Collection Management of e-: A Developing Country Perspective

Abdul Waheed Chief Librarian, Government College University, Lahore E-mail: [email protected]

World Digital Libraries 5(1): 37–49

Abstract This paper attempts to discuss key issues surrounding the collection management of electronic books (e-books) with a developing country perspective. The libraries have witnessed the emergence of e-books in recent years by major publishers and content providers. With the expansion of , research and academic libraries have started to complement their print holdings with electronic publications. The market for electronic publication seems to be in constant change and collection developers and acquisition managers, especially in libraries, fi nd themselves disillusioned as new methods of electronic publishing and accessing are emerging. Libraries are in a transition period from conventional to digital formats and have not yet developed common practices and traditions on policy for digital material. The paper discussed the evolution, chronology, collection development, evaluation, delivery, and archiving of e-books. It focuses on contemporary management from the perspective of a librarian concerned with Collection Management. Status of e-books collection of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan’s Program (HEC-DLP), a milestone project in the scholastic history of the country, has also been discussed. Moreover, some practical steps for local creation of e-books have been proposed. The paper concludes by highlighting major challenges faced by libraries in collection management and management of e-books. The paper is an outcome of the review of published literature in the reputed LIS journals on the topic, and writer’s 20 years’ fi rst hand experience of administrating the prestigious academic libraries including the oldest Punjab University and modern GC University Lahore.

Key Words: Electronics Books; Collection Management; Academic Libraries; Developing Countries; Pakistan. 38 Abdul Waheed

1. Introduction Library collection management is further sub- divided into diverse areas, such as acquisitions, During the last three decades various terms technical processing, usage and making (selection, acquisition, collection building, available the archiving of publications. collection development, and collection With the advancement in Information management) have been used to denote and Communication Technology (ICT), the knowledge acquisition and information sources difference between various groups in collection in the libraries. During 1980s, the terms management department is in its last leg, and collection development (CD) and collection work-areas happen to be all the time more management (CM) were used synonymously. inter-dependent. Electronic publishing has However, since 1990s, the literature presented opened up new possibilities for business, different aspects of these two terms because research, and scholarship. With the expansion of the adoption of technological applications of electronic publishing, research and academic in the libraries (Ameen, 2004). A detailed libraries have started to complement their defi nition presented in ‘International print holdings with electronic publications. Encyclopedia of Information and Library These changeovers commence with scientifi c Science’ is as follows: journals, and are now advancing into academic and scholarly books, as well. In the past few “CM is a broad term that has replaced years, corporate and government libraries have the narrower ‘collection building’ and also begun acquiring e-books along with print ‘collection development’ of former holdings. The market for electronic publication decades…it thus encompasses the seems to be in constant change and collection activities traditionally associated with developers and acquisition managers, especially collection development—the selection and in libraries, fi nd themselves disillusioned as new acquisition of library material—but is also methods of electronic publishing and accessing far more comprehensive; it also includes are emerging. Libraries are in a transition the systematic maintenance of library’s period from conventional to digital formats and collection, covering resource allocation, have not yet developed common practices and technical processing, preservation and traditions on policy for digital material. storage, weeding and discarding of stock, and the monitoring and encouragement of collection use”. (Feather, et al., eds., 2003, 2. Definition of the e- p. 81) Nelson (2008) has defi ned an e-book as, ‘an electronic book that can be read digitally on Hence, Collection Management (CM) may a computer screen, a special e-book reader, be considered as ‘a strategy and a process to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or even settle on what to purchase’; ‘a technique to a mobile phone. In other words, e-books are choose materials for purchase’; ‘estimation consumed on a screen rather than on paper’. of what to select or retain based upon Wikipedia defi nes e-book as ‘an e-text that worth, usage, cost effectiveness, support of forms the digital media equivalent of organizational mission, and quality of access’; a conventional printed book, often protected ‘assessment of how selected materials are used with a digital rights management system’. through user input and response’; ‘budget General and specialized are two kinds of e-books. and funding strategies’; ‘marketing strategies The examples of these two are ‘netLibrary’ or and setting of mission, goals, and objectives’. ‘ebrary’ and ‘Books 24X7’, ‘Knovel’.

