Migration from Print to Electronic Information Resources: An Overview

 


Migration from Print to Electronic Information Resources:
An Overview

Monawwer Eqbal
Librarian
INMANTEC Institutions, Ghaziabad (UP)
Pushpendra Pratap Singh Sengar
Sr. Asst. Librarian,
INMANTEC Institutions, Ghaziabad (UP)
Syed Ahtisham Raza Naqvi
Asst. Librarian,
 INMANTEC Institutions, Ghaziabad (UP)
Abstract
Internet and web are constantly influencing the development of new modes of scholarly communication; their potential for delivering goods is quite vast, as they overcome successfully the geographical limitations associated with the print media. This paper explains types of electronic information resource and also trying to highlight the benefits of the electronic information resources over conventional sources of information. Electronic information resources as a vehicle of scientific communication are an established entity today. They are becoming popular both in the form of e-books and e-journals.
Keywords: e-Resource, Digital Age, e-Book, e-Journal e-Newspaper, Webopac, e-Groups
Introduction:    
It is significant to note that the shift from print to electronic is not merely a technological evolution, but requires a change in the paradigm by which people access and interact with information. The total number of books produced since printing began does not exceed one billion. (The number of books now published annually is less than one million) If an average book occupies 500 pages at 2,000 characters per page, then even without compression it can be stored comfortably in one megabyte. Therefore, one million megabyte are sufficient to store all books.This is 10 byte, or one petabyte. At commercial prices of $20 per gigabyte, this amount of disk storage capacity could be purchased for $20 million. So, it is certainly feasible to consider storing all books digitally. Access to knowledge is fundamental to education and research, the improvement of lives and the creation of human capital upon which the development of societies depends. Yet many people around the world are at risk of being left behind in the digital age. Without access to high quality information and resources, the citizens and future leaders in developing and transition countries are at a severe disadvantage in terms of sustainable socio-economic, political and cultural development Effective libraries play a key role in the provision of information and services to people in a wide range of fields from health care to engineering, from agriculture to education, thereby supporting scholarship, research and livelihoods in a variety of ways.
Types of Print Information Sources

Books and Text books: Books come in a multitude of topics. Because of the time it takes to publish a book, books usually contain more dated information than will be found in journals and newspapers.
Newspapers: Predominately covering the latest events and trends, newspapers contain very up-to-date information. Newspapers report both information that is factual in nature and also share opinions. Generally they will not take a “big picture” approach or contain information about larger trends.
Academic and Trade Journals: Academic and trade journals are where to find the most up-to-date information and research in industry, business, and academia. Journal articles come in several forms, including literature reviews which overview about current and past research, articles on theories and history or articles on specific processes or research.
Government Reports and Legal Documents: The government releases information intended for its own use or for public use. These types of documents can be an excellent source of information. An example of a government report is the U.S. Census data. Most government reports and legal documents can now be accessed online.
Press Releases and Advertising: Companies and special interest groups produce texts to help persuade readers to act in some way or inform the public about some new development.
Flyers, Pamphlets, Leaflets: While some flyers or pamphlets are created by reputable sources, because of the ease in which they are created, many less-than-reputable sources also produce these. They are useful for quick reference or very general information.
Multimedia: Printed material is certainly not the only option for finding research. Also consider media sources such as radio and television broadcasts, interactive talks, and public meetings.
Reasons for Access Electronic Information Resource

Electronic information resources are available 24x7 it allow multiple concurrent users, are more current than their print counterparts, support distance education, reach to remote and underserved areas and have no constraint of time and location besides saving library space. These sources can be searched, browsed and interlinked with other publications and databases, downloaded and saved in different formats for future use.
An e-resource is defined as a resource which requires computer access or any electronic product that delivers a collection of data, be it text 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.
Although each format stands alone a few general points can be made about the use of electronic Information resources in libraries. Even, if a number of people are still firmly wedded to print, the paperless, electronic format brings users into greater contact with library collections, while also providing librarians with an easier way of acquiring usage statistics. They allow a greater degree of interaction with a library’s community through the use of blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and e-mails. Even if users are coming into the library less frequently, the library can still operate as a portal, offering guidance for web-surfing and providing access to a broad range of electronic information resources, perhaps for the first time. There are numerous references to "24/7" access to library collections in the literature. Furthermore, disabled people can access much library information at home and resources such as e-books are customisable in terms of background colour and font size, can be configured to read out text, and have easy-to-turn pages. Difficult-to-reach communities, particularly the poorer classes who may not have home access to computers, might be more greatly involved by an electronic library.
Electronic information resources also fit within an emerging international political ethos. Research, particularly scientific, is currently undertaken on a global basis and internet networking facilitates this, as recognized by at least one online scientific journal. In sum, particularly considering that they can also suggest solutions to some thornier storage issues and make searching and answering queries easier, the advantages of relying on electronic information resources are undeniable.


    
    
        
        
    
    
Figure 1: Mapping of Electronic Information Resources
Types of Electronic Information Resources
    
E-Books: “e Book- A book composed in or converted to digital format for display on a computer screen or handheld device” – (Merriam-Webster.com)
The book is quiet popular document to meet the academic needs of user community. Publishing a book electronically is to achieve quick publishing and dissemination of information. Electronic versions of book which are delivered to patrons of digital formats are called E-book. E-book devices are developed to read e-books. E-book devices are a larger form of PDAs with extended reading features. E-book contents can deliver in various forms: via internet, CD-ROM etc. [1]
Electronic book are too quick publishing and dissemination of information.
Fig.1 eBook
E-newspaper: E-newspaper is also the part of paperless society. Through online communication system broadcasting of the e-newspaper to large number of recipients is there and most of the working class is enjoying it.
 
