ELECTRONIC INFORMATION : THE ROLE LIBRARIAN CAN PLAY

Essay by kiran_rao_infoUniversity, Master'sA+, November 2004

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ABSTRACT:

Librarians have traditionally been concerned with certain functions, and most of these have their

parallels in the electronic publishing era. It is often suggested that some or all of these functions

become redundant in an era when increasing amounts of information are available directly to users

via the Internet. This argument is contradicted by an often-heard complaint that the Internet is

completely chaotic, and therefore that people waste much time in fruitless searching for the precise

information that they need. The skills of a librarian are, in fact, just as relevant to the electronic

milieu as they were to that of print. Despite the popularity of the Internet and supposed userfriendliness

of the World Wide Web, users need significantly more guidance in using electronic

resources than they did in using a library of print materials, and most academic libraries have now

organized substantial programmes of user training. This paper deals the importance of the librarians

role in handling of electronic information.

1.INTRODUCTION:

There are a growing number of academics and publishers who believe quite firmly that once the

transition from print to electronic journals sector of the journals market -- there will be no role for

libraries in the scholarly communication chain. Electronic journals can be delivered directly from

the publisher to the user's desktop. Such a scenario is certainly possible, but it is unlikely for a

number of reasons. Even assuming that all academics and researchers had the technical expertise to

deal with the range of hardware and software required to access a variety of relevant electronic

products, individuals will not wish to purchase, out of their own pockets, the range of titles required

for their research, and therefore some form of departmental/ faculty or central purchasing will be

required. Currently librarians perform a valuable service...