Use of electronic resources among teachers and scholars in Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (Bharat): A survey

The advancement of the information technology and web technology have brought changes to existing information storage and retrieval system such as Digital library, online database, digital repository, virtual library, etc. Libraries have witnessed tremendous changes in recent years in terms of their collection and services. Information explosion and user's demand of the users required the development of a more comprehensive library collection. Publishers have now started publishing on-line version/electronic versions of their printed journals. Owing to the cost of journals, many colleges and universities are unable to procure these journals. Ministry of HRD and UGC has started procuring the e-resources from the 25 world-class publishers under consortia mode at a much reduced price for all university libraries. BHU library is one of the beneficiaries of this UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium. The present study is the part of Ph.D. research work of one of the authors. To ascertain the usage of the e-resources available to the BHU library by the teachers and scholars, this survey was conducted. The present investigation discusses the use of electronic resources (e-journals, e-books, online/ offline databases, web resources) which are made available by the INFLIBNET Centre in e-resource consortium like UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium by the teachers and scholars of BHU. The present study was conducted as a part of doctoral research work from January 2015 to July 2015.