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 Collection Management of E-Books: A Developing Country Perspective 39

3. Evolution of E-books (1996) has given a reference of an article written by Lancaster titled ‘The Evolution of Electronic A huge amount of articles about development Publishing’ (Library Trends, Spring, 1995). of e-books is available in LIS literature. Sinha Lancaster notes that ‘electronic publishing can (2008) traced a brief overview on the evolution be considered to have evolved gradually over a of e-books. She described that in the early 90s, period of about thirty years, the evolution having electronic content became popular as publishers the following manifestations: sent print books accompanied by fl oppy disks 1 Use of computers to generate conventional or CD-ROMs. These added value for students print-on-paper publications; and researchers but caused numerous problems 2 The distribution of text in electronic form, for libraries, from processing to circulation. where the electronic version is the exact Ultimately, such issues became doubtful since equivalent of a paper version and maybe used most librarians were double minded that to generate the paper version; these formats would endure for scientifi c and 3 Distribution in electronic form only but with scholarly content. With web-based access, the publication being little more than print on however, it is rare to fi nd a library that does paper displayed electronically. Nevertheless, not have signifi cant numbers of electronic it may have various ‘value added’ features, resources even as it continues to build its print including search, data manipulation, collections. Over the last 15 years or so, both and alerting (through profi le matching) content providers and libraries have overcome, capabilities; or at least learned to deal with, the many 4 The generation of completely new challenges e-books present in terms of publications that exploits the true capabilities pricing, licensing, access, and workfl ow. The of electronics. electronic book, however, in many respects, seems to be more problematic, and more At present, it is safe to say that all four modes diffi cult to incorporate into library collections of operation are being employed, and experts and processes. are experiencing the number 3 and 4 modes of The history of electronic publishing dates operations. back to six decades. One of the fi rst non-military The International Digital Publishing Forum applications of the computer technology took (IDPF) reports that wholesale trade e-book sales place with the project of Faher Roberto Busa on in the United States have increased from $1.6 the works of St Thomas Aquinas. The American million in 2002 to $11.6 million by the second Chemical Society began alerting scholars to new quarter of 2008 (IDPF, 2008). Outside the US, developments through electronic means as far as an example, the Digital Content Association back as 1962. In 1971, MEDLINE was launched of Japan (DCAJ) reported that sales of electronic and issued its fi rst electronic books increased almost 70% from 2005 to 2006 text of ‘The Declaration of Independence’. In (Anime News Network, 2007). The e-brary 1970s the large business organizations that management conducted an international e-book focused on electronic publications came to the survey in the spring of 2007 to know the e-books fore. Dialog and ORBIT emerged in 1972 while subscription by libraries. The survey results LEXIS in 1973. Since then digital products have showed that out of 552 libraries, 88% owned or mushroomed throughout the world. subscribed to e-books, with 63% responding that In 1990s, for the fi rst time it became cheaper they owned or subscribed to over 1,000 e-books to publish a reference book on CD-ROM than it (Mullarkey, 2007). did in print format (Lee & Boyle, 2004). Meyers

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 40 Abdul Waheed

4. Chronology of e-books 2008 P Wikipedia (2011) described the following history Adobe and Sony agreed to share their of e-books: technologies (Reader and DRM). P 1971: Michael S. Hart launches the Gutenberg Sony sells the PRS-505 in UK Project. and France. P Books on board is fi rst to sell e-books for iPhones. 1993 P Zahur develops the fi rst software to read 2009 digital books. Digital Book v.1 and the fi rst P Bookeen releases the Opus in the US e-book published is ‘On Murder’ considered and Europe. as one of the Fine Arts (Thomas de Quincey). P Sony releases the Reader Pocket Edition and P Digital Book offers the fi rst 50 e-books in a Reader Touch Edition. Floppy disk with Digital Book Format (DBF). P releases Kindle2. P Bibliobytes, a project of free digital books P Amazon releases Kindle DX in the US and online in Internet. others. 1995: Amazon starts to sell physical books in internet. 2010 1996: The Project Gutenberg reached 1,000 P Amazon releases Kindle DX International titles. The target is 1,000,000 edition worldwide. P Bookeen reveals the Cybook Orizo at CES.[26] 1998 P TurboSquid magazine announces fi rst P Launched the fi rst e-book Readers: Rocket magazine publication using Apple’s iTunes LP e-book and Soft book. format, however, this project was cancelled P Websites selling e-books in english, before it reached the market. P Apple releases the iPad with an e-book app 1999: Like eReader.com y eReads.com. called iBooks. Between its release in April 2010 2000: Stephen King offers his book ‘Riding to October, Apple had sold 7 million . Bullet’ in digital fi le; it only can be read in P Kobo Inc. releases its Kobo eReader to be sold computer. at Indigo/Chapters in Canada and Borders in 2001: Open ‘Todoebook.com’ the fi rst website the United States. selling e-books in Spanish. P Amazon.com reported that its e-book sales 2002: Random House and HarperCollins start outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the to sell digital versions of their titles in fi rst time ever during the second quarter of English 2010. 2005: Amazon bought Mobi-pocket like P Amazon releases the third generation kindle, strategic positioning. available in 3G+Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi versions. 2006 P Kobo Inc. releases an updated Kobo eReader P Sony presents the Sony Reader with e-ink. which now includes Wi-Fi. P Libre Digital launched Book Browse as an P Barnes and Noble releases the new online reader for publisher content. NOOKcolor. P Sony releases its second generation Daily 2007: Amazon launched Kindle in US. Edition PRS-950.

