Resolving user access issues is inherent in managing electronic resources in libraries. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Library, situated within a predominantly distance learning-centered institution, has developed a series of web-based technical help pages to facilitate resolution of typical issues reported by its…

There is an established history of academic libraries collaborating with their institutions' athletics departments to provide learning and research support to student-athletes in order to achieve positive educational outcomes. It is rarer to find documented the effect that athletics has had on the professional life of an academic librarian. The…

There have been multiple calls to support more systematic approaches to addressing the needs of multilingual students in social studies. In this action research study, the authors point to the Maryland Humanities Inquiry Kits, which provide an example of how to leverage digital history resources in the multilingual classroom for a culturally and…

ERM librarians discuss their approaches to electronic resources management for an academic library consortium, the University System of Maryland & Affiliated Institutions (USMAI). They focus on innovation and developing actionable strategies for procedures and policies.

This article describes the application of electronic resources management (ERM) to digital repository management at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The authors discuss electronic resources management techniques, through the application of "Techniques for Electronic Management,"…

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are online classroom content that can be reused, modified, and shared freely. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) undertook a project to redesign its undergraduate curriculum using OERs in place of traditional textbooks. UMUC librarians have played a critical role in this project, helping to find…

This paper describes the automated copyright clearance process for electronic reserves materials by the electronic reserves staff at the Information and Library Services (ILS), at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Besides the standard practice to handle and post required course readings in digital format for UMUC's distance…

In this article, the development of a digital repository is examined, specifically how the focus on acquiring content for the repository has transitioned from faculty-published research to include the gray literature produced by the research centers on campus, including unpublished technical reports and undergraduate research from honors programs.…

Organization of electronic resources workflow is critical in the increasingly complicated and complex world of library management. A simple organizational tool that can be readily applied to electronic resources management (ERM) is the use of checklists. Based on the principles discussed in The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, the…

This paper examines the experience of one institution, the University of Maryland Libraries, as it made organizational efforts to harness existing workflows and to capture digitization done in the course of responding to patron requests. By examining the way this organization adjusted its existing workflows to put in place more systematic methods…

The International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) began as a research project funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and Microsoft Research and creates a digital library of outstanding children's books from all over the world (http://www. childrenslibrary.org). The project…

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, located on the National Naval Medical Center's campus in Bethesda, Maryland, is a medical education and research facility for the nation's military and public health community. In order to support its approximately 7,500 globally distributed users, the university's James A. Zimble Learning…

As librarians confront the Information Age, it is imperative that they remain aware of the issues that affect the profession. Traditional library skills are no longer adequate for maintaining a competitive edge in the field. Post-graduate education in digital libraries offers information professionals an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of…

This article is a case study of the Virtual Business Information Center (VBIC), a collaborative effort since 1998 of the College of Information Studies, Robert H. Smith School of Business, and the University of Maryland Libraries. The case study traces its development, implementation, and evaluation and addresses collaboration among academic…

Many libraries are expending an increasing part of their collections budgets on electronic resources. At the same time many libraries, especially those which are state funded, face diminishing budgets and high rates of inflation for serials subscriptions in all formats, including electronic resources. Therefore, many libraries need to develop ways…