The International Information & Library Review (2012) 44, 116e122

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ i i l r

Use of digital media and demand for digitizedcontents in higher education sector of Pakistan

Muhammad Rafiq a,*, Kanwal Ameen b

aDepartment of Library & Information Science, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, PakistanbDepartment of Library & Information Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

KEYWORDSDigitaltransformation;Digital media;Digitized contents;Higher education;Pakistan;Digital contents

* Corresponding author. Mobile: þ92E-mail addresses: rafiqfsd@hotm

ameen@gmail.com (K. Ameen).

1057-2317/$ - see front matter ª 201doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2012.04.007

Abstract The use of digital media is on rise around the world and same phenomenon isemerging in Pakistan. The study was intended to explore the use of digital media and demandfor digitized contents in higher education sector of Pakistan. The research questions wereanswered by a comprehensive literature review along with semi-structured in-depth interviewsof 25 library experts. The findings conferred that the use of digital media in higher education ison rise and demand for digitized contents is growing increasingly. The findings of the studymade a good case for the libraries to focus more on acquisition of information resources indigital formats as well as initiate digitization initiatives.ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

We are experiencing profound impacts of ICTs on everywalk of life. The world is emerging as global village wherepeople around the world are able to communicate real timein an interactive way. Societies are emerging as informationand/or knowledge societies. Governments are transpiringas electronic governments. Hence, we are experiencinga digital transformation in our societies from an analogueworld to digital one.

The use of digital media is on rise around the world andsame phenomenon is emerging in Pakistan, a country with175 million populations. Higher education sector receiveda profound attention of authorities in recent years. ICT

(0) 324 443 6554.ail.com (M. Rafiq), kanwal.

2 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

applications have widely been introduced in higher educa-tion institutions. Telecom sector of Pakistan receivedsignificant investment and emerged as one of the mostdeveloping sector in last decade.

Higher education sector is the most pivotal sector ofinformation consumption. Smith (2008) mentionednumerous studies to demonstrate the increasing use ofdigital information sources by students from primary tograduate schools. Traditionally, academic libraries wereengaged to collect information resources around the worldto quench the information needs of the users. Libraries are,especially in higher education sector, the store houses ofrich information resources but mainly in print. Digitalinformation publishers recognise the very importance ofthese resources. This was the major reason that the mostinfluential players of digital era e.g. Google, Microsoft,Open Content Alliance, etc. invested a large number offinancial resources and joined hands with libraries to digi-tize their print information resources. Hence, it seems

.

Use of digital media in Pakistan 117

significant to seek the opinion of the library experts on theuse of digital media and demand for information in digitalformats in higher education sector of the country. Theanalysis will enable the library administrators, fundingbodies, and decision makers to understand the emergingtrends and prepare accordingly to meet the informationneeds of users effectively and efficiently.

Literature review

The review of literature relevant to the study covers rele-vant resources in published, unpublished, and electronicformats on digital transformation at large, increasing use ofdigital information, emerging information society inPakistan, increasing use of digital information in Pakistan,and higher education institutions of Pakistan.

Digital transformation

The information and communications technologies (ICTs)enabling the global information and knowledge economy eso-called ‘Cyberinfrastructure’. The term used to describehardware, software, people, organizations, and policies eevolve exponentially, doubling in power for a given costevery year or so, amounting to a staggering increase incapacity of 100e1000 fold every decade (Atkins, 2003). Weare experiencing profound and rapid changes in economic,social, cultural and political spheres of our society. Thesechanges are mainly fuelled by the development of infor-mation superhighways. The revolution of informationtechnology and telecommunication sector has createda platform for the free flow of information, ideas andknowledge across the globe.

The countries around the globe are emerging as infor-mation and knowledge societies. There is an increaseddependency on information and communication technolo-gies worldwide. The development of information societycore indicators (United Nations, 2008) presented a view ofthe global information society e and the picture is a highlyconsistent one. The study (United Nations, 2008) confirmedthat developed economies in general, along with severaldeveloping economies in Asia, are presenting a promisingdevelopment in information societies. Use of ICT in theseeconomies is rising. United Nations with InternationalTelecommunication Union organized World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS) in two phases i.e. Geneva in2003 and Tunis in 2005 with the purpose to assess progressand prompt further global action to capture the promise ofICT for all (WSIS, 2005a, 2005b; World Summit on theInformation Society, 2007). The ultimate goal of theseactivities is to transform this analogue world into digitalone.

