Electronic Resource Management (ERM): Procurement Policies, Issues And Challenges In Indian Libraries

Abstract

Providing information in electronic format has become one of the most important functions of a library. Purchasing and providing access to the relevant electronic resources within the limited budget in an effective manner is always a challenging task. Librarians expected to have proper awareness on the availability and legitimacy of various electronic sources. Imparting training to the user community on the resources already acquired yield a better result in enhancing the usage; however, the librarian has to always keep a tab on the usage statistics to know effective utilization. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of electronic resources and its management prevailed in Indian libraries. Also analyses the procurement policies, current trends, issues and challenges faced by the library professionals to provide an effective electronic resource collection to its users in a better way. One of the challenges faced by the librarians to get access to electronic recourses is the availability of the required funds for purchasing it. However, up to some extent consortium for electronic journals help to acquire more resources. This paper would help the librarians to understand the challenges in procuring and managing electronic resources and to take appropriate measures to avoid the issues related.