From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 20:54:57 -0400

Further to a question on this list last week, here are the suggestions
that were made for Electronic Resource Management Systems for small
schools.  Thanks to all who responded.  Ann Okerson

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ERMs for Small Schools

1.         I suggest they look at Journal Finder - a product UNCG
development and managed for years but then sold it to W T Cox
Subscriptions.  It doesn't cost much and provides a lot of
functionality.  Contact is Maria Hatfield [log in to unmask]

2.         I think coral (http://erm.library.nd.edu) is a great erm
for a small school.  It is used by many large institutions (stanford,
uconn, texas a&m, and others) so it has the full features even a large
school would require, but it also is easy enough for an inexperienced
IT person to install and manage locally. It can even be installed by
non IT folks with a little patience and help from other libraries on
the discussion listserv.  Perhaps best of all though for a smaller
library is that it is free. [SUGGESTED THREE TIMES]

3.         In a past position I found ERMes to be really useful.  It's
an MS Access database built by University of Wisconsin La Crosse.  It
doesn't take much to install since it's built with Access and you can
easily just start inputting data.  We used it to track vendor
contacts, payments, and access points, and there are lots of reports
to help track what renewals were coming up soon or were missed.  You
can tweak the system pretty easily if you are familiar with Access,
and finding training and books on Access is pretty easy too.  Also,
you can import and export data using Excel.  It was basically just me
that used it, so not a lot of intervention needed. We had about 50 or
so electronic resources, including our e-journals.
http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/erm/

4.         We are pretty happy with CUFTS.  It's an open source
product, but we also pay for the technical support/hosting from Simon
Fraser University.  http://researcher.sfu.ca/cufts

5.         Several years ago, we developed the ERM, Gold Rush for our
member libraries.  Since about 2003, we have licensed Gold Rush to
libraries all around the country and in Canada.  We have lots of small
libraries that use Gold Rush and we've been able to keep the price
affordable.  If you would like further information about Gold Rush,
I'd be happy to set up a time to chat about it.  You can also have
information on our website:
https://www.coalliance.org/software/gold-rush

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