Book Review: The Role of the Electronic Resources Librarian

Abstract

The eight chapters covered in this text give a detailed history about how the role of electronic resource (e-resource) librarians (ERLs) has evolved over the past several decades as libraries have shifted to an online environment. It covers the challenges faced from 1992 when the ERL title was first used, to 2019 where academic libraries are still a hybrid of print and electronic materials. The book is organized into eight chapters with three appendixes. The introduction gives a brief overview on the development of ERLs and a clear synopsis of chapters, which are a nice progression of how the ERL position has developed since the 1990s; how it has been represented in organizational structures across academic libraries; how it has handled a variety of obstacles (technology, expanding skill sets, budget constraints, etc.); and how it maps to current trends in managing e-resources.