Announcing Harvard ERM
In the first half of 2004, the University Library's Office for Information Systems (OIS) developed a new system to track and manage information about centrally purchased electronic resources. The system, called "Harvard ERM" or Electronic Resource Management system, is based on ERM models and specifications developed by the Digital Library Federation, with significant input from Harvard's Ivy Anderson, the program manager for E-Resource Management and Licensing in OIS. Development of a management system for electronic resources has been a high priority for the Digital Acquisitions and Collections Committee, which oversees licensing activities throughout the libraries. Over the course of the late summer and early fall, OIS has been populating the Harvard ERM with licensing and acquisitions data, and it is now in use by the E-Resource Management and Licensing program staff.
On November 9, OIS launched "Harvard ERM: Librarian's View," through which a wealth of information about the University's e-resources is available to Harvard librarians in general—from license terms to librarians' comments on current trials.
Using the Harvard ERM Librarian's View, library staff can easily search for:
- licensing information, such as permissions for e-reserves, course packs, and ILL;
- details about archival rights;
- authorized user definitions; and
- links to electronic versions of the license where available.
Librarians can also discover extensive acquisitions information, including:
- pricing and cost distribution;
- transaction records showing orders, invoices, and payments made; and
- subscription expiration and renewal action dates.
This area will be fully populated with acquisitions data in coming months.
Additional Librarian's View services include access to resource trials, an automated trial comment facility, and up-to-date information on license negotiations. Librarians also have access to extensive technical and bibliographic information, including simultaneous user restrictions, URNs, and ISSNs; listings of individual titles included under a given license; information about stewarding libraries; and data on suppressed, withdrawn, and rejected resources. In addition, the system will link directly to use statistics at the individual title level.
To access the Librarian's View, go to http://lib.harvard.edu/ERMpublic. Access is restricted to users with Harvard IDs and PINs.
The Harvard ERM project team includes OIS staff members Ivy Anderson, Victoria Lin, Lauren Moffa, and Janet Taylor. Julie Wetherill, the OIS documentation and outreach librarian, has prepared extensive online help for the system. For further assistance, contact the team at erm-help@hulmail.harvard.edu or 5-3724.
Last modified on Monday, November 23, 2004.