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Chapter 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4070-2.ch018
Managerial Perspective
of E-Resources in
Academic Libraries
ABSTRACT
The rapid increase of e-resources together with several value-based applications has been gradually
superseding the traditional means of communication in almost all parts of the world. The transformation
enforced government-funded consortia to build ICT environments in academic institutions and created
a pressing demand on the libraries for increasing their acquisitions. The bundled (packages) resources
available to libraries through several means are raising issues about their usefulness, real beneft as per
user’s preferences, and also the usage. Issues of the kind invariably require thought, exceptional policy
decisions, and implementing standard procedures for the optimum utilization of expensive resources
and their management. The chapter discusses the features of e-resources, challenges encountered by the
library administrators, the existing and innovative practices in their evaluation and organization, while
highlighting the supporting technologies and integrated management tools emerging as per the latest
requirements of academic institutions.
INTRODUCTION
Advancements in the computer generation of
scholarly information as well as documents in
electronic form and the emergence of electronic
publishing during early 90s have revolutionized the
entire process of scientific communication, ensu-
ing instantaneous dissemination of content over
the worldwide networks very easily to scholars.
The e-publishing was initially applied for highly
priced peer reviewed research journals in a view
to disseminate research results speedily to the re-
searchers working all over the world and no sooner
extended to other popular forms of information
material viz. Abstracts, indexes, books, serial
publications, reference sets, statistical handbooks
and technical manuals etc. The rapid increase of
e-journals in developed countries coupled with the
addition of advanced applications has been gaining
value among the scholarly circles since they can
search and retrieve the information in the form of
text, data and also as multimedia objects, further
replacing the traditional print resources those exist
over decades as well superseding the traditional
V. J. Suseela
University of Hyderabad, India