A textbook of electronic information sources and services / Tariq Ashraf and Shehbaz Husain Naqvi.

"Driven by computers and optical fibre, the information juggernaut has revolutionised the eco system of learning resources completely. Libraries as repositories of knowledge and wisdom, are in the throes of massive changes across the globe. The unprecedented digitisation of library resources has drastically impacted the organisational and managerial principals of libraries. All traditional functions of libraries viz Cataloguing, Classification, Circulation and Reference Services are fast rendering themselves obsolete as libraries apply new technologies in their acquisition and access process. The availability of online contents at an unpredicted scale is driving a major part of library collections into disuse. 24x7 access to online resources is resulting in substantial declining in footfall and retention of library users is becoming a matter of deep concern. Librarians across the globe are grappling with these issues and coming out with new strategies to meet the challenge. With most of library resources now becoming availble online, it is being argued that libraries need to diversify into new areas and provide services based upon new information environment. Libraries need to extensively customise resources and provided access through subject gateways. It is being further argued that libraries should venture into information literacy programmes so that online information sources can be used effectively and efficiently. Libraries need to focus on more robust resource discovery technologies so that access to resources gets stronger. Accordingly, students need to understand these concepts."--