development. Chapter 1, “Electronic Resources in Libraries,” defines the daily duties of e-resource librarians in six broad categories known as the “electronic resources life cycle”: investigation, acquisition, implementation, ongoing evaluation and access, renewal or cancelation review, and preservation. Position descriptions differ from library to library, however, so there are areas dealt with in this volume that may be of interest to more seasoned librarians. For example, chapter 6, “Licensing,” covers an area of the profession that this reviewer does not deal with workwise, so it was informative to read about evaluating and negotiating vendor licenses. Part II focuses on goal setting, time management, staying organized, and avoiding burnout. Chapter 10, “Goal setting and time management,” has great material applicable to many other professionals who want to develop better work habits and use their time more efficiently. As with other volumes in the Practical guides for librarians series, this book includes key points, references, and additional readings and resources at the end of each chapter. Furthermore, there are appendices for a license review checklist, and worksheets for key questions that a new e-resource librarian needs answered and the staff persons, both within the library and the broader institution, that they should meet. Talbott and Zmau both have several years of experience as e-resource library professionals. As the authors state in the Preface, their volume is clearly written for beginner-level e-resource librarians but as noted above, any staff person working with e-resources will find value in this material. Electronic resources librarianship: A practical guide for librarians is an essential addition to any library’s staff book collection.