By Nonjabulo Ngcobo and Sicelo Hlongwane
Humankind has been fully immersed
on the era of the Information Age and the Internet of things since the 1980s. This paradigm shift has continuously been embraced by the
masses and brought many changes to how academic libraries undertake their daily
business of disseminating information to support teaching, learning and
research. As a result, for academic libraries to remain relevant to patrons they
are compelled to adapt to emerging changes in information communication technologies
and the manner in which they disseminate information resources and sources that
meet the changing needs of the user. Digital resources are considered one of
the most valuable resources used by students and researchers in an academic environment.
According to Kenchakkanavar (2014) an electronic resource is a resource
which requires computer access or any electronic product that delivers a
collection of data, be it referring to full text databases, electronic
journals, image collections, other multimedia products and numerical, graphical
or time based information, as commercially available titles that have been
published with the aim of being marketed for use. Electronic resources allow information specialists
to provide a better service quicker and easier. The user can access the information sources stored in digital format using computers without having to be physically present in the library.
The American Association of College and Research Libraries (2018) states that
the information center is committed to preserve its electronic resources just
as it is ensuring permanent access to it's collections in other formats.
The mere availability of electronic resources in institutionary
repositories does not necessarily mean students access and use such resources.
As, Manda and Nawe (2008) pointed out that users may not be aware of the availability of such
resources, do not know how to access them, or do not know what the resources
offer. However, information specialists (librarians) play a major role in
supporting patrons by creating awareness of the library services. They provide
training to equip users with new skills and knowledge to utilise electronic
resources. Our general view, without supporting evidence, is that access and
use of electronic resources is a major contributing factor and has a positive
impact on students' success in thier academic endeavours.
Advantages of Electronic Resources.
Electronic resources offer a number of advantages not only to libraries
but also to users, authors, editors, publishers, and archivists. The advantages
are:
- Saves time by providing easy and instantaneous access without wasting
time on processing, printing, binding, and delivery.
- Search and browse functions are quicker when extracting information or
integrating that information into other material and to cross-search or
reference among the different publications.
- Integration of different media (Image, Sound, Video, etc.)
- Saves library storage space.
- Provide hyperlinks to related additional resources.
- Allow remote access from anywhere at any time.
- Enable simultaneous access to a large number of users.
- Facilitate access to physically challenged persons.
- Are eco-friendly.
- To access and retrieve relevant articles, a good number of databases are
available.
- Multiple simultaneous access and through local networks (Global Protect)
becomes easy.
Disadvantages of
Electronic Resources:
University and college
libraries face enormous challenges and opportunities. The amount of information
that libraries need to acquire is continuously increasing and the existing
resources are insufficient. There are many disadvantages to the electronic
format:
- All e-resource devices require power.
- High cost of technology infrastructure.
- Need special equipment to access the information.
- Lack of compatibility among different publishers.
- Hardware and software compatibility problems.
- Copyright violation problems.
- Current e-book format may not be readable by future e-book devices.
- Book reading devices are more expensive than most paper books.
- Lack of awareness of IT skills for usage of e-resources.
- Technological barriers.
- The initial cost is very high. As a result, many publishers are forced
to calculate the expected benefits before embracing on a publication product
(economical barriers).
- Use of products according to the convenience of the user is not necessarily
possible. There are often certain technological restrictions.
- Lack of uniform standards in the retrieval of software products from
different publishers creates problems in their usage.
- Since reading of ICT based resources and services requires skills, the
users have to acquire certain skills beforehand or take the help of intermediaries
like library professionals to help them in accessing the electronic documents.
Even the library professionals have to learn the skills, if they desire to
serve the users effectively and efficiently.
References
Parthasarathy, R. 2009.
Impact of Electronic Resources on Academic Program in arts and science colleges-:
Tiruchirappalli A study. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10603/186505
Kenchakkanavar, A.Y., 2014. Types of
e-resources and its utilities in library. International Journal of
Information Sources and Services, 1(2), pp.97-104.
AACR., 2018.
Library of Congress Collections Policy Statements Supplementary guidelines.
Manda, P. and Nawe, J., 2008. The impact of electronic information
resource use on research output: Experiences from universities in Tanzania. University
of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, 10(1-2).