The electronic access to resources and services consid-ered important in contemporary world. The world is expe-riencing digital transformation in terms of e-initiatives likee-health, e-government, e-democracy, information richportals, digital libraries, etc. The basic factor in thistransformation is the growth of telecommunication infra-structure. There is an unprecedented growth in the use ofcellular phones, personal computers, networks, wirelessnetworks, interactive television, PDAs and the like.

International Telecommunication Union (http://www.itu.int/) maintains a large number of reports, indicators andstatistics about telecommunication. These indicators(International Telecommunication Union, 2009) revealeda prominent growth in ICT applications, teledensity, tele-phone (landlines and wireless) accessibility, etc. worldover. Moreover, the results of the United Nations E-Government Survey 2008 indicated that governments aremoving forward in e-government development around theworld and infrastructure index reveals that investment incellular phones has been dramatic over the past three yearsin both the developed and developing countries(Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2008).

Asia and pacific make the most populated region of theglobe. Information society indicators of Asia & Pacific pre-sented a very bright picture and prospects. The regionshowed a phenomenon growth in information societyapplications. In the last decade, the Asia and the Pacificregion has experienced continuous ICT infrastructuredevelopment and service uptake, which have led the regionto become a world leader in ICTs. By the end of 2007, theregion accounted for 1.4 billion mobile cellular subscrip-tions, nearly 600 million fixed telephone lines, and morethan 551 million Internet users, which accounted for 39percent of the world total. From 2000 to 2007, the regionadded 415 million users, with an annual growth of 24percent (compared to 19 percent globally) (InternationalTelecommunication Union, 2009).

Increasing use of digital information

Information has been recognized the most vibrant force andfactor of production in the contemporary economy. Theworld has witnessed an unprecedented global flow ofinformation by virtue of development in ICTs. Develop-ments in ICTs enable the conversion of information mainlyin analogue formats to digital formats and disseminateamong peers and virtual networks. The recent studiesconceded that dependence on digital information isgrowing worldwide. The demand of digital contents influ-enced the landscape of information production and pushedthe information publishers to switch from traditional printbase information production to electronic information.

Digital information offers significant advantages incomparison with print resources. Digital information hascommon characteristics and qualities, regardless ofwhether the content is stored on DVD, CD-ROM or otherstorage media, and can be linked to other materials tocreate multimedia. It can be stored and delivered ina variety of ways and can be copied limitless times withoutdegradation of the original (Hughes, 2004, p. 4). Thegenerally accepted advantages of using digital informationover print are: multi-access, speed, enhanced function-ality, multimedia contents, re-useable information , ease inmanagement, interoperability and cheap storage (Lee &Boyle, 2004, pp. 6e7). Harley (2007) explored the atti-tudes of humanities and social science faculty about theuse and non-use of digital resources. The survey targeted4443 faculty members of community colleges, University ofCalifornia campuses and liberal arts colleges in California,USA. The survey revealed that instructors who use digital

118 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen

information resources do so far a variety of reasonsincluding convenience and time saving, integrating primarysource material into the course, improving students’learning, allowing faculty to do new things in the class-room, etc. Nevertheless, the most-cited obstacles to theeffective use of digital resources were the availability,reliability and expense of the necessary equipment in theclassroom. Other major obstacles were identified as: scar-city of digital images available for non-western fields; anddifficulty in locating high-quality pedagogically relatedcredible materials. The study emphasized the need ofpublishing online the indigenous resources available withnon-western libraries.

Emerging information society in Pakistan

Internet has become an essential tool for scholarly andbusiness communication in Pakistan. The use of broadbandservices has started to grow in homes and offices located inmajor cities. This trend is expected to accelerate. Effortsto network the country continue, and so far, over 3002towns and cities have been plugged into the Internetbackbone till 2007e2008 (Pakistan Economic Survey2009e2010, 2010).

