Collection Management of e-books: A Developing Country Perspective

This paper attempts to discuss key issues surrounding the collection management of electronic books (e-books) with a developing country perspective. The libraries have witnessed the emergence of e-books in recent years by major publishers and content providers. With the expansion of electronic publishing, research and academic libraries have started to complement their print holdings with electronic publications. The market for electronic publication seems to be in constant change and collection developers and acquisition managers, especially in libraries, find themselves disillusioned as new methods of electronic publishing and accessing are emerging. Libraries are in a transition period from conventional to digital formats and have not yet developed common practices and traditions on policy for digital material. The paper discussed the evolution, chronology, collection development, evaluation, delivery, and archiving of e-books. It focuses on contemporary management from the perspective of a librarian concerned with Collection Management. Status of e-books collection of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan's Digital Library Program (HEC-DLP), a milestone project in the scholastic history of the country, has also been discussed. Moreover, some practical steps for local creation of e-books have been proposed. The paper concludes by highlighting major challenges faced by libraries in collection management and management of e-books. The paper is an outcome of the review of published literature in the reputed LIS journals on the topic, and writer's 20 years' first hand experience of administrating the prestigious academic libraries including the oldest Punjab University and modern GC University Lahore.