The library in the electronic age: holdings and access

Abstract

We are now in the period of the hybrid library which has a mixture of prinled and digital resources. With printed resources, the emphasis has been on helping users by holding information. With digital resources, the emphasis is on ensuring access. Progress in digitisation has so far affected journal content more than book content, and the reasons for this are discussed. Various developments in the digitisation of journal content are described and some of the emerging problems are identified and anaiysed. Librarians are seen as having a continuing role in identifying resources, which have the relevance of content and the high quality which their users wili continue to need.