Electronic journals in academic libraries: a literature review / Mariah Baharudin

An important function of academic libraries today is to provide information in electronic format. The management, development and delivery of e-journal services are the major current challenges for university libraries and information services. This study provides a brief review of some of the key issues facing information professionals working in academic libraries. Articles on e-journals in academic libraries are reviewed. The aspects being reviewed are the technical services and processing, promotion, evaluation and library services. The e-journal access and usage issues, users' acceptance and perception of e-journals, selection, acquisition, pricing, advantages and disadvantages of e-journals and archiving are also discussed. It also examined some of the concepts and problems, which an academic library must consider in order to align its collection development activities with the changing environment of digital librarianship in the electronic age. Also identified are issues that still need to be addressed such as the license agreement and archiving of e-journals.