Abstract
In the new world of e-resources many revolutionary changes have occured, and these have fundamentally influenced workflows in libraries. The straight line from the subject selector to acquisitions to cataloging and finally to the shelf no longer worked.
E-resources demanded licenses, record-keeping of URLs and IP authentication, permissions, and new payment options such as prepayment, and pay per view, along with many other needs. In response to these revolutionary changes, libraries began to develop supplemental systems, which would be able to capture from the ILS systems important data not easily stored or retrievable.
Early local developments laid the foundation stone of the complex commercial Electronic Resource Management Systems (ERMS). It was necessary for libraries to come to the conclusion that the information typical to e-resources would best be stored in one place, in order to more efficiently share it with colleagues and to be able to find it again more quickly.
The article addresses the reasons for the formation of the ERMS, its present development and future trends.