Telecom sector of Pakistan showed a phenomenongrowth in recent years. The cellular mobile subscriberscontinue to soar and it has reached 98 million in May 2010,while cellular mobile teledensity of the country has jum-ped to 58.20 percent in 2008e2009, from the mere 0.22 in2000 while Teledensity (FixedþWLLþMobile) reached at62% in 2008e2009 (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority,2010). In March 2009, there were 10,001 cities/towns/villages covered and 26,300 cell sites installed by allcellular operators. Wireless Local Loop (WLL) services arebecoming increasingly popular both for the rural and lowpopulation density areas. WLL subscribers stood at 2.64million in March 2010 (Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority, 2010).

Pakistan is ranked amongst top five most dynamiceconomies in terms of increased internet penetration inSouth Asian Region (UNCTAD, 2009). The number of totalinternet user stands at 17.5 million in March 2008, with10.1% penetration that counts, for 2.7% of internet users inAsia (Internet World Stats, 2009). Broadband is experi-encing healthy growth in recent years and companies areproviding broadband services with DSL, Cable, FTTH andWiMax technologies across Pakistan whereas DSL is the mostpopular technology. As of April 2010, there were 816,807broadband subscribers (Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority, 2010).

Several other indicators reveal that Pakistan is witness-ing digital transformation. The country has made a signifi-cant development in terms of information societyindicators in recent years. Shafique and Mahmood (2008)established the emergence of an information society ata very fast pace in Pakistan. The study revealed that theinformation society applications such as e- learning,computer-supported political participation, e-governmentinitiatives, telemedicine, information and communicationtechnologies (ICTs), cellular phones, satellite dishes, theinternet, etc. indicate a prominent growth.

Increasing use of digital information in Pakistan

Unprecedented advantages of digital information have alsobeen greatly felt by the Pakistani community especially inacademics. The demand for digitized contents is everincreasing worldwide and the same phenomenon is emergingin Pakistan (Ameen & Rafiq, 2009). Ullah’s (2007) survey ofMedical Postgraduate Trainees and revealed that respon-dents were well conversant with internet usage and widelyused online information resources and electronic databasesto fulfil their information needs. A recent survey (Malik &Mahmood, 2009) mentioned that the students of Universityof the Punjab Lahore has eagerly adopted web to fulfil theirinformation needs. Online information resources are exten-sively used by the students for their academic tasks. Anotherstudy (Rafiq & Ameen, 2009) conceded that universityteachers preferred information in digital formats.

Increasing use of digital information in universities ofPakistan was greatly affected by the emergence of digitallibraries. There is visible and commendable development ofDLs in the field of higher education in Pakistan. HEC-NationalDigital Library Program (HEC-NDL), a project of HigherEducation Commission (HEC) Pakistan, is a unique projectproviding access to full-text digital databases to users ofpublic and private universities and non-profit research anddevelopment organizations throughout Pakistan. It wasinitially introduced as a collaborative project of the UKbased International Network for the Availability of ScientificPublications (INASP), in connection with the implementationof their Programme for the Enhancement of ResearchInformation (PERI). Implementation of the PERI programmein Pakistan allowed the HEC to provide a vast quantity ofscholarly publications to the researchers. Inclusion in theprogramme enables the participating institution to accessover 20,000 high quality, peer-reviewed journals, databasesand articles across a wide range of disciplines based onelectronic (online) delivery. A recent addition is the inclu-sion of 45,000 eBooks in the resources i.e., Ebrary, McGraw-Hill Collections, Springer Ebooks (HEC-National DigitalLibrary, 2010). The statistics shows that there is a signifi-cant increase in the total number of articles downloadedfrom the previous years (Said, 2006).

