Page 14 - DLIS105_REFERENCE_SOURCES_AND_SERVICES

Unit 1: Reference and Information Sources

heat, dust and so on. Moreover, a CD or a floppy can easily become unusable on such flimsy causes Notes
as a scratch or a fall. A printed book remains totally unaffected by all these factors. Moreover, we
can carry a book with us, read it with naked eyes standing at a bus stop, sitting in a train, and even
while walking in a lonely alley. Hence, it can be safely predicted that printed books will co-exist
with e-books as newspapers co-exist with radios, and radios co-exist with TVs.
Periodicals nowadays are available in various forms such as printed form; electronic form, i.e.,
e-journals; and microform. Sometimes, they are available both in electronic and printed form. A
small survey conducted by the author with a sample of about 550 titles in physics included in
Ulrich’s 1999 revealed that 85 titles were available in electronic form (4 in CDs) and the rest were in
printed form. None was only in electronic form or in microform. It is unlikely that the situation has
undergone a vast change by 2005. Renowned publishers of periodicals who used to bring out
periodicals earlier in printed form, now they bring out an electronic version as well. Instances are
rare where publishers have discontinued printed version in favour of the electronic version.
The facilities of e-journals are many and varied and cannot be ignored. We get e-journals much
earlier through Internet than their printed versions since they reach us via postal channel, which
takes time. Many e-journals provide facilities for downloading of articles free of cost. This is also a
big advantage. Ofcourse, for consulting most e-journals you will have to pay both for consulting
the journal and downloading the article. If money is not a problem for a researcher, then he/she can
browse through all e-journals of his/her interest sitting in the house or office room using his/her
Internet connected computer. This saves him/her from the botheration of going to the library, moving
from shelf to shelf, getting disappointed if some issues, volumes, are not available in the library.
Once purchased, you can use a printed journal any number of times for any number of years without
paying anything extra. That is not the case with e-journals. Suppose, you have paid for consulting
an e-journal for the year 2004. Now, if you want to consult this journal in 2005, you will again have
to pay. Moreover, e-journals are generally residents of databases; they cannot be accessed and read
without a computer. Moreover, you cannot carry them with you according to your sweet will and
read whenever you want. In all such cases printed journals fare much better.
Both printed journals and e-journals have some advantages and disadvantages. If we take a global
view, then we find that like e-journals, new printed journals are also emerging every year. Readership
of printed journals are not yet showing any sign of decline. Hence, we can conclude that the future
of printed journals is not yet bleak and there is every possibility that printed journals will also co-
exist with their electronic counterparts.
Despite the availability of Internet edition of many newspapers in the world, the readership of
printed newspaper is not declining. Even in our country the newspapers like Hindustan Times
(HT) and The Times Of India (TOI) are having Internet editions. Strangely enough, the circulation
of the printed edition of these newspapers are continuously increasing! Why is it so? Let us delve
deep into the matter. Suppose somebody intends to read the Internet edition of HT in Delhi for
half-an-hour a day. For this he/she needs Internet connection. There are different rates depending
on the number of hours one subscribes to. For 100 hours, the VSNL rate is Rs. 800. That means
Rs. 4.00, for half an hour. In addition, you are to pay telephone charges at local rates, i.e., Rs. 10.00,
for half an hour. So, for reading the Internet edition of HT or TOI for half-an-hour you are to pay
Rs. 14.00, when the cost of the printed edition is only Rs. 1.50. Even if you take the cable connection
for Internet like Sify broadband, the cost for 10 hours is more than Rs. 300.00. Moreover, one can
read the printed edition sitting anywhere in the house, lying down on the bed, standing in a bus
stop or railway platform, sitting in a bus or train, and so on. You cannot do the same thing with the
Internet edition. May be, in future, the cost of Internet connection will reduce. But Internet edition
will not be able to provide the facilities that a printed edition can provide. No wonder, with the
growth of literacy, the readership of printed edition of newspapers is increasing. For countries like
India the trend will continue. The findings of the National Readership Survey in India are indicating

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