New Approaches to E‐reserve: Linking, Sharing and Streaming

Citation

Cubbage, C. (2011), "New Approaches to E‐reserve: Linking, Sharing and Streaming", Library Review, Vol. 60 No. 5, pp. 433-435. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531111135335

University library staff somewhat new to e‐reserves will find a great deal of useful information in New Approaches to E‐reserve: Linking, Sharing and Streaming. The book is particularly strong on copyright issues and the integration of e‐reserves with course management systems. However, the title may be a bit misleading and both stylistic and organisational choices dilute the overall quality of the work. “New” is hard to define in an area less than 20 years old, and most chapters focus on practices common to large university libraries. I saw much to value in the broader presentations, and Canadian universities in particular might utilise the book as a professional resource to improve day‐to‐day e‐reserve operations.

The three authors, employed at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, paint a realistic picture of the current environments for e‐reserves. As stated in the introduction, they bring in material from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the USA, although the information on Hong Kong is spotty. Employing literature reviews, questionnaires and on‐site visits to other libraries, the authors provide examples of e‐reserve practices from a number of universities.

In several chapters, the authors tackle the benefits and difficulties of employing software designed for other purposes in the e‐reserve processes, a frequent practice particularly in larger institutions with more information technology staff. The focus on the variety of ways to integrate e‐reserves with course management systems reflects a growing trend, and the authors set out the myriad of issues that may occur in a clear manner. They devote a chapter to Blackboard, a commonly utilised course management system in North America, and illustrate multiple ways to integrate e‐reserve files. Libraries rarely have a say in a university's choice of course, management system(s), and the provision of multiple scenarios for one system suggests directions for those new to this type of institutional collaboration. Another chapter discusses possible uses of citation management systems to streamline services and involve faculty in the e‐reserve process.

The chapter devoted to copyright addresses legal differences between Australian, Canadian and American statutes, and is one of the best in the book. Beyond the thorny matter of interpreting the various laws lie issues of cost, staffing, efficiency and public perception, all of which the authors analyse. It is not unusual for reserve services to be involved with setting and/or applying copyright policies, and the chapter offers clear‐cut workflows as possible methods to address the multiple aspects of copyright compliance.

Numerous instances of collaborative projects are offered in the book, promoting partnership across university departments while illustrating potential pitfalls when working with non‐library systems. The authors also discuss ways to elicit user input into the reserve systems. They stress the survey approach, providing examples in the appendices, but ignore usability studies. Here, and for all chapters, the book provides ample citations to other works for those interested in reading more.

Unfortunately, most chapters fall victim to a stylistic choice to provide clear overviews of a topic, followed with an extremely narrow focus accompanied by screen shots of various interfaces, often those used at Ryerson Library. Screen shots tend to go out‐of‐date rapidly as systems upgrade and are far more useful in training manuals. The Ryerson perspective quickly loses applicability to many institutions at a detailed level. For example, the difficulties Ryerson University experienced with authentication systems illustrates an instance in which a library has little control over the computer systems it uses, but the detailed woes are irrelevant in a broader setting. The overall effect is a work that reads three‐quarters as broadly applicable strategies for e‐reserve operations and one‐quarter as a history of e‐reserves at Ryerson with illustrations from their training materials.

Other than that the authors chose a clear layout, with chapters that logically progress through e‐reserve issues. The indexing is good, although at times needing cross‐references, for instance from bibliographic management software to citation management software, and authentication software to EZproxy. The book's main value lies in positioning e‐reserves within university libraries at this time, and it will make a good primer for those either familiarising themselves with the environment or seeking to modify their reserve services.