Online information resources availability and accessibility: a developing countries’ scenario
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Date
2015-04
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Abstract
Researchers from developing countries have
been facing problems in accessing scientific
literature emanating from their own countries and
beyond for many years. This scenario has partly
been attributed by constraints related to the
inability of institutions from least developed
nations to pay subscription for published
literature due to inhibiting costs. Developments
in information and communication technologies
(ICTs) provide an opportunity to ease the
availability of scholarly content to end users in
both developed and developing nations. This
paper examines the extent to which developing
countries have taken advantage of the new
developments in ICTs to improve scholars’
accessibility and usage of scientific literature.
Through a meta-analysis approach, core
literature review published from 2005 to 2014 is
used to assess the availability and usage of online
scholarly content, as well as factors affecting
effective exploitation of online scholarly
information resources. The study reveals that
although various initiatives capitalising on ICTs
developments have eased the problem of
availability of scholarly content in most
developing countries, there are still obstacles to
effective usage of online scholarly literature.
Information Literacy (IL) delivery strategies and
adoption of discovery tools are recommended for
improving the accessibility and usage of online
scholarly literature in the developing countries.
Description
African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 2015; 25 (1): 45-57
Keywords
Developing Countries, Discovery Tools, ICTs, Information Literacy, Library Consortia, Online Information Resources