2013 Charleston Conference

Electronic resources management (ERM) is a patchwork business of strategically organizing the interconnectivity of resources, tools, systems, and staff. If not well managed, ERM can become increasingly fragmented and inefficient. Organization is critical. The electronic resources management (ERM) unit at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has utilized LibGuides to centralize and organize ERM workflows and processes since 2009. While developed for use as subject guides, LibGuides was repurposed and has proven over time to be a very effective tool for ERM. LibGuides provided an organizational structure to manage an increasingly divergent ERM workload.

In 2012, a new resource became available. UMUC introduced ENGAGE, a social networking tool built using JIVE technology. ENGAGE was meant to replace the Intranet and SharePoint at the university. ENGAGE was gradually adapted by the Library. In the past year, the UMUC Library increasingly used ENGAGE to communicate to staff and the university with commentary, documentation, and news. Since ENGAGE allows for open discussion, the Library Google blogs were archived, including the ERM news blogs.

For ERM staff, ENGAGE also looked to be a good alternative to LibGuides. Since ENGAGE is now an integral part of the communication network at the university, the staff felt it was important to make the switch from LibGuides to ENGAGE. The thought processes behind the development of the ERM ENGAGE site will be discussed, and well as a detailed view of reasoning behind the setup.