Online Information Resources Availability and Accessibility: A Developing Countries’ Scenario

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
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Keywords: Africa, Developing Countries, Discovery Tools, ICTs, Information Literacy, Library Consortia, Online Information Resources