Higher education institutions of Pakistan

The tradition of education, in this part of the word, haspersisted since ancient times. One of the early examples ofthe educational institution is found in the ruins near andaround Taxila (known as Takshasila in old times). It wasattached with Buddhist monasteries for the education ofmonks. Taxila remained a great seat of learning up to thefifth century. However, with the arrival of Arabs (Muslims)initially in Sindh in eighth century, cities such as Mansoora(in Sindh), Multan, and later Lahore rose to prominence(Isani & Virk, 2003). Muslim educational institutes werereligious institutions and known as Maktabs and Madrassahs.

The colonial period under the British rule provided thefoundations for the contemporary education. The constit-uent area that formed Pakistan heritages only two univer-sities i.e. University of the Punjab, Lahore established in1882 and University of Sindh, Jamshoro chartered in April,

Use of digital media in Pakistan 119

1947. University of Sindh was in organization stage whenPakistan came into existence. So it is rightly to say that allthe universities except University of the Punjab are theproduct of post-independence period. University of thePunjab Lahore set the model for the establishment of newuniversities in the country. The current scenario of Pakistanpresents a promising and significant growth from 1998 toonward in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). There are,currently, 99 universities and 34 degree awarding institu-tions the country (Higher Education Commission, 2010).

Higher Education institutions in Pakistan can broadly becategorized into general and professional universities. Theprofessional category includes agricultural, engineering,medical, management sciences, arts, architecture, etc.institutions of HEIs. The general universities except Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad are both teaching and affiliatinginstitutions. The universities award affiliations to the arts andprofessional degree colleges to impart higher education. In2009, there were1219 degree colleges affiliated with univer-sities and degree awarding institutions in the country with21,112 teachers in degree colleges and 46,893 teachers inuniversities and degree awarding institutions of the country(PakistanEconomicSurvey2008e2009, 2009).Moreover, thereis an increase in students’ enrolment in HEIs. An enrolment of741,092 is estimated in 2008e2009 in higher education over640,061 in 2006e2007. Pakistani universities produced 613PhDs during 2008 as compared to 420 PhDs during 2007e2008(Pakistan Economic Survey 2008e2009, 2009).

Higher education sector of Pakistan has received majorattention of the government in recent years. A number ofprograms were initiated to build the nations’ highereducation sector and capacity of knowledge creation,processing, dissemination and usage. University GrantsCommission was replaced by Higher Education Commission(HEC) of Pakistan, in September 2002, with enhancedmandate and broad mandate to evaluate, improve andpromote the higher education and research sector inPakistan. The reform agenda has been supported throughthe granting of a large array of powers to the Commission tofulfil its mandate, and record increases in financialresources by the government to support this process. In lastdecade, HEC has invested a large amount of resources toalter the basic functions of universities. Emphasizing onpromoting the research culture, HEC initiated a number ofattractive initiatives; offered research grants; providedtravel grants for teachers, and research students to presenttheir research papers in international conferences; fundednational and international conferences, workshops, semi-nars, etc.; engaged foreign faculty in universities/DAIs onlucrative salary packages; offered tenure-track system,a lucrative salary package, of appointments; etc. HEC alsooffered overseas scholarships for PhD and MS leading toPhD, post doctoral fellowship and local PhD scholarships toimprove the manpower provision in higher education sectorof the country. It was truly a multifarious development erathat higher education have seen in recent years from basicinfrastructure development to knowledge based initiatives.

However, financial crises faced by the country hit hard onthe higher education sector too. A number of new develop-ment projects were reduced from116 during 2007e2008 to 29during 2008e2009. Overall spending on development projectswas reduced to 8167.760 million during 2008e2009 from

15,390.455 million during 2007e2008 (Pakistan EconomicSurvey 2008e2009, 2009). Nonetheless, this crises adverselyhit the research and development projects, overseas schol-arships for PhDandMS leading toPhD,postdoctoral fellowshipand local PhD scholarships, etc.