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 Collection Management of E-Books: A Developing Country Perspective 41

P PocketBook expands its successful line of required to establish a budget and maintain e-readers in the ever-growing market. record of funds. The cost to acquire and process P Google launches Google . of resources including the technology costs to provide access (e.g., network requirements, local 2011 portal interface, workstations, and bandwidth) P Barnes and Noble releases the new Nook - shall be considered at this stage. The Simple Touch Reader. P Amazon.com announces in May that its e-book 5.2. Awareness of publication sales now exceed all of its printed book sales. With new websites being announced each P Bookeen launches its own e-books store: day, it can be diffi cult to stay informed about BookeenStore.com and starts to sell digital available resources on the Internet. So one of the versions of its titles in French. most obvious problem with regard to e-books’ P Nature Publishing publishes Principles of collection development is awareness on daily basis Biology, a customizable, modular textbook, of what is available is sometimes very diffi cult. with no corresponding paper edition. Therefore, annotated lists of new electronic P The e-reader market grows up in Spain and publications and information resources by subject companies like Telefonica, Fnac and Casa del librarian are integral and highly appreciated. Libro (the most important Spanish bookshop) launches their e-readers with the Spanish 6. Evaluation of e-books brandbq reader. E-books must be evaluated with respect to the following technical features and usability aspects: 5. Collection development of e-books in libraries 6.1. Technical implications E-Book acquisition continues to increase, though E-books should be usable with widely available most libraries agree that it will be many years, if software like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox ever, before their collections become electronic etc. If special hardware or proprietary software only. However libraries are committed to a is required, like in Ebrary or Taylor and Francis long-term electronic goal only. Towards that e-books, you need user’s training to use this end, they do not acquire print copies parallel special software for accessing e-books. to the electronic versions, except in cases where users explicitly demand print copies. There are a 6.2. Technical standards number of sites published primarily by libraries Standards for setting up and maintaining or library organizations that are intended to aid e-resources are evolving and should be applied in acquisitions and collection development work. to e-books in order to allow seamless inter- Many library experts like Uta (1998), Herzog connection with other information systems (2004), Armstrong (2005) and Twiss-Brooks and to be prepared for technological changes. (2007), discussed collection development issues Standardized Location Description (SLD), and challenges about e-books in detail. Uta metadata (for describing the e-books), and emphasized a clear collection development policy archiving (to guarantee future access) are the for e-books. He has listed the following steps of required areas for standardization. collection development process as under: 6.3. Accuracy and currency of 5.1. Budget and funds maintenance To make a decision about the subscription The provider of e-books must be well- renewal or cancellation of the e-books, it is maintained and should update his website

