The use of electronic documents in libraries

Abstract

Librarians are finding it increasingly difficult to acquire and to make available to their users the full rangé of information in print form that they require. At the same time electronic information products and services are appearing at a rapidly increasingrate. Users find them attractive and use them more heavily than print sources. Consequently, librarians in response to the demands of their users, and overwhelmed by the problems posed by print pub-lications, are increasingfy making electronic sources available. This paper describes the nature of the problems posed by print publications and trends involving the use of electronic documents in libraries. It discusses the viability of electronic documents as arternatives to print collections. It also describes a study that the IFLA Information Technology Section has undertaken to assess how rapidly libraries are adopting alternatives to locally held, print sources.