Research design and methodology

A comprehensive literature review was conducted along withsemi-structured in-depth interviews of 25 library experts forthepurposeof study.The intervieweeswere selectedwith thehelp of some senior knowledgeable professionals and theattention was given to ensure diversity of the sample andrepresentation of all the four provinces of Pakistan. Further-more, the interviewees’ professional experience, expertiseand professional reputewas carefully considered. Telephonicand email contacts were used to fix appointments with theinterviewees. The interviewswere conducted in the offices ofthe interviewees. The researcher visited Karachi, Rawalpindi,Islamabad, and Lahore to conduct the interviews. Theresearcher did not visit Quetta and Peshawar because of thedeteriorated conditions of law and order in these cities. Theinterview of a library expert from Quetta was conducted inKarachi, when he was in the city for another meeting.

During interviews, an initial rapport was developedconsciously with the interviewees. All interviews wererecorded by an electronic voice recording apparatus withthe permission of the subjects and they were comfortablewith the recording. The interviewees were given option totalk in English or Urdu languages to avoid language barrierin the pursuance of the real insight from interviewees. Therecorded interviewees were coupled with notes during andjust after the interviews.

The recorded interviews were transcribed in English withprofessional objectivity. Summary of analysis was extractedfrom the interview transcripts manually. Interpretations,comments, and quotes from the transcripts have been usedto explain the contents. The study ensured the anonymityof the interviewees by referring the quotes from interviewtranscripts without the names of the persons.

Research questions

The study was intended to answer the following researchquestions:

1. What is the status of use of digital media in highereducation sector of Pakistan?

2. What is the status of demand for digitized contents inhigher education institutions of the country?

Data analysis and discussions

Use of digital media in higher education of Pakistan

Use of digital media directly corresponds to the digitaltransformation. Interviewees were asked to opine on theflourishing digital culture in higher education sector interms of the use of digital media. A considerable number (7

120 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen

out of 25) of interviewees asked for the explanation of theconcept of digital media. Keeping in view the libraryperspective, following list of digital media drawn fromWikipedia was mentioned as examples for the purpose ofstudy (Table 1):

� Internet� Compact disc� Digital video� Digital television� e-book� e-journals

A significant majority (20) of interviewees were of theopinion that the use of digital media in higher educationsector of the country is growing. Six interviewees see it asa positive factor. However, two interviewees expressedthat the use of digital media is primarily for entertainment.One interviewee mentioned that the use varies institutionwise. Lack of orientation was also considered a hindrance inthe growing use of digital media by an interviewee.

Interpretations and discussions

There are many reasons e.g. currency of contents, ease inuse, reduced time lag to information access, time and spaceindependency, etc. of the popularity of digital media. Asignificant factor of the growing use of digital media in HEIsof Pakistan is, as noted in literature review, the phenom-enon growth of telecom sector during recent years. Infor-mation society indicators such as distance learning,computer-supported political participation, e-governmentinitiatives, telemedicine, information and communicationtechnologies, cellular phones, satellite dishes, internet,present the emergence of an information society in thiscountry at a very fast pace (Shafique & Mahmood, 2008). Thetechnological infrastructure of the universities has beensignificantly enhanced in recent years. Universities haveestablished LAN, WAN, video-conferencing facilities, Wi-Ficonnectivity, broadband internet connectivity, etc. whichhas ultimately increased the use of digital media in highereducation sector in Pakistan.

High cost of print media is another factor of the growinguse of digital media, as stated by an interviewee, “Thepeople in developing countries don’t have sufficientresources. Print media is becoming so much costly that

Table 1 Use of digital media in higher education(NZ 25).

Contents analysis Freq.

Use of digital media in higher educationsector is growing

20

Growing use of digital media is a positive indicator 6Use of digital media is just for entertainmentand not for information

2

Use of digital media varies from institutionto institution

1

Lack of digital media orientation is a hindrance 1

people are unable to go for, so the focus on digital media isincreasing very much”.

Another reasonmentionedwas the increasing replacementof print media by digital. The respondents perceived thatprint media is going to disappear. People are more and morerelying on digital media especially in area of periodicals. Moreand more periodicals are available in e-formats. In next 5e10years, probably, a lot of paper versions of periodicals willsimply disappear and users will have no choice anymoreexcept digital access. Some sciences are, right now,publishing nothing in print. The transition of publishingmodelfrom traditional print base to solely electronic is enormouslygrowing in scholarly journals. The ease of access, flexibilityand decreasing cost offered by digital media are the maincause of its popularity. Academic community has experiencedthe increasing benefits of digital media especially in researchjournals and periodicals, in recent decades. Hence, it seemsthat the academic publishers, in near future, will largelydiscontinue the print publications and focus on digitalpublishing, especially in journals and periodicals that willaffect the libraries and users in Pakistan also.

