INFM 104 - Effective Management of Library Resources & Collections

This report provides a summary and reflection on the article "Meeting the challenge of simultaneously managing digital, electronic, and print collections" by Marshall Breeding. The article discusses the challenges libraries face in managing diverse collections, including physical, digital, and electronic resources, and proposes strategies such as balancing efforts, increasing efficiency, improving metadata quality, strengthening collection impact, investing appropriately, and preparing for the future. The reflection focuses on the easiest and hardest strategies to implement, highlighting the importance of increasing efficiency and decreasing costs through automation and streamlined workflows. The report also references another article on the costs and benefits of library information from a user's perspective, emphasizing the importance of cost-benefit analysis in effective resource management. The report concludes that the topic is crucial for libraries in managing resources, addressing complications, and preparing for the future, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of library collections.

Running head: EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES IN LIBRARY
Effective management of resources in library
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES IN LIBRARY
Part 1: Summary
The provided article has been taken from the Independent Consultant and Founder of
Library Technology Guides (Breeding, 2017). This article has been written by Marshall
Breeding. He is the person who has been designated with several positions in the community
guide. He is a consultant, a writer, a frequent speaker and at the same he is also the founder of
the Library Technology Guides and their website is librarytechnology.org. From the profile
of Marshal Breeding it is quite evident that he comprises of a wide range of knowledge
regarding the matter of managing information about the libraries. These are the reasons for
which Marshal Breeding is considered to be an expert on this topic.
The main goal of this article is to focus on the challenges of effectively managing the
digital, electronic and the print library collections. The sections that has been highlighted in
the article includes the various types of the information resources of the library in the form of
the physical sources, digital collections and the electronic sources (Bryson, 2017). This
probes to bring in a lot of complications in the process of management, subscription of the
fees and open access to the resources. These complications of the organisations can be solved
following a set of dedicated ideas or strategies that the author has discussed in this article to
manage a diverse set of collections. These ideas are balancing efforts and attention,
increasing efficiency and decreasing costs, improving the quality of metadata, strengthening
the impact of collections, investing appropriately and preparing for the future.
Part 2: Reflection
The strategy that I feel will prove to become the easiest in accomplishing by the
libraries is the strategy of improving the quality of metadata. It is because the strategy will
ensure the reduction of human workload and at the same time will introduce the effectiveness
of the quality of metadata through the automation of the processes. The strategy that I feel

2EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES IN LIBRARY
will prove to become the hardest in accomplishing by the libraries is the strategy of balancing
efforts and attention with respect to each component of collection. It is because this strategy
demands effective monitoring of the use and constant refinement of the content items that
provide the best coverage of the research requirements of the institution. This cannot be
achieved over time and requires high investment to make the solutions effective. Moreover, it
also requires the devotion of qualified personnel and an advanced technology for its operation
in serving the patrons and increasing the stature of the library.
The main idea or the strategy that I will remember from this article is the strategy of
increasing the efficiency and decreasing the cost. I find this strategy to be very important for
effective resource management for the libraries because I feel that this strategy will help the
libraries to become more productive in delivering the needful. It will also help the library in
avoiding the duplication of efforts and will help the library to follow streamlined workflows
that in turn will enable the members to operate in an effective manner. This strategy is further
useful as it will help to automate the processes in collection management. It has been applied
in the libraries in the form of automation of the processes with the help of information
systems.
The article that I have chosen as per the idea or strategy of increasing efficiency and
decreasing cost from the above paragraph is “Costs and benefits of library information: The
user point of view”. It talks about the costs and the benefits of Library Information from a
user point of view. This article can be summarized under some definite headings. These are
the choice of media and other information sources, private costs of the library use,
implications for pricing, private benefits of library use, implications for library organisation
cost of multiple services and the role of uncertainty and related considerations. In going
through the article, I have found that the article has implemented the strategy of increasing
efficiency and decreasing cost through a combination of dedicated tactics and observations of

3EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES IN LIBRARY
the expense that a library bears in the collection of information. The outcome of the article
shows that the cost and benefit analysis not only helps the libraries to effectively manage the
resources but also helps in increasing the efficiency of the operations.
Part 3: Conclusion
This topic is particularly important for the libraries due to the fact that it helps the
libraries in managing the resources effectively. It also provides information to the readers
about the various types of complications that can arise in a library and speaks about the
strategies about how to address those critical complications and avoid them to increase
efficiency within the library. Further, this topic helps to generate new ideas about how the
libraries can prepare for the future with the help of some dedicated guidelines. As whole, this
topic is effective enough in highlighting the techniques for library collection.

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References
Braunstein, Y. M. (1979). Costs and benefits of library information: The user point of view.
Breeding, M. (2017). Meeting the challenge of simultaneously managing digital, electronic,
and print collections. Computers In Libraries, 37(2), 16-18. Retrieved from
http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/
Bryson, J. (2017). Effective library and information centre management. Routledge.
Feng, D., Siu, W. C., & Zhang, H. J. (Eds.). (2013). Multimedia information retrieval and
management: Technological fundamentals and applications. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Galliers, R. D., & Leidner, D. E. (2014). Strategic information management: challenges and
strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Moran, B. B., & Morner, C. J. (2017). Library and information center management. ABC-
CLIO.