Comparative Survey on Availability of E-Books from the Non-Available Print Books in Mysore University Library

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Introduction

Information technology has laid a big impact on education system. Higher education system has adopted state of the art educational technologies for teaching and learning and research purpose. In order cope up the pace of the emerging technologies, libraries have quickly adopted e-resources to their library and several other tools and technology to serve the user information needs. E-resources have become an inseparable part of the current educational system [1].

As per the literature study many surveys have been conducted to know the importance of print resources in the present digital world, Interestingly the studies show that though the usage of e-resources are optimized in the recent past but print resources have not lost its value and importance[2].

Gray in her study states that, as libraries have started to integrate e-books into their collections, they face new opportunities and challenges in acquiring, integrating and providing access to user. One of the challenges is that the books recommended by users often out of print/ supply, this is a short come even printed titles also [3]. Sometimes the updated or the next editions of the titles are released in e-book format is available before six month of their print equivalents. Of course, not all titles are available in e-book format.

In addition to the good old collection of print resources Mysore university library have housed various types of e-resources like e-books, e-journals, e-databases, inter linked hypertext documents, online help centers, expert’s views, video lessons, audio lessons etc. the total collection of print book of Mysore university library is 2.60 lakhs in titles and 35,720 e-books from various reputed international publishers to fulfill the educational and research needs of users as and when with the required format supporting higher education system [4].

Literature Review

Wells and Sallenbach in their research tested ALIA’s statement that ‘library print and e-book collections will establish 50:50 equilibrium by 2020’ [5]. The study emphasizes on many of the factors that acquisition of e-books are certain to continue by considering the factors such as immediate access, Technological change, budget etc. they have predicted that 2050 the book collection will be 80% or 90% electronic.

Shelburne opined that with the success of online journals and clear strengths of e-books lie in improved discovery and delivery, the convenience of 24 hour access from anywhere, the full text search functionality and portability and the study foresee that the transition from print books to electronic books could have been expected to be not far behind [6].

Wilson, et al. examined e-book and print book usage to determine the best way to allocate collection funds. They also conducted survey and circulation analysis to know the user’s preference. In their research they were unable to definitively state whether the library’s users prefer eBooks over print books.

Bunkell conducted a study to know whether e-books or print books have better value compared to each other. The researcher listed out the advantages of building e-books as opposed to print books [7]. Bunkell strongly believe that online books offer a substantially more cost effective and powerful solution than print books and generate more usage than print books.

Tripathi reports in his study the e-book subscription at the central library of Jawaharlal Nehru university, New Delhi. This study describes the various challenges faced by the university library [8]. On the basis of his work experience he is of the opinion that the print books are still cheaper than their electronic equivalents and showed concern towards the unavailability e-books of towards the required academic titles.

Yuan, et al. analyzed in their study the format preference of a scholarly monograph they have compared print and e-book usage patterns of identical titles. The research study was concluded that format does matter. The researchers have opined that it is desirable for libraries to provide both formats if possible.

Pandey, S. K. has opined that in the present situation it seems that there is no shortage of e-books in any discipline but finding the relevant titles as e-books is quite difficult. The researcher also express that the low availability of relevant e-books is one of the main issues for librarians building e-collections.

Walton and Bunderson investigate the relationship between librarians purchases and the actualpreferences of library patrons based on usage. They have suggested that to consider purchasingmore e-books for the library because print books are less likely to be used than their e-bookcounterparts.

Sarah conducted a study to identify e-book equivalents for print books acquired for an academic library’s collections and to know whether aggregator packages might be appropriate to replace or supplement print collections in business and nursing discipline collection of Adelphi university libraries. The result of the study confirms that less than one third of print books acquired for this library’s nursing and business collections have e-book equivalents available from aggregators.

Gray in her study listed out the challenges and opportunities faced by libraries to acquire e-books. The researcher is of the opinion that the library’s mission, budget constraint, user’s information need, reading format preference etc. play a major role in the development of the most effective e-book collection.

