Library is a repository of reading material for use. During the last two and half decades, there has been a tremendous growth in information and communication technology (ICT) which has swayed not only publishing industry but also on the readers as well. With the development in ICT, books and journals are published in print and electronic formats. However, both of the formats have advantages and disadvantages over each other. Old generation still prefer to read print books and journals, whereas new generation prefer online text. Advent of new reading devices like Kindle, Nook, I Pad, and smart phones have made e-reading easy. Various surveys across the world have been done to know the preference of the users towards print and e-text and it has been concluded that for comprehensive reading, print books and journals are used whereas for casual reading or research projects, online books and journals are required. Keeping in view the users preference, it is assumed that print and e-version of books and journals will go simultaneously.

Keywords:   Information and communication technology  Dayanand Medical College & Hospital Library  ICT usage  e-publications

Before early seventies, the printed reading material was available in the library. Later, advent of microfiche and microform facilitated the data storage. The data put in the microfilm was read by microfilm reader. Only one person at one time used to read the data and provision for any change in the data was not possible. Later, advent of computer replaced the Microfilm reader and further, with the dawn of ICT, networking of data became feasible which led to resource sharing.

Today, the world is witnessing that traditional printed resources have been replaced with electronic and habit of reading books, journals, magazines, newspapers and other course material has also undergone a rapid change. In the present scenario, where the reading material is available in divergent formats, therefore, user preference is required to formulate a need-based acquisition policy for balance collection in the library. Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana is one of the prestigious Medical Colleges of North India providing teaching, research and patients care services. Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana came to exist in the year 1964 and 1st MBBS batch was started in the year 1965. The college is affiliated with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot and MCI, New Delhi as well and has the recognition of the following courses. (a) MBBS; (b) MD/MS (19 subjects); (c) DM/M Ch (8 subjects). Apart from the above degree courses, various other para medical courses are also available. College library through its reading material and services helps in conducting successful research programmes, teaching and patients care and in this context journals play an important role informing the latest research findings which not only avoid the duplication of research works but also refine the previous studies.

Its working from 8 am to 2 am (midnight) on all working days and on Sunday/Holiday it functions from 9 am to 11 pm, the highest working hours among the Medical Colleges of North India. Central library has over 15,700 books, 17,000 back volumes of journals, over hundred online books, 200 books on CD/DVD ROMs. In the current year, 200 print journals (national and international) have been subscribed. Apart from the print journals, subscriptions for print and online of important journals are also available. Institution has an access to HSLIBNET consortium of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. Access to online journals of international publishers is available in the consortium which is updated annually on the need of the users. Besides, international journals, access to health sciences databases like EBSCO and Proquest is also available. In India, a few consortia on health sciences are available and HSLIBNET is one of them. The whole library is Wi-fi and 25 latest computers have been installed for the use of students and faculty as well. However, majority of the students use their own laptops to access e-journals, and e-books.

Montgomery & King¹ were first who wrote about transition of print to electronic. In the late 1990 and early 2000, the proliferation of ‘bundled’ journal packages began. Publishers and aggregators started the practice of offering their e-journals in packages. Later, a few publishers or aggregators have become more flexible by allowing libraries to select specific titles rather than forced to take them all.

Developments in ICT and consequently availability of e-resources over printed entailed the library professionals across the world to know the preference of the users towards print and e-resources. Different methods like surveys, questionnaires and interviews were used to know the preference. A study conducted at Universidad National Autonomia de Mexico (UNAM), majority of the students preferred print and 63 % students reported that they can read on computer not more than one hour (EMR Leyva)2. In essence, readers of printed text understand the material whereas readers of digital text only remember the material. The cognitive difference between understanding and remembering is significant as once a concept is understood, it becomes a long term memory. Without understanding, a newly learned concept is nothing more than a short term memory that cannot be considered as a foundation for more difficult concept³. Bierman⁴, et al., identified discomfort in reading on a desktop or laptop as a problem, as did Muir & Hawes⁵ & Cassidy⁶, et al., had a related observation. 82 % of the users’ group that did not use e-books would more likely to use them if they had a more convenient devices such as I Pad, or Nook/Kindle. Woody, Daniel & Baker⁷ also concluded in their findings that as course material, students prefer printed books rather than e-book. Reading technical content in e-book format takes more time than reading print⁸. Bebedetto⁹ & Kretzschmar¹⁰ made surveys and concluded overwhelming preference for print books over digital media. Kretzschmar10 confirmed that old people read from LCDs with ease and comprehension, however, concluded that print books are of more pleasant to read. Young generation of Google born era reported in a survey that they preferred reading from books to screens. In their reports, it has been said that they do discover an important text on internet and likely get print out before attempting in depth reading¹¹. Makkini & Pulla¹² made a survey on the use of e-journals by research scholars of university libraries of Andhra Pradesh and found that 29.72 % research scholars use print journals frequently. Majority of research scholars (54.61 %) replied that print journals are very important.