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 42 Abdul Waheed regularly. Long-term commitment regarding the publication? Can the publication be used maintenance of the offered e-books is a critical for inter-library loan? Will the ‘fair use’ concept selection criterion for the acquisition librarians. be adhered to? Will the publication be archived and if so, who will be responsible for archiving 6.4. Usage conditions it, librarians or vendors? Is future access to titles In process of selection of e-books, we should published during the subscription period covered review the usage conditions carefully. by the agreement even if a subscription has been Unacceptable restrictions like no facility of cancelled in the meantime? downloading books or time limit selection for reading of e-books can prevent libraries from 6.9. Costs buying or subscribing to collection of e-books. Libraries may have an option to choose among During the selection process priority must be various pricing models based on different access given to common as well as potential users. conditions (number of simultaneous users, total number of logins etc.). Access through library 6.5. Prioritization of the publication consortia seems to be an advantageous solution. Among the available collection of e-books, In addition, the costs involved in e-books are not we must select the collection according to limited to the obvious access fee, be it through information needs of our library users. subscription rates, on a pay-per-view basis, or through consortia. A reliable and fast internet 6.6. Purchasing/subscribing to the connection with standard telecommunications publication infrastructure is required to keep up with the Obtaining e-books is much more complex than rising demand. the purchasing of printed books. Access and usage conditions can vary for different publishers 7. Processing of e-books and vendors. A number of issues need to be The cataloging of the e-books is the main considered. point of consideration while subscribing or purchasing e-books. In order to use e-books, 6.7. Access conditions they must be retrievable through well-known Librarians must be aware that ‘obtaining e-book information sources like library catalogues. It or e-books’ usually means leasing access rights for would be most effi cient to use existing library a given time rather than obtaining physical items. procedures to create catalogue records. As is At the end of a leasing period, libraries may be left the case with print publications, catalog entries without anything. Future access to these e-books for electronic documents must correspond with will depend on the way the librarian archived existing cataloging formats, for instance MARC, and made it accessible to his/her users. Archiving Dublin Core and AACR2 etc. E-books should should be done by institutions with long-term contain the standard bibliographic details commitment to this issue, and librarians should which are typically found on the title page of advocate a stable and reliable solution. print publications (author, title, publication date, etc.) as well as descriptions of the content 6.8. Usage conditions (keywords, thesaurus terms, etc.). In addition Attention should be paid to the following to formal and contents-related data, catalog questions while reviewing the agreement about entries for electronic documents must contain the use of e-books: How are ‘use’ and ‘user’ information regarding the network address defi ned in the agreement? Will librarians be (or network name) of the e-publication, the held accountable for how users use (or misuse) mode of access (via WWW, gopher, telnet,

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 Collection Management of E-Books: A Developing Country Perspective 43 etc.), required tools (necessary hardware and Archiving e-books software), information on access rights and The topic of archiving e-books still bears more any bar required as per copyright rules. During questions than answers. Up to now, it has not assigning metadata applications, one must been decided who is or will be responsible for ensure that information about the document archiving, what exactly shall be archived, and is available to end-users. The examples of where the archived material will be stored. It can metadata systems is the Dublin Core set of be assumed that solutions will vary largely in metadata. different countries. 8. Delivery of the e-books to the As electronic media can be changed more reader easily than documents on paper, they are more vulnerable than print publications. Archival Typically, printed books still receive more data for electronic publications therefore must attention in our libraries than their counterpart’s include the following information (Garrett and e-books. How can we announce, present and Waters 1996): promote e-books? For those libraries equipped P Content of e-books (i.e., the information with a web-based catalog, an obvious solution contained) is to use the MARC 856 tag to include a P Fixity (content stored in a medium as publication’s network address. Users will then be opposed to continuously able to directly ‘click through’ to an e-book after updated ``dynamic’’ documents) having retrieved the catalog entry. The library P Reference (reliable systems for locating a nd may also decide to create a web page that lists citing) e-books, preferably by title, author, or editor P Provenance (a record of the document’s rather than by publisher as most users hardly origin and chain of custody) ever remember which publisher issues which P Context (links within a document and/or publication. The availability of newly acquired between various sources) e-books can be announced in the ‘New Arrival P Many institutions are trying to fi nd or News’ section of the library’s web or appropriate answers to the question of how distributed to users by e mail. e-books can be prepared today for the (still unknown) technology of tomorrow. In this 8.1. Monitoring usage of the publication context, we need to address the uncertain In order to monitor the actual usage, librarians durability and future availability of current should have access to statistics collected by storage media like CD-ROM and magnetic publishers. Small numbers may indicate that tape and the respective reading devices. users do not need the resource, or that they Deterioration of the storage media is a distinct are not yet suffi ciently aware of its existence. problem, but an even greater danger lies in Large numbers can help librarians to justify the foreseeable technological obsolescence of expenditure on a given resource as well as to the equipment needed to use their content. argue for more funding. As evolving technologies do not necessarily replace previous ones, libraries theoretically 8.2. Subscription renewal or have to provide all kinds of reading devices in cancellation parallel and incomplete task. On the basis of data collected from the publishers or e-books vendors, the decision about the It is crucial for all libraries as well as renewal or cancellation of subscription may be information users that access to e-books is made by the library acquiring e-books for its users. guaranteed over time. As archiving e-books is