An academic library is a vital sub-unit in the assessment and overall evaluation of academic institution library provide vital support for the academic activities of an institution. NAAC highlighted in its manual that “A recent development in the field due to availability of digital means, the functioning of the library has undergone a drastic change. Automation of library using the ILMS, use of e-journals and books, providing remote access to e-resources in the library have become a matter of necessity [9]. Providing for these and such other developments as well as utilizing them well are important indicators of the quality of an academic institution”.

Objectives

•To examine the e-book collection in Mysore university library.

•To identify availability of e-books non available print books in recommended list.

•To study the value added services given by procuring e-books.

Discussion

Importance of e-resources

In today’s digital world, building electronic resources has become a fundamental and essential part for libraries. Electronic resources have gained its popularity because of the development of web 2.0 technology, leads to flexible access and the concept of open sources.

University and academic libraries are spending great portion of their budget to procure e-resources, this is because e-resources are equipped with powerful search and retrieval system which allows literature searches more effectively and efficiently. E-resources deliver more updated and relevant information resources through web. One of the reasons to procure electronic resources to the library is e-resources reach large number of users on campus and off campus without any time constraints when compared to print resources.

Importance of e-books

In the beginning stages libraries have opted for e–journals for its distinct features, as time advanced libraries started procuring e-books to fulfill the changing needs of the users. E-books make the learning process more interactive and engaging. E-books simplify and enhance the overall teaching and learning experience of students and teachers. Nowadays e-books in the format of Amazon Kindle, PDFs, international digital publishing forums, open e-books etc has started to take place of conventional printed books.

The advantage of an e-book is that it is accessible 24/7 remotely at any time. E-books are cost effective and are low maintenance by avoiding purchase of multiple copies of the same book and easy maintenance unlike printed books and user friendly for digitally born users. Generally the contents on the eBooks cloud based as a result the information in the e-books can be updated or add the up to date information and provide latest information to the users. Some e-books have features where text can be converted into audio which is particularly helpful for students with visually impairment and it also help the reader to know the pronunciation of a particular word and other features like hyperlinks, navigation etc. has popularized e-books in teaching and learning thus e-books have been recognized as having great potential to be an effective and efficient educational tool (Table 1).

Table 1: Distinguishing features of print books and e-books

Mysore university library print collection

The Mysore university library is one of the largest university libraries in the country. It has started functioning in the year 1918. it was originally established with a core collection of 2311 gift books which was housed in Jubilee building and later moved to Maharaja’s college campus and finally the library shifted to new building measuring 1,15,000 sq. feet in floor area with 1500 seating capacity at manasagangotri campus in 1965.

As of today the Mysore university library has a resource collection of nearly 7.5 lakh documents in its system and membership of 5600 users, which include 600 faculty members, 600 researchers, 3,500 PG students, 500 office Staff. The Mysore university library offers a collection of over 2,400 journal titles and 1 lakh volumes of journals.

The library has a rich collection of books relating to "history of Mysore" and administrative reports on the princely state of Mysore, including works on Indian painting, art and architecture. The library supports the oriental research institute, including manuscripts in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu manuscripts. There are around 100,000 manuscripts in the Oriental research institute part of Mysore university library. These manuscripts are written on relatively fragile paper and palm leaves, some dating back to the eighth century which includes subjects as diverse as Ayurveda, mathematics, medicine, science, astrology and economy.

Mysore university library E-book collection

During the last 10 years Mysore university library has gradually added e-books to its resource collection. The aim is to provide much richer resources, to reach wider audience and promoting teaching learning and research activity of the parent university. Along with subscribed e-books it provides access to e-books through UGC-INFLIBNET consortium and other open access e-books through Mysore university library web portal (Figure 1).

