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CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Introduction

The digitization of information in print media has brought a new concept altogether in all the libraries. An electronic resource is defined as a resource which requires computer access or any electronic product that delivers a collection of data, be it  referring to full text bases, electronic journals, image collections, other multimedia products and numerical, graphical or time based, as a commercially available title that has been published with an aim to being marketed. These may be delivered on CD ROM, on tape, via Internet and so on. These are more useful due to inherent capabilities for manipulation and searching, providing information access is cheaper to acquiring information resources, savings in storage and maintenance etc. and sometimes the electronic form is the only alternative. The developments in scientific publishing and the pricing policies of publishers posed new challenges and opportunities for academic libraries in purchasing and managing the serials within their restricted budget. The library and information services of the 21st century are fast changing. With the rapid development of electronic publishing, libraries are not only acquiring reading materials such as printed books and journals but also arranging for providing access to various learning resources in electronic form. The web resources and the use of web as a tool is changing the way users live and learn. While in the early phase, the World Wide Web was mainly used for push type applications to provide information and resources to users, the development of Web 2.0 and the spread of open sources and shared use concept have focused on user generated content and applications for sharing. This has led to the rapid development and popularity of electronic resources. E-Resources are occupying a significant portion of the global literature. They refer to information sources in electronic form. The different types of e-resources are, E-books, E-journals, Databases, CDs/DVDs, E-conference proceedings, EReports, E-Maps, E-Pictures/Photographs, E-Manuscripts, E-Theses, E-Newspaper, Internet/Websites - Listservs, Newsgroups, Subject Gateways, USENET,  FAQs etc. These may be delivered on CD-ROM / DVD, over the Internet and so on. Providing access to e-resources is a service to help library users to find e-Databases, e-Journals, e-Magazines, eBooks/ e-Audio/ e-Images, Data/ GIS, Digital Library Projects, Electronic Exhibitions, eSubject Guide, e-newsletters, E-conferences proceedings and Web search tools on a range of topic. The electronic books are helpful because of their easy portability and its feature of incorporating more than one book in a single hand held device. The published materials are also available on open access platform. This helps the poorer also to get the information required free of cost and bridge the digital divide. They need not worry for licensing and usage of the information. According to Dr.S.R.Ranganathan, in his fifth law  Library is a growing organism. Library is not a store house of books, it is a knowledge centre. Every reader visits the library with the intention to get the solution for his problem. Library should fulfill the needs of user community. 

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