Established

July 2003

Type of group

Standing Committee and Steering Team, see Committee Structure

Charge

The Electronic Resources Committee (ERC) discusses new purchases and renewals of electronic resources (including reference works, full-text databases, ebooks, electronic journals, and related products); works with consortium staff to arrange trials, review and evaluate products, and determine the level of interest among the member institutions. The Electronic Resources Committee determines which resources should be pursued for group purchase and creates equitable cost distributions that adhere to the principles adopted by the Council. The Committee also discusses policies related to the group purchase of electronic resources and forwards recommendations to Council for consideration. The ER Program Manager is responsible for facilitating the work of the Committee; negotiating licenses, terms and conditions; ordering products; and arranging for payment of invoices and billing of participating libraries. Consortium staff are also responsible for the inclusion of non-member libraries and coordination with other consortia.

Membership responsibilities

Committee members represent an entire member institution. Thus each representative is expected to gather input from all relevant divisions, branches, autonomous libraries, etc. and speak for the member institution. In addition ER Committee representatives must be able to commit institutional resources. Vendor orders will be placed and financial commitments made based on verbal and email statements made by members of this committee.

Steering Team

The Alliance ER Program Manager serves in an ex officio and non-voting capacity on the ERC Steering Team