Levine-Clark¹³ made a survey on 2000 participants which showed that 59 % of users were aware that library provided e-books. They found that users adjust format preference depending on their needs. Liu¹⁴ has also found that graduate academic library users liked online access resources, however, preferred to get print copy of the electronic document for depth reading. Shelburne¹⁵ in a survey with 1500 respondents showed that 55 % of faculty, students and staff were aware of library e-books availability. Slater¹⁶ conducted a study in the university library of Oakland that compared the circulation of e-books between printed resources and found that users’ preference in the fields of science and technology was leaning towards e -books format whereas users’ preference of humanities field was in direction of printed resources. The research has also demonstrated that students view easy access advantages of e-book as its primary benefit. In different research by Zhang & Beckman¹⁷ presented that the use of e-book is rather common with ratio of 53 % amongst university students. However, in the same study, it was concluded that advantage of electronic format is more valuable though, it is not preferred. It was also determined that researchers were not aware of the available e-resources in the libraries on their own field.

The study was conducted to know the following:

(a) Preference of the library users towards e-books and e-journals over printed resources to devise users need-based acquisition policy;

(b) Advantages and disadvantages of e-resources over printed resources; and

(c) Usage of traditional library in the era of digital/virtual library.

Library has different types of reading material in different formats and in this scenario to have a precise users need based collection, user preference towards the reading material is must. To know the users preferences, a well structured questionnaire was prepared and given to 150 active library users who have used books and journals in both of the formants (print and electronic). Select users based survey was done in the month of October 2014. The users were divided into three groups consisting of 50 users in each group belonging to UG, PG and Faculty.

All the questionnaires given to select library users were get back. The data analysed on their preferences based on frequency of visits, purpose of visit, time spent by the users in the library, advantages of reading e-books and journals over printed resources and preferences towards e-books and e-journals, and printed resources .

As most of the people think that when there are virtual libraries round the clock and everything is available in the internet, therefore, existing libraries are not required. To answer the above question, Table 1 shows that 88 (58.67 %) users visit the library daily or alternative day whereas only 5 (3.33 %) users don’t visit the library and reason may be their own. The library is enriched with good collection of books and journals in both of the formats and apart from own students, outsider Medical graduates of the region who are preparing for PG courses get membership of library even in the present digital era which reflects the importance of traditional library.

Library is the repository of reading material available in different formats. Table 2 shows that 107 (71.33 %) users visit the library for self study. Of the 150 users, only 13 (8.66 %) users visit the library to borrow books and journals which reflects the diminishing trend of borrowing books from the library in medical college, as all the students have their own books and further most of the textbooks are available in e-format which are free, easy to read and downloading.

As the library remains open 18 hours at stretch from 8 am to 2 am (midnight) and users get full advantage of the library. One UG student uses the library maximum 15 hours. However, majority of the users 74 (49.33%) use the library for one to two hours. UG and PG students use the library extensively where as faculty members have to do numerous tasks (patients care, teaching and research), therefore, they have meagre time to visit the library (Table 3).

Moreover, in present digital era, most of the required books and journals are available online and they use them sitting in their own offices.

Table 4 shows the 93 (62 %) users find information they get from e-books and e-journals very useful, time saving and even updated. However, 57 (38 %) users show that they never used e-books and e-journals. No any user mentioned that information they get from the online is not useful.

The library has both type of books and journals for use and as per preference, 50 (33.33 %) users show their interest towards print books and journals, whereas 17 (11.33 %) users show interest towards e-books and journals. 83 (55.33 %) users show their interest to both print and electronic books and journals. Keeping in view the users preference, majority of the users want hybrid library, where they can use both print as well as e-books and journals on their convenient.