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 44 Abdul Waheed a very expensive undertaking, small libraries University’s LANs. Some universities have probably will not have suffi cient funds to initiated digital project using PDF. continue archiving publications as they have Until the Collection Management policies of done in the print environment. National libraries universities are not fi nalized and implemented are possible candidates for becoming archiving completely, the following steps may be taken as institutions, probably in collaboration with the fi rst step for local creation of e-books. publishers or vendors. For instance, national library of Pakistan could act as mirror sites as 10.1 Dissertations long as a given publisher/vendors still maintains Mainly those written in Oriental languages, the e-books. In case the publisher disappears, because currently no system exists in this part the national library could solely take over of world through which a scholar can check the responsibility in order to guarantee future access. duplication. Such a system may be established on the pattern of DELNET. DELNET was started 10. Possibility of e-books creation in at the India International Centre Library in Pakistan January 1988 and was registered as a society in Higher Education Commission of Pakistan 1992. It was initially supported by the National started National Digital Library programme Information System for Science and Technology in February, 2004. The databases were mostly (NISSAT), Department of Scientifi c and focused on science and technology, and Industrial Research, Government of India. included peer reviewed journals and abstracting services. Other resources included subject and DELNET has been established with the major multidisciplinary databases, resources in social goal of promoting resource sharing among the sciences and humanities. HEC also launched libraries developing a network of libraries. It aims e-brary and McGraw Hill Collections to provide to collect, store, and disseminate information 45,000 online books. The e-books support besides offering computerized services to users, programme allowed researchers to access most to coordinate efforts for suitable collection of the important text and reference books development. It has been actively engaged with electronically in a variety of subject areas. It the compilation of various Union Catalogues mentions that ‘the budget allocation for the of the resources available in member-libraries. HECDLP has doubled after each fi nancial It has already created the Union Catalogue year and the total amount for 2005-06 is Rs. of Books, Union List of Current Periodicals, 200,000,000 for Pakistan (approximately US Union Catalogue of Periodicals, CD-ROM $3,278,688) and 5% of the budget is allocated Database, Database of Indian Specialists, for technical support’. Database of Periodical Articles, Union List of The full text availability of HEC e-books is Video Recordings, Urdu Manuscripts’ Database, not user friendly. It is very hectic for readers to Database of Thesis and Dissertations, sample read the e-books. It is also not possible for them databases of language publications using GIST to take print or save the same in PDF or HTML technology and several other databases. The data format. If we compare the issue with traditional is being updated in each of these databases and books we may conclude that reading e-book is growing rapidly. In this context, DELNET is provided by HEC is time consuming, as only very much fruitful. It not only provides access some pages may be downloaded at one time. In to bibliographic information but also avoids no way can the users open any chapter directly. duplication of effort. At times print facility is not made available. Higher Education Commission of Pakistan is The download facility is available only on the the authorized funding institute in Pakistan to

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 Collection Management of E-Books: A Developing Country Perspective 45 grant funds to the universities. It should provide low cost. However, in this category of books fair- maximum funds to the varsities of Pakistan use approach as per provisions of copyright law so that they may digitize their collections for of Pakistan shall be observed. the feasibility of library clients. HEC may also Government College University (GCU) establish a union catalogue of all important Lahore recently completed a digital project libraries collections of Pakistan to meet the of 4000 letters written by different literary challenges of the present age that is the age of personalities. Digitization of The Ravi through Information and Communication Technologies Green Stone software is also in progress. History (ICTs). In this context, African Journals Online of Govt. College Lahore 1864-1964 has been is a fi ne example that may be followed by HEC shaped into digital form. However it is available Pakistan to provide an easy access to all library with contents in PDF format. We are of the clients. Recently, HEC has uploaded about four view at GCU to use open standards (HTML, thousand dissertations in its website to provide ASCII, JPEG, PNG, XML, etc.), as the library an easy access to researchers to complete their aims to make information available to the widest research projects but there is also a dire need audience possible. At this stage there is a dire to establish a Union Catalogue on the pattern need to develop growing network/consortia of DELNET so that literary works may also be among the universities. maintained side by side with the uploading of thesis and dissertations. By Union Catalogue, 11. Major Challenges duplication of work and plagiarism may also be As awareness and sale of e-books mark a prevented and research culture may fl ourish. signifi cant escalation, challenges for all kinds of libraries abound, price of e-books is an overriding 10.2. Rarely held materials factor in making decisions pertaining to Collection A large number of books available in the libraries Management no matter whether they are of public sector universities have been written purchased as collections or title by title. Libraries, in Urdu, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit etc. which are in a process of transformation, bear the which were published before 1900. Many titles brunt more than those who have already put into published in English may be considered in this practice policies that do not consent selectors to category. After digitization, many titles may be replicate formats, purchasing the e-book, and exchanged with the libraries of western countries. print book of the same title. A few e-book platforms have been set-up 10.3. Unique manuscripts in recent past which are user-friendly. Yet the Many manuscripts written in Arabic and cardinal quandary remains unaddressed i.e., Persian languages may be exchanged with there are too many platforms to choose from. Arab countries and Iran. More than twenty It poses a serious challenge at the phase of thousand manuscripts are available only in the short-listing the required platforms. While it is University of the Punjab Library, Lahore. Many imperative to focus on subject-matter, libraries public libraries also have a similar number of are restricted in their choice of e-book titles on manuscripts. account of the platform or aggregator they may have earlier chartered. A sole and effortless access 10.4. Miscellaneous model for e-books is also considered necessary, The libraries of various universities may also particularly for the aggregators who have a digitize books recommended for higher degrees single-user or two-user models. As far as libraries courses. The process will not only preserve the are concerned, such options are unfeasible valuable books but also be helpful for users on since they rout the rationale of online access to

