Delivering electronic resources at two academic libraries in Riyadh

This study addresses approaches and methods used in the delivery of electronic resources in two academic libraries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Central Library of the Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, and the Central Library of the King Saud University (now known as Prince Salman Central Library). The study also attempts to discover the impact generated by the current methods in the delivery of electronic resources through examined libraries' websites. The study hypothesizes that the current methods in the delivery of electronic resources through the websites of the studied libraries can be anticipated to have a negative effect on the rate of the effective use of electronic resources. The research used the survey methodology to describe the phenomena and to obtain information. The sample for this research was purposive sampling of academic staff at the Library and Information Science departments in both universities. The researcher distributed 50 questionnaires, and received 42 usable responses. In addition, the study presents the techniques and methods used in the libraries studied. The study findings were that the examined libraries use primitive methods in the delivery of electronic resources through their websites, and they depend for the delivery of electronic resources on the library system providers or on the aggregators or vendors of the electronic resources. In addition, there is a lack of experience among the libraries' staff in dealing with electronic resources. In terms of the impact of the delivering electronic resource services, the research found that more than a quarter of respondents do not use the electronic resources provided by the studied libraries. In addition, the majority of respondents (78.6%) use electronic resources which are provided by other institutions or universities. However, the knowledge of the respondents about the types of electronic resources provided by the libraries was also investigated. The majority of respondents did not know that their libraries provide electronic journals, with only 19% of respondents stating that the library provides electronic journal. The study affirmed that there was dissatisfaction among the respondents about the methods adopted in delivering electronic resources through the internet by the examined libraries.