The use of digital media varies among the users of HEIs.This aspect was mentioned by one interviewee only but itseemed worthy to note. It is true that digital divide largelyexists in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the ICT applications arenot available everywhere in Pakistan. “The rural areas ofBaluchistan [the province with largest area and the leastpopulation] have not seen the abundant ICT applicationsyet. Internet is hard to find there. Even in six universities ofBaluchistan, the use of digital media is less [in comparisonwith the universities in other provinces of the country]”, aninterviewee noted. Although majority of Pakistani univer-sities currently have better ICT infrastructure, yet the lackof digital orientation among students hinder the use ofdigital media applications, another interviewee raised theimportant point. This aspect although mentioned by onlyone respondent yet may be considered very much impor-tant in researchers’ perspectives. It further emphasize theimportance of information literacy programs.

Some reservations about the academic use of digitalmedia were also observed in interview transcripts. Tworespondents stated that current use of digital media is forentertainment instead of information seeking. It may besaid that the digital transformation is not at a mature stageand use of digital media is for entertainment. However, inthe age of Web 2.0 with social networking applications ofFacebook, YouTube, Twitter, Library Things, Delicious,etc., it is hard to differentiate entertainment and infor-mation activities. Nevertheless, the interviewees’ opinionis on the basis of a general myth that entertainment andinformation are some sort of opposite pole of a continuum.Nevertheless, the entertainment and information activitiesare interwoven in the current tools of digital media. Overallopinions of the respondents clearly unfold the growing useof digital media in higher education sector of the country.

Demand for digitized contents in higher education

The interviewees were asked to through light on thedemand for digitized contents (d-contents) by the users ofHEIs. The analysis of information is as follows (Table 2):

Table 2 Demand for the d-contents in higher education(NZ 25).

Contents analysis of the responses Freq.

Demand for the d-contents is increasing 25Demand for the d-contents exists 16Certain advantages of d-resources areenhancing the demand

7

Text-book based education system is amajor hindrance in the demandenhancement

4

Non-digitization of indigenousscholarship (local scholarly contents)is a major hindrance to meet thedemand of the users

4

Lack of orientation of d-contents is ahindrance in increasing demand

2

HEC digital services have created muchdemand for d-contents

2

Libraries are not playing their role toenhance this demand

2

Demand is going up because of anincrease in e-publishing

1

Demand varies from institution to institution 1

Use of digital media in Pakistan 121

Sixteen interviewees perceived that the demand for theinformation contents in digital formats exists in highereducation sector, while all were agreed about the increasein demand for d-contents. Seven recognized that certainadvantages associated with electronic information areenhancing the demand. Two interviewees mentionedanother important factor of demand enhancement was theless choice in contents’ formats as electronic publishing isgetting popularity and a number of contents have beenmoved from print base publishing to electronic. Two haveconsidered the important role of HEC digital services in thisdemand enhancement. The interviewees also mentionedsome hindrances to enhancement of demand for d-contentsas: text-book based education system; non-availability ofdigital access to indigenous scholarship; lack of orientationof digitized contents; and the passive role of libraries.

Interpretations and discussions

All respondents were agreed that the demand for d-contents was growing. An interviewee stated, “Demand fordigitized contents is increasing. At our university, recently,we have cancelled print subscription of 200 journals andsubscribed Science Direct Complete Health Science Edition,Harvard and Wiley Interscience. Because it is demand ofthe users and as the concept of virtual and digital library isspreading; people, students, researchers, and staffmembers demand resources in digital formats”.