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 46 Abdul Waheed subject-matter. Such restrictions are essentially relatively market-oriented approach in evaluating retrogressive in the sense that they date back information resources has been adopted on to the early days of electronic resources when account of the electronic environment. Librarians content providers deemed it mandatory for users can decide from among an assortment of access to be actually present in a library since it was not conditions while dealing with e-publications. This possible for users to access content in a library newly found elasticity paves way for an extremely from their desktop across the lane or in a remote augmented liability for the individual librarian. part of the world. While it is imperative to discover exclusive A large variety of price and purchase models solutions, we ought to prevail over our isolation, offered by publishers and e-book aggregators have and engage in a discourse with our colleagues so weighed down the libraries. While they prefer to as to gain knowledge of other methods to manage be the sole owners of their purchased materials, a swiftly shifting information environment. We the publishers and aggregators offer numerous can benefi t from the solutions our contemporaries choices including subscription or lease, purchase have already practiced. It will also enable us to to own, perpetual access, where ‘perpetual’ is to cleave to a stronger position while negotiating be determined by the publisher. There are chances with vendors and publishers. Joint efforts can reap that the access could be denied utterly if e-books better dividends in case we put into operation get removed from an aggregator platform, in case user-friendly access conditions. publishers set their mind to it. As a fi nal point, Scores of matters pertaining to electronic while moveable readers grow to be all the rage, publishing still require thrashing out. Most libraries have to determine the role they have publishers have not yet given up trying out to perform in academic, specialized, and other promising solutions. Thus, they are keen to lend libraries. Per chance these are most well-matched a hand to librarians. It can only be helpful for for public libraries but readers expect to have the entire community of information providers, access to scholarly and technical book material on mediators, and users, if e-books are dealt with their PDAs, Blackberries and cellphones. One such thoughtfully. example is found in Japan where mobile phone Inclusion of e-books as an essential part of e-book sales shot up to more than 300% in 2006 library collections has turned out to be quite with no indications of a downward trend. (Anirne benefi cial in recent years. Whereas libraries were News Network, 2007). So far as the aggregator initially skeptical about the utility and desirability platforms are concerned, the interest of authors, of this format for library users, and were publishers, or those producing devices on long reluctant to relinquish Collection Management term basis will not be served by limiting e-book activities to publishers and aggregators offering content to specifi c devices. Unrestricted access E-book collections, libraries are more frequently ought to be the goal; devices must not limit as to engaged in appraising print and electronic books which book readers need to access or not. simultaneously for developing subject collections. Now that the publishers offer the electronic 12. Conclusion editions alongwith print editions, the task to E-books have a bearing on all spheres of develop e-libraries has become easier. Now-a- library management, and traditional collection days, vendors - in partnership with publishers and management should be improved to stay valuable. e-book aggregators - distribute electronic books by It is not possible to adopt a uniform set of rules regulating and boosting their existing operations pertaining to electronic publications which can be and services to accommodate this new format equally applicable to all libraries; each librarian has rather than the previous practice according to to fi nd indigenous way to facilitate local users. A which they traditionally distributed print books