Mysore university library has subscribed e-books of different disciplines like science; social Science management etc. from the leading publishers likes springer, Taylor and Francis etc. The 24,460 e-book collection of Mysore university library can be accessed through perpetual access. As Mathews research article suggests Mysore university library has carefully built its e-book collection keeping the criteria like accuracy, comprehensiveness, currency, reliability, validity etc. and assessing collection value by customers.

Below is the list of titles Mysore university library has subscribed from various reputed international publishers (Table 2).

Figure 1: Mysore university library E-book collection

Table 2: Table describes about publishers and number of titles published.

E-book services in Mysore university library

Mysore university library has been rendering information services to the 85 PG departments,serving more than 1,20,000 UG, PG, M. Phil, and Ph.D students and faculty members of universityof Mysore with its print collection. As the research activity grows Mysore university library hasstarted acquiring e-resources also. Today Mysore university library is giving perpetual access to24,460 e-books from 11 leading publishers and enormous open access e-books through libraryweb portal. Library has a separate section DIRC (Digital Information Resources Centre) with 275desktop systems with internet browsing facility to access e-books and other information resources.Apart from the on campus service, Mysore university library has facilitated off campus access toe-resources through remote log software to ensure optimum use of e-resources.

Advantages of e-books in Mysore university library

•Mysore university library is equipped with powerful search and retrieval system(Knimbus).

•To reach large number of users through on campus/off campus 24/7 (Knimbus andRemotelog).

•User can download available e-books from the Mysore university library collection(Figures 2 and 3).

Figure 2: Off campus access through remotelog

Figure 3: Knimbus- digital library platform

Value added services

Along with providing e-book service Mysore university library regularly conducts interactive and engaging orientation programmer/user education programmer for students on how to access e-books, downloading formalities (PDF, e-pub), copy right issue, citation of e-books etc. Along with such programme Mysore university library also conducts workshops on literature survey, information retrieval, use of databases etc. to the user community. Mysore university library also facilitates integration of full text search with other search capabilities which allows users to search library collection more comprehensively and helping to access more digital collection freely available in the world, which is also one of the value added service Mysore university library is offering to its users.

Availability of E-books from recommended non available print books

Mysore university library being an academic library dedicate itself for the advancement of knowledge, promoting information search skills and providing need based state of the art services towards the academic success research excellence and life long learning process of its community giving seamless access to all the branches of scholarship available in both physical and electronic formats to support academic and research activities of the university.

Once the Mysore university library procure books to its collection by following strategy of cross examining the e-books collection before going to the process of procuring print books to avoid the collection of duplication. The collection development policy includes procuring of those books that has been recommended by the respective head of the respective department.

Out of the recommended print books list, the books those are not available from the publishers are made to search/ trace in the e-books collection developed in the Mysore university library. If the requested information is not available in the print books format the user needs was tried to fulfill in e-book format.

Hence a survey has been made to check the recommended list of print books is available from the publishers/vendor (Table 3). The books which are non-available in the print format have been made to trace whether are available in the e-books collection of Mysore university library.

Table 3: E-books collection of Mysore university library.

The above table depicts that out of 48,506 recommendations received from the head of the departments of the various respective department, 48,253 books have been procured. The remaining 253 books are not available in print format but have been traced in e-books from e-books collection of Mysore university library and out of 253 non available print books 166 (i.e. 65.61%) books were available in e-books format.

Conclusion

Mysore university library is a hybrid library providing both traditional information services with growing number of e-resources and services with the collection of more than 35 thousand e-books, rendering e-books service to the users. E-books has its own advantage over print books like single e-books for multiple access, access to revised and updated editions, they are never lost, easilyportable, timely access etc. As far as the print books is concerned it has also has its own emphasislike it works anywhere, anytime, no need to battery, charges and internet connections etc. Anyinformation resources have a special and important value of its own by giving/ renderinginformation or knowledge. For quick access we depend on internet to enhance knowledge readbooks.

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