Evolution of e-resource selection from 1985 to 2005 : a content analysis

Abstract

The number of electronic resources had significantly increased during the last two decades. In libraries, materials in electronic format had become a major resource. Due to the increase of electronic resources in the library the issue of selecting such resources had arisen. The study aimed to provide a comprehensive and systematic view of the development of e-resource selection in LIS literature published from 1985 to 2005 in order to identify the most important themes that would affect the selection process of this type of resources. This study would also show the core journals which were useful for those who were interested in selecting electronic resources. The study took a historical approach. Content analysis technique was used mainly during this research. The research process consisted of several steps: selecting the research articles from online database, extracting relevant data from finding article to answer research questions. Quantitative method was applied to analyse the gathered data. About 216 articles on selection of electronic resources published during the twenty years being covered in the study were identified in 71 journals. Of those, 10 journals contributed 54.63% of the total articles. These ten journals could be assumed as core journals for those who were interested in selection of electronic topic. 8 major themes consisted of 43 issues occurred in the literature. The selector should consider these issues when selecting electronic resources.