World Digital Libraries 5 (1): 37–49 Collection Management of E-Books: A Developing Country Perspective 47 via approval plans and direct orders. Does it imply Carr R. (2001), “Towards the Hybrid Library: The that with these recent managements in the realm National Perspective in the UK”, paper presented of electronic books and an increasing number at the MALIBU Conference, King’s College of options for libraries the printed books will London, available at: www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ no longer be in vogue? Certainly not. Electronic librarian/malibu2001/malibu2001.htm (accessed books merely offer an alternative. They cannot April 2006), Carol Ann Hughes and Nancy L. swap print book collection entirely. In fact, Buchanan, “Use of Electronic Monographs in the e-books fulfi ll the needs of some users and are Humanities and Social Sciences,” Library Hi Tech suitable in a few situations and disciplines 19, 4 (2001): 368–75. but not all. As in the past, libraries and librarians will go on responding to the wants and needs Carol Tenopir, Brenda Hitchcock, and Ashley of their users, offering an array of resources in Pillow, Use and Users of Electronic Library manifold formats. Resources: An Overview and Analysis of Recent Research Studies (Washington, D.C.: Council on References/Bibliography Library and Information Resources, 2003), http:/ Alexandros Koulouris and Sarantos Kapidakis. www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub120/contents.html (2005) “Policy Model for University Digital Clifford Lynch, “The Battle to Defi ne the Future Collections.” http://www.springerlink.com/ of the Book in the Digital World,” First Monday content/4j2th7rym9xwrw09/fulltext. 6, 6 (2001), http://www.fi rstmonday.org/issues/ Ameen, K. (2005), “Philosophy and framework issue6_6/lynch/index.html (accessed March 28, of Collection Management and its application in 2006). University Libraries of Pakistan: an appraisal”, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Christopher C. Brown, reference coordinator, the Punjab, Lahore. recently gathered statistics about usage of Ameen, K. (2008) “Issues of Book Acquisition in electronic government documents cataloged in University Libraries: A Case Study of Pakistan.” Penrose Library’s OPAC. See Christopher C. Library Philosophy and Practice 2008. http:// Brown, “Knowing Where They’re Going: Statistics www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/ameen.pdf for Online Government Document Access through the OPAC,” Online Information Review 28, 6 AnimeNewsNetwork (2008) “Report: Japan (2004): 396–409. Bought 331% More Books On Phones in 2006.” http://www.animenewsnetwork. Christopher C. Brown and Elizabeth S. Meagher, comlnews!2007-08-08/report-japan-bought-33 1 metadata and materials processing librarian, -percent-more- books-on-phones-in-2006 are preparing for publication an article on the Armstrong, C, Lonsdale, Ray (2005). “Challenges process of gathering usages statistics for free in Managing e-books in UK Academic Libraries.” online resources through the library’s OPAC. Library Collections Acquisition & Technical Services. 29 (33-50) Charlene M. Baldwin, Steve Mitchell (1996) “Collection Issues and Overview”. http://www. California State University Electronic Access to library.ucsb.edu/untangle/baldwin.html. Information Resources Committee, E-book Task Force, “e-Book Project Final Report. Section Chris Armstrong, Louise Edwards, and Ray 8.2. Analysis of the Use of e-Books as Compared Lonsdale, “Virtually There? E-Books in UK to Print,” http://seir.calstate.edu/ebook/about/ Academic Libraries,” Program: Electronic Library report/section_8-2.shtml and Information Systems 36, 4 (2002): 216–27.

