What approach should New Zealand university libraries take to collecting electronic serials that are available via the Internet

Abstract

Librarians in New Zealand universities are questioning the role of libraries in the virtual environment of the Internet. The ongoing responses made necessary by the management of change is challenging librarians to provide access to electronic serials. The issues of collection development, from selection and evaluation to archiving and deselection are considered, along with the needs of the users and system requirements. The discussion of philosophical, policy and procedural issues in relation to journals, highlights the future of networked digital collections that may be offered via Web pages, such as those made available by Lincoln University.