E-Resources Practice at Some Leading Private University Libraries in Bangladesh: User Attitude Survey Towards Digital Bangladesh

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nasiruddin, Md. | Habibul Islam, Md. | Nazmul Islam, Md.

Affiliations: Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi - 6205, Bangladesh. E-mail: mitulnasiruddin@gmail.com, nasirislm@ru.ac.bd, habibul77@hotmail.com

Abstract: Traditional approach is not able to affirm by large in context of attracting users towards libraries of Bangladesh. As a consequence, large number of users are decreasing day by day from the academic libraries of Bangladesh. Academic libraries play an important role in establishing a research- and knowledge-based society by improving the quality of education. Electronic resources and services are becoming more integral parts of the collection, certainly in academic libraries. But unfortunately, the migrations of hardcopies to e-resources are going very slowly in most of the university libraries of Bangladesh. As of today, Bangladesh has 78 Private University Libraries (UGC 2012). These are not able to act as an exact academic and research library. So the question that arises is: why are these libraries in Bangladesh not able to perform their noble roles? The main objective of the study is to conduct a user survey to assess their awareness on e-resources in some potential private university libraries of Bangladesh. It will also extricate the cause of decrease in the number of users. The learning outcomes of the survey will encourage the authorities of the private universities and other relevant policy-makers in Bangladesh to formulate a strategic plan for collecting and using e-resources to implement the government vision 2021 to make Digital Bangladesh.

Keywords: E-resources, Private University Libraries, E-journal, ICT in Academic Libraries, Digital Bangladesh

DOI: 10.3233/WDL-120092

Journal: World Digital Libraries - An international journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 71-82, 2012