Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning

Commerical e-book services
NetLibrary was one of the first e-book services, launched in 1998 as a
division of OCLC.
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It offers services to academic, public, special and
corporate libraries, aiming in many ways to mimic a traditional library
service. Subscribing institutions purchase a collection of titles in a similar
way to printed titles; however, the electronic collection is hosted with
netLibrary on their servers. Library users can then find e-books through
MARC records in the library catalogue. As with printed books, only one
user at a time may access each copy of an e-book and the library
determines the loan period. At the time of writing, over 40,000 e-books
were available through netLibrary from publishers such as McGraw-
Hill, MIT Press and Oxford University Press. The significant drawback
to netLibrary is their model, which allows only one user to access a book
at any one time. However, netLibrary is currently reviewing different
access models that meet both library demands and publisher needs.
Questia was another of the early e-book companies launched in 1999;
however, it is marketed at students, with librarians employed on
collection-building.
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The Questia service went live in early 2001 and
claimed to hold at least 50,000 of the most valued volumes in the liberal
arts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (not including
textbooks). Questia has been called ‘the world’s largest online library of
books’ and in 2003 the company had over 400,000 titles available from
over 200 publishers, including Pearson and several university presses.
Anyone can search Questia at no cost to locate books and journals, but
to view full text online and access the research tools of the Questia
service users must subscribe. Questia offers students search facilities and
also tools to make notes in books they own, create personal bookshelves
and create formatted footnotes and bibliographies using a variety of
citation styles.
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The digital library
Many UK publishers, such as Oxford University Press and Taylor &
Francis, have launched e-book deals available through the Combined
Higher Education Software Team (CHEST). Universities have recently
signed up to commercial e-book suppliers and study reading lists to see
how many core textbooks would be available. Currently, many
companies are still geared towards the US market but e-books should be
considered when planning any new electronic service.
Electronic journals
No discussion of the digital library would be complete without
considering the enormous changes that the journal publishing industry
has undergone in the last ten years and the impact this has had on serials
management in libraries. Electronic journals in all subjects are now
widely available and the pricing and licensing models are now becoming
established. Many publications are available examining this subject in
far greater detail, e.g. Fowler (2004) and Kidd and Rees-Jones (2000).
Electronic journals can take the form of electronic versions of printed
journals, usually available in conjunction with a subscription to a
printed title, or electronic only publications. Some are freely available,
but often titles require subscription. Titles can also be bought directly
from publishers, or via an aggregator, such as Swetswise or Ingenta.
These variations in purchasing arrangements and publishing models can
all make serials management increasingly complex, and ensuring library
users have access to the full range of electronic journal titles can be
challenging. Traditionally, libraries have managed access to journals
from title links in the OPAC or by setting up electronic journals access
pages. Increasingly, larger academic libraries are moving towards using
serials management systems, of which there are a number of commercial
products available. However, in this area in particular, building links
between e-learning systems and library resources is crucial.
Recent research has suggested that academic staff and students are
becoming increasingly comfortable with the use of electronic journals for
teaching and research because of the obvious advantages of access.
Bonthron et al. (2003), in a recent study of trends in the use of electronic
journals in higher education, noted differences between the subject
disciplines, but found that generally academic staff were not using
library electronic journal pages, and were inclined to bookmark their
favourite e-journal sites. Drawing on findings from the JISC Usage
Surveys: Trends in Electronic Information Services (JUSTEIS) Project,
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Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment
Bonthron reported similar findings for e-journal usage of undergraduate
students. Their usage is primarily directed by their lecturer and
undergraduates use links from their course website or the VLE, but are
also less likely to use library electronic journals pages. The paper reports:
The library manager may have to decide where to allocate effort –
into library web pages which may be used intermittently if at all, or
into support of academic staff and learning support staff in
development of VLEs. (Bonthron, 2003)
The use and value of electronic journals to research and teaching is
undoubted, but this is an area that highlights the need for integration,
not just between systems, but also between communities of practitioners.
Librarians increasingly need to be part of a wider group of learning
support staff and this issue is examined in more detail in Chapter 3.
E-print services