                    Fig.2 e-Newspaper
E-Journals: Electronic journals are serial publications where end products are made available in digital format and whose contents may not be peer-reviewed. Two media, viz. CD-ROM and internet are used for the dissemination of the e-journals. The advantage of the CD-ROM is that in libraries and information centers, it can be handled just like conventional printed form.E-Journals may be defined very broadly as any journals, magazine, e’zine, webzine, newsletters or any type of electronic serial publication, which is available over the Internet.

                    
Fig.3 e-Journal

E-zine: E-zine is the abbreviation for electronic magazine. The electronic accessibility of magazine is very useful for the user of the library, as many users can access the issues simultaneously; it saves the cost of extra copies for the library and information centers.

                
Fig.4 e-zine


E-Database: E-database is the most important and highly used electronics media among the library professional for information retrieval purpose.The online database is called Electronic database. The online electronic library card catalog i.e. Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) explain how information can be published and facilities user to search the document with various aspects like author, title, subject. A variety of electronic databases publishers nowadays comprise publishing information both bibliographic and full text on CD-ROMs in addition to making them available for online retrieval.




















Fig.5  e-Database

Floppy Disk: Floppy disk was a removable magnetic storage medium mainly used for PC. Floppy disks are slower to access than hard disks and have less storage capacity, but they are much less expensive and portable.

CD-ROMs: CD-ROM is an optical medium for the storage and distribution of vast volume of computerized information. CD-ROM with its tremendous storage capacity and long shelf-life seemed to be an ideal medium for breakup and archival of data. Almost all publishing products such as full texts, available in CD-ROM.
DVDs : DVD- Digital video disc or Digital Versatile Disc for the computer industry is the next generation to compact disc in optical storage technology. A DVDs has higher data storage capacity. This has a capacity of packing seven times data on the same surface areas as that of the CD-ROM. DVD has a great potentiality for storage and distribution of large amount of data in electronic form and shall be able to expand new horizon of information dissemination feature.
E-Thesis and E-Research Reports: Scientist, research scholars, etc. now a day’s consider as an important electronic Information resources of a library, which contains reports, publish e-repots. This is very useful service as far as the libraries in the academic field are concerned. It reduces the duplication of research works and gives assistance for the selection of the research area to the users of the libraries. Technical reports from yet another important and essential collection in the libraries. Technical reports are essentially the results of practical studies where theory and assumptions are tested and implemented. Procurement of technical reports was challenging task to libraries. Libraries used to put a lot of efforts to locate the sources of origin and identity the suppliers for acquisition.


    Fig.6 e-Thesis

Web-OPAC: The collection of the library can be accessed through on-line catalogue-Web OPAC. It allows simple and complex, multi-field search (using Boolean logic) options. The search results are displayed with minimal information. The selected item can be displayed in full format. The output also gives information whether a particular document is already loaned to any member and the scheduled date of its return. The interest members can make reservation/ claim to borrow on return of such documents.


                Fig.7 Web-OPAC
Advantages of E-resources        
 
An electronic information resource offers enormous benefits. They provide users faster, more convenient and anytime access from home, campus or library as well as it has special features such as hypertext link to related information graphics, audio, video and animation. Online retrieval of information has become popular. These resources also offer benefits to libraries. Electronic information can provide a number of advantages over traditional print based sources. They open up the possibility of searching multiple files at one time. Through these resources a file can be accomplished more easily than using printed equivalents. One main advantage especially to distant learners or those who have limited time to access to the libraries is that they can effectively access to the libraries by dialing up process.
On-Demand availability
Cannot be lost, stolen and damaged
More than one user can use it simultaneously
Timely access
Access from anywhere any time
No physical space requirements
Any change in e-resources can be made available quickly
Customizable search interface
Easily transported
 
Disadvantages
 
E-Resource can be browsed in an electronic environment. It needs a computer, internet facilities to access online. If server goes down information is temporally lost. Even in the libraries once the subscription is cancelled access to archival is also lost. Therefore librarians should keep archival copies saved in different folder to access offline.
Lack of availability
Lack of accessibility
Usability Issues
Uneven Source Quality
Decreased Ease of use
 
Difference between Print and Electronic Information Resource
Print Resources
Electronic Information Resources
Non-interactive.
Interaction can be included.
Continuously presented.
Each document can be split into multiple hyper linked pages.
No links to further information except through the contents pages and index
Links can be provided to further information through hyper linking.
User training not required.
Basic training required to access information.
Technology independent.
Technology dependent.

 
Conclusion
The library is obviously the source of power of knowledge. In higher education and research, the use of library is a matter of concerns to students, teachers and researchers. The exponential growth of literature often creates problems for them to access appropriate literature and their use. The problem has, however, considerably been resolved with the help of information and communication technology (ICT). The use of information technology for management and handling of information and data has grown significantly even in many least developed countries and despite their economic constraints.
 Libraries provide a gateway to all kinds of information. Librarians-professional information managers, collect, classify, organize and provide access to information. Now ,the internet and www play an important role to disseminate vast amounts of information resources. Librarians also help to develop strategies for finding and using the most appropriate for research/ study.
 
Reference:
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