It was also stated that another reason of rising demand isthe limited choices of information formats to users. Forexample, one interviewee commented, “Demand is going upbecause more and more things are going to be available indigital formats and paper versions will be either not avail-able or very expensive”. Another chief librarian’s experiencewas, “We subscribed an electronic library for 25 article per

month basis. Within two months we have to extend oursubscription limit to 75 articles per month. It was the usersdemand that we have increased the subscriptions. In last 3years, we have subscribed five scholarly e-databases ofinformation resources on the demand of the users”. Anotheraspect mentioned was, “People don’t have the time. Theywant exact information. They are in hurry to submit theirassignments. So if libraries have information contents indigital formats, offer better access, and having improvedretrieval techniques, they [users] can accomplish their tasksefficiently”. Another interviewee mentioned, “Demand hasbeen increased overwhelmingly, research students requiredigitized contents that are very much essential for theirresearch work”.

It appeared that HEC digital initiatives have greatlyinfluenced the demand for d-contents. HEC-NDL Program,initiated in 2004, made available the digital contents fromrenowned information providers like Science Direct, Ebrary,McGraw-Hill Digital Library, Taylor & Francis E-Journals(InformaWorld), SpringerLink, Cambridge University Press(CUP), American Mathematical Society, American ChemicalSociety, American Institute of Physics, JStor, Emerald,Wiley Interscience, American Chemical Society (ACS),Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and manymore. This initiative has positively influenced the users’information behaviour and they are demanding informationcontents in digital formats.

The interviewees also mentioned some hindrances to thegrowth of demand for d-content. One of the majorhindrances was identified as text-book based educationsystem of the country that does not embargo the students tonecessarily consult the library resources. Another hindrancenoted by six interviewees was the non-availability of localscholarship in the digital formats. The indigenous channelsof scholarly communication (journals, thesis, books, etc.published in Pakistan) are not currently available in d-formats. In case of social sciences and humanities, thehindrance is more challenging. For example an intervieweereported, “We have number of diaries, govt. reports,committee reports, etc. but they are not digitized. Same isthe case with other indigenous information material. This isan important factor hindering the demand for d-contents”.This point was also addressed by another interviewee bystating “There is a lot of material that I know is available inUrdu and several other regional languages. None of them isavailable electronically right now. There is a requirementto digitize it and make it available online. If we do it, it willbe welcomed by lot of scholars not just in Pakistan butaround the world”. It shows that large number of indigenousdocuments needs the digitization.

Another hindrance expressed was lack of orientation ofd-contents among library professionals as well as users. Itindicates the status of digital literacy among both groups.The aspect of digital divide was also pointed out as inter-viewees mentioned that the demand varies institution wise.This was also mentioned under the theme of “use of digitalmedia in higher education sector”. It was revealed thatsome institutions that belong to the lesser developed areasof the country, such as Baluchistan, do not have the samerising pace of demand for contents in digital format. Thedigital divide is due to the poor socioeconomic backgroundof the users’ community as well. The students who come in

122 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen

higher education sector from such deprived areas of thecountry are not well abreast with ICT applications. Theiruse of digital media as well as demand for d-contents is lessthan the students who are well abreast with latest ICTapplications.

Modern libraries play a major role in creation of demandfor its resources through promotional activities. Librariessubscribe a resource, publicize it, market it, and attractsthe users. It appears that libraries are not playing their duerole to enhance this demand. Culture of demand alwaysneeds to be created and for the creation of this demandculture, libraries have to perform. The current digitalparadigm calls for a proactive role of the libraries to marketd-resources and enhance the demand of the user.

Conclusion

It may be concluded that the use of digital media is on riseand demand for digitized contents is growing increasingly.However, libraries are not fully prepared to meet thisdemand due to a number of barriers. The non-availability oflocal material in digital formats is the most importanthindrance. The results necessitate the paradigm shift incurrent library acquisition practices in Pakistan that aremainly focused on information resources in print formats.The findings of the study make a good case for the librariesto focus more on acquisition of information resources indigital formats as well as initiate digitization initiatives. Thefindings also emphasize the need for information literacyprograms by libraries to enable the users to fully exploit theavailable information resources in digital formats.

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