Purpose – This paper of this study is to attempt to explore the status of collection in agricultural libraries of
Northern India and assess the magnitude of impact of the advent of electronic information resources (EIRs) on
the contemporary acquisition.
Design/methodology/approach – While adhering to the survey method, the questionnaire was used as
a data collection tool to collect data from university librarians. Telephonic interaction and e-mail
correspondence were also used to clear doubts, remove ambiguities and obtain data of higher significance
from the respondents.
Findings – The majority of the agricultural libraries in Northern India have a sound collection of
information resources in the print form, which may continue to act as a source of attraction for users in the
future for a long time to come. Yet, the acquisition of information resources in the print form across the
studied libraries continues at routine pace, and as such the advent of e-resources seems to have not yet laid
any prominent impact on acquisition of resources in print form. E-Books have not yet been fully incorporated
into the library collection and that e-journal collection “CeRA” (Consortium for Electronic Resources in
Agriculture) seems to gratify the needs of users of these libraries, as no additional e-journals are seen to be
subscribed to at present.
Research limitations/implications – Only seven agricultural libraries have been taken as a sample.
Moreover, the work is confined to only two aspects, i.e. current status and the impact of EIRs on acquisition of
information resources. Other aspects like those of collection development, storage and accommodation,
preservation, library functionality and library services need to also be studied.
Originality/value – This is first work of its nature in Northern India with agricultural libraries as their
domain. The findings will help the librarians and the library advisory committees decide on logical grounds
about the proportion at which the print and electronic forms of information resources need to be acquired