The ICT has swayed on each and every sphere of life and library has not remained unaffected. Introduction of ICT in Library & Information Science, all functions have become easy, fast and time saving. As already mentioned that Central library of our institution is providing all manual as well as automated services to its patrons and to know their preference towards e-resources over printed, a questionnaire was made and distributed among the 150 library users. Questionnaire was analysed on the preference of the users. Table 1 of present study shows that 88 (58.60 %) users visit the library daily or alternative day whereas in one other study by Thanuskodi¹⁹ on usage of e-resources at Dr. T.P.M Library, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madras on 260 research scholars found 87 (33.46 %) users visited the library daily which is similar to the result of our study. In present study (Table 2), 107 (71.33 %) users visit the library for self study. Of the 150 users, only 13 (8.66 %) users visit the library to borrow books and journals. In present digital era, most of the information are available in internet, therefore, culture of borrowing books and journals from the library is diminishing.

Books and journals are very useful be they are in print or digital format. Print version, though an old format but useful, whereas digital text is more useful over print. In digital library, there is no physical boundary, easy & multiple access, information retrieval is easy, long preservation & conservation of text and information storage requires very little space. In present study, 93 (62 %) users informed that information they get from e-books and e- journals are very useful, time saving and update. Though, users have shown huge interest towards digital text, however, 57 (38 %) users said they never used e-books and e-journals (Table 4).

E-reading has also a few disadvantages as constant reading is not feasible, creates strain on the brain and eyes. Sometimes, login problems and power failure create obstacle for digital text use. Readers of the printed text understand the material, while the readers of digital text only remember the material. Without understanding, a newly learned concept is nothing more than a short term memory. Noyes & Garland³, Ackerman & Goldsmith¹⁸ have all concluded that computer screens are not conducive to reading longer academic texts.

The library has an adequate reading material on both of the formats and also has the latest infrastructure for e-reading. In present study, 50 (33.33 %) users showed interest towards print books & journals, whereas, 17 (11.33 %) users showed interest towards e-books and e-journals. 83 (55.33 %) users showed their preferences towards Hybrid library (Table 5).

Age factor is one of the reasons that people born before Google era prefer to print version of the books and journals. In present study, of the 50 faculty members, none of them has desired for e-books & e-journals exclusively, 19 (38 %) users opted for print only and remaining 31 (62 %) users desired both print and e-books & journals. In our library a few important journals are being subscribed in both of the formats, however, majority of the faculty members still use print version of journals. Results of present study towards print vs.e-books and e-journals preference are comparatively the same as concluded by Thanuskodi¹⁸. In one other study Naushad & Faizul²⁰ made survey among research scholars at Central Science Library, University of Delhi regarding preference of the users towards print and e-resources and found that majority of the users still use print journals as compare to e–resources which are similar to the results of the present study. They also concluded that e-resources are predominantly used for research purpose and presentation only.

Over the millennia, reading is a culture that has changed overtime. However, it has also physiologically changed the brain. The evolution has brought us to what popular technology a perfect cultural product, the book we continue to hold on today and it is also now bringing us into revolutionary new world of online digital text. The book on paper is far from dead. It has survived from predictions of its imminent demise for many years. There have been continuously changes in information and communication technology which is affecting the whole world. Things of today become obsolete for tomorrow. Users of new generation want digital text whereas people of old generation still love to read from print books and journals. Digital text reading is feasible for short period to read one or two articles/chapters for reference purpose only. Whereas, for long reading and academics purposes, print books and journals are needed. E-books and e-journals are for supplement to print books and journals. Barry Cull²¹ has mentioned that new technologies often don’t supplant older proven technologies that accomplish a similar task, e.g., internet video streaming has not replaced television and further which has not replaced radio before that. It is concluded that we are moving towards Hybrid library, whereas print version appears likely to remain alive for foreseeable period and new changes in ICT and digital text would also be continuing.

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Mr P.C. Sharma is working as Chief Librarian, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana since 2005. He has obtained his MLISc from Kurukashetra University, Haryana, and MA (Political Science) from Punjab University, Chandigarh. He has presented many papers in Medical Library Association of India conventions. He has a number of publications in national journals.

Dr Raj Kumar is working as Chief Librarian, Punjab University, Chandigarh. He obtained his MLISc & MA (Public Administration), PhD (Library and Information Science) from Punjab University, Chandigarh. He has organised various seminars, workshops, users’ awareness programmes and conventions. He is also Secretary, Medical Library Association of India since the last eight years. He has many publications in national and international journals to his credit.