Accessibility of Internet Based Electronic Resources: A Content Analysis of Public and Private University Library Websites in Bangladesh

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the websites of university libraries to ascertain that libraries are effectively utilizing their respective websites to provide easy access to all electronic resources available in the library. The objective was also to a represent a comparative analysis between public and private university library websites regarding the presence of electronic resources with their easy access via the internet. For the purpose of this study, a research instrument in the form of comprehensive checklist of eighteen e-resources was developed to evaluate their accessibility in the websites of public and private university libraries. Twenty university library websites, comprised of ten top-ranked public and ten top-ranked private universities in Bangladesh, were studied for data collection using content analysis method. The findings demonstrate that the presence of e-resources on selected university library websites is still in its early stage, but it has been growing rapidly. The private university library websites are ahead of public university libraries in terms of the integration of web-resources. It is hoped that the findings of this paper will serve to assist the University librarians and other similar institutions in choosing, selecting and acquiring the most appropriate format of information resources, and making these available to their websites, which will both satisfy the needs of their library users and fit within their library budget.