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California State University Electronic Access to Hernon, P., et.al. (2007). E-book use by students: Information Resources Committee, E-book Task undergraduates in economics, literature, and Force, “e-Book Project Final Report. Section 8.3. nursing. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Results of netLibrary E-Book User Survey,” http:// 33(1), 3-13. seir.calstate.edu/ebook/about/report/section_8-3. Herzog, Susan (2004) “Collection Development shtml (accessed March 28, 2005); Marc Langston, Challenges for the 21st Century Academic “The California State University E-Book Pilot Librarian”, The Acquisitions Librarian,16:31, Project: Implications for Cooperative Collection 149 –162 Development,” Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 27, 1 (2003): 19–32. International Digital Publishing Forum (2008) “Wholesale E-book Sales Statistics.” http://www. Crawford, W. (1999), “Being Analog: Creating idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm Tomorrow’s Libraries”, American Library Association, Chicago, IL, Justin Littman and Lynn Silipigni Connaway, “A Circulation Analysis of Print Books and E-Books in Dennis Dillon, “E-Books: The University of an Academic Research Library,” Library Resources Texas Experience,” Library Hi Tech 19, 4 (2001): & Technical Services 48, 4 (2004): 256–62. 350–62. See also Dennis Dillon, “E-Books: The UT–Austin Experience,” Texas Library Journal 76, Lesley Nelson and Frances O’Neil, “Electronic 3 (2000): 112–15; Diana Ramirez and Suzanne Monographs in the Academic Library: An D. Gyeszly, “netLibrary: A New Direction in Implementation Story,” LASIE: Information Collection Development,” Collection Building 20, Bulletin of the Library Automated Systems 4 (2001): 154–64. Information Exchange 32, 2/3 (2001): 19. Dinkelman, A. et al., (2007) “Accessing E-books Lee, S. D., & Boyle, F. (2004). “Building an through Academic Library Web Sites,” College & Electronic Resource Collection” (2nd ed.). London: Research Libraries, v.68, no.1, pp.45-48 Facet publishing. Mary Summerfi eld, Carol A. Mandel, and Paul Safl ey, E., (2006) “Demand for E-books in Kantor, “On-Line Books at Columbia: Early an Academic Library,” Journal of Library Findings on Use, Satisfaction, and Effect,” in Administration, v.45, no. 3/4, pp.445-457 Technology and Scholarly Communication, Evans, G., Saponaro, M.Z. (2005), “Developing ed. Richard Ekman and Richard E. Quandt Library and Information Center Collections”, 5th (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), ed., Libraries Unlimited, Englewood, CO, 282–308; Summerfi eld, Mandel, and Kantor, “Perspectives on Scholarly Online Books: The Garrett, J. & Waters, D., 1996, “Preserving Digital Columbia University Online Books Evaluation Information: Final Report and Recommendations”, Project,” Journal of Library Administration 35, [Online]. Available: http://www.rlg.org/ArchTF/ 1/2 (2001): 61–82. [July 1, 1998] Meyers, Barbara (1996) “Electronic Publishing: Gordon A. Sabine and Patricia L. Sabine. “How A Brief History and Some Current Activities”, IP People Use Books and Journals,” Library Quarterly News Internet Edition http://www.knotworks. 56, 4 (1986): 399–408. com/doc/IPNews/1996.4.ToC.html Heting Chu, “Electronic Books: “Viewpoints from Mullarkéy, Marty. (2007) “ebrary and Two Users and Potential Users,” Library Hi Tech 21, 3 International E-Book Surveys.” The Acquisitions (2003): 340–6. Librarian 19, no. 3-4 (2007): 213-230.

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Nancy J. Gibbs, “eBooks Two Years Later: The Sottong, Stephen. (2008) “The Elusive E-book, North Carolina State University Perspective,” Ready for Prime Time?” 39, American Libraries, Against the Grain 13, 6 (2001/2002): 22–6. 39, no. 5 pp 44-48. Nelson, M. R. (2008). “E-Books in Higher Twiss-Brooks, Andrea (2007) “Challenges in Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype?” Building e-books Collections”. Paper presented at EDUCASE Review, 43(2). the 23rd National American Chemical Society Meeting August 25-29, 2007 Pastore, M. (2008, January 28). “30 Benefi ts of E-books”. http://epublishersweekly.blogspot. Thomas Mann, “The Importance of Books, com/2008/02/30- benefi ts-of-ebooks.html Free Access, and Libraries as Places—and the Dangerous Inadequacy of the Information Primary Research Group, “Library Use of Science Paradigm,” The Journal of Academic E-Books: A Report” (New York: Primary Research Librarianship 27, 4 (2001): 270. Group, 2003). Uta Grothkopf (1998). “Electronic Publications Similar results are shown in a study of and Collection Management - Issues to Consider. undergraduate use and perceptions about print Library and Information Services” in Astronomy resources: Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb, “Print III ASP Conference Series, Vol. 153, Sources in an Electronic Age: A Vital Part of the Research Process for Undergraduate Students,” The Wikipedia (2011). E-book, from http:// Journal of Academic Librarianship 28, 6 (2002): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBook#cite_note-0 387. Walker, J. (2007). “COUNTER: getting the Sinha, Reeta (2008) “Electronic Book Collection measure of e-books” [Electronic Version]. Development and Acquisitions: Key Issues for eLucidate, 4, 3-7. http://www.ukeig.org.uks Libraries and Vendors in Shaping the Future of Special Libraries”…edited by Dhawan, S.M. et al. New Delhi: Ane Books

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