Managerial Perspective of E-Resources in Academic Libraries

The rapid increase of e-resources together with several value-based applications has been gradually superseding the traditional means of communication in almost all parts of the world. The transformation enforced government-funded consortia to build ICT environments in academic institutions and created a pressing demand on the libraries for increasing their acquisitions. The bundled (packages) resources available to libraries through several means are raising issues about their usefulness, real benefit as per user’s preferences, and also the usage. Issues of the kind invariably require thought, exceptional policy decisions, and implementing standard procedures for the optimum utilization of expensive resources and their management. The chapter discusses the features of e-resources, challenges encountered by the library administrators, the existing and innovative practices in their evaluation and organization, while highlighting the supporting technologies and integrated management tools emerging as per the latest requirements of academic institutions.