Transcript An overview of Electronic Resources (E

An overview of Electronic Resources (E-Resources) of
National Library, India and its implications
ByDeepshikha Pathak
Library and Information Assistant
&
Partha Sarathi Das
Assistant Library and Information Officer
National Library, India
Theme of the paper
The present paper mainly highlights the need of introduction of
electronic resources in the National Library, India, describes its
existing electronic resources, future plans and assess the frequency
of use of e-resources by the reader with respect to the use of Electronic
resources by the heterogonous users of the National Library and to
identity the barriers that hinders the use of e- resources.
Introduction
Information technology has left an incredible impact in our profession
right from automating the library services to Collection Development
Policy. In this context, The National Knowledge Commission in its
qualitative and quantitative guidelines for Collection Development states that
“All libraries must maintain a well-rounded core collection, including
reference material to satisfy the regular needs of its user community. These
may be supplemented through networks, e-resources, etc, to achieve better
qualitative and quantitative standards.” and “In the case of the National
Library and other national level libraries, the collections should be as
comprehensive as possible.”
In compliance of the guidelines and feeling the pulse of
heterogeneous users, National Library too has introduced the Eresources for its users.
Operational definitions used
Operational definitions used in the paper is :
a.
E-books
b.
E-journals
c.
E-Reference collection
d.
Heterogeneous users of the National Library
National Library and Modernization
To being with, the National Library has undergone
developmental transformation in phase-wise manner. National
Library has come a long way from serving its readers with
traditional methods of giving readers’ service to modern day
method of service, in the form of manual browsing of
catalogue to web-opac catalogue.
Going with the modern day trend of Digital Library,
we can proudly say that The National Library houses not only
Rarest of the Rare Documents but also it has expanded its
collection base to envelope Electronic Resources also. The
advent of ICT has been a boon because it offers an opportunity
to provide increasingly valuable and effective services for users
and as such when one visits National Library, one can find
oneself in the midst of Hybrid Library Environment.
Need for Hybrid Library Environment in the
National Library

Advancements in digital technology and increasing
application of this technology in libraries have brought in
a revolutionary paradigm shift in all types of libraries;
National Library is not an exception.

The acquisition policy of the National Library seeks to
integrate traditional print resources with electronic
resources to provide seamless access to information
resources which support blended learning.
As a public library, the National Library supports a
heterogeneous user groups that ranges from students,
scholars, researchers, teachers, professionals who uses
these e-resources as their supplementary resource base in
addition to their print resources.

E-Books Coverage
5.
Cambridge University Press : 1115
Oxford University Press : 1,26,466
Project Muse : 19, 589
Springer : 550
Taylor & Francis : 1100
6.
Wiley Blackwell : 264
1.
2.
3.
4.
E-journal Coverage
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Cambridge University Press : 398
Oxford University Press : 379
Indian Journals.Com : 359
J-Stor : 3606
Project Muse :759
Sage Journals :1263
Heinonline : Law Journal Library ; English Reports, Full
Reprint(1220-1867)
REFERENCE E-COLLECTION BOUQUET
Reference e-collection bouquet.doc
Survey : Objectives
Objectives :

To know the awareness of e-resources among the
users of National Library

To study the degree of utilization of e-journals by the
users of the National Library

To determine the level of satisfaction of the users of eresources

To measure the effectiveness of the e-resource
Survey : Methodology
To collect data, a questionnaire was designed with questions of
demographic characteristics, source of information, ease of Information
Retrieval computer skills, frequency of use, preference of e-resources,
awareness of e-resources and need of use-orientation programme.
Besides questionnaire method, observation and interview method were
also adopted.
Data Analysis
Awareness of E-Resources :
It is observed from the study that :
 about 54% of the users came to know about e-resources
through National Library website

42% of the respondents gained access of the e-resources through
our Library Officers & Staff members.
Contd…
Frequently used e-resources :
It is observed that the access of the e-resource collection is well
balanced in both their formats while E-reference collection
need to be popularized among the users of National Library.
Contd…
Frequency of use of e-resources :
The frequency of e-resources used by the respondents as revealed
from the analysis is that :
a. mostly daily (36%) ;
b. several times a week (28%) ;
c. once a week(20%) ;
d. when they desire (16%).
However, most of the users are in the process of making eresources as their integral part of information source.
Contd..
Ease of Information Retrieval & User Education:
50% of the respondents are capable of finding their desired
information, while 50% of the users are facing difficulties of some sort
in retrieving their desired information.
62% of the respondents expressed their desire to
arrange some kind of User Education/ Orientation Programs by the
National Library to increase their confidence in using these eresources.
Contd…
Frequently Used E-Journals :
Jstor is often the mostly used e-journals, followed by
Oxford University Press and then Cambridge
University Press.
The rate of use of e-resources has been a
success on experimental base in the first phase.
Recommendations
The questionnaire has recorded some specific suggestions from our esteemed
users which could be considered by the National Library in decision making
process:





Some users feel that there is a need to increase the bandwidth so as to
increase the speed of upload/download
Most of the users prefer that the facility of e-resource access should be
open in Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays.
There should be necessary arrangements for resource sharing with
libraries.
There should be a IT trained staff in the Main Reading Room for helping
the users in case of difficulty.
Users have suggested introducing subscription of MLA International
Bibliography, IEEE journals, Literature Online (LION) as a part of Eresource
Conclusion
Understanding today’s user’s need of information sources is no doubt a challenge and it
poses a more challenge for heterogeneous users. There are plethora of information
sources a users can use but the bottom line is that how Library and Information center
can make themselves “User Technocracy Information Source”. National Library, where
one can find the combination of heterogeneous readers as well as the concept of Hybrid
Library has been able to prove itself as “User Technocracy Information Source” by way
of introducing E-Resources in experimental phase and is reaping quite a success. It is
pertinent to mention that E-resources are being provided by many Library and
Information Centers across India, but the offering of E-resources by the National Library,
itself provides a distinct benchmark as it the epitome of Traditional-cum-Digital Library.
As a part of continuous development and its endeavor to make
National Library “User Technocracy Information Sources”, a separate E-resource Centre
will soon be set up in the coming year. Let’s hope that the opening of this new E-resource
Center will be able to provide perspective reader’s service to its ever increasing readers.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Prof. Swapan Chakravorty,
Director-General, National Library for providing the facilities
and thankfully acknowledge Shri Asesh Kr Ghatak, Library
and Information Officer for critically going through the
manuscript and all the Library Staff of Bhasa Bhavan Reading
Room, National Library for their assistance and support in
collecting the data.
THANK YOU