Many universities have implemented faculty profile systems that capture faculty and researchers' scholarly outputs and activities. These systems usually include public profiles and tools to help find collaborators or experts. They may be used to create reports for faculty annual reviews or for promotion and tenure, or to assist faculty with complying with open access policies by facilitating deposit in institutional repositories. In many universities, libraries play a central role in the implementation of these systems. This paper explores three case studies showing how and why libraries came into this role and examines some of the consequences of this trend.