Increasing the Discovery and use of e-resources in University Libraries

Abstract

There is a large quantity of subscribed e-resources in our libraries and they contain quality information, though expensive. In spite of advantages in terms of access and search capabilities, they are underused. Systematic plan has to be in place for their promotion of use. While a good ICT infrastructure is a prerequisite, it alone will not do. Proactive strategies are required and these need to be adopted imaginatively. Access to e-resources need to be made easier for both on campus and off campus users. As a priority, active users need to be identified and they need to be converted to heavy users of eresources. Secondly, non users be converted to active users Various methods have to be tried in order to grab the attention of the users towards the e-resources. User training will increase the confidence level of the users. Traditional awareness methods include : Personal visits, user training, brochures, posters and displays. Newer technologies from the Web 2.0 such as RSS alert service, Blogs, Wikis and Facebook make the interaction with the library not only interesting but also add more value. Finally, the effectiveness of various promotional strategies need to be measured by monitoring the usage and user feedback.