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

Abstract

The use of digital media is on rise around the world and same phenomenon is emerging in Pakistan. The study was intended to explore the use of digital media and demand for digitized contents in higher education sector of Pakistan. The research questions were answered by a comprehensive literature review along with semi-structured in-depth interviews of 25 library experts. The findings conferred that the use of digital media in higher education is on rise and demand for digitized contents is growing increasingly. The findings of the study made a good case for the libraries to focus more on acquisition of information resources in digital formats as well as initiate digitization initiatives.

Full text

Use of digital media and demand for digitized
contents in higher education sector of Pakistan
Muhammad Rafiq
a,
*, Kanwal Ameen
b
a
Department of Library & Information Science, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
b
Department of Library & Information Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
KEYWORDS
Digital
transformation;
Digital media;
Digitized contents;
Higher education;
Pakistan;
Digital contents
Abstract The use of digital media is on rise around the world and same phenomenon is
emerging in Pakistan. The study was intended to explore the use of digital media and demand
for digitized contents in higher education sector of Pakistan. The research questions were
answered by a comprehensive literature review along with semi-structured in-depth interviews
of 25 library experts. The findings conferred that the use of digital media in higher education is
on rise and demand for digitized contents is growing increasingly. The findings of the study
made a good case for the libraries to focus more on acquisition of information resources in
digital formats as well as initiate digitization initiatives.
ª2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
We are experiencing profound impacts of ICTs on every
walk of life. The world is emerging as global village where
people around the world are able to communicate real time
in an interactive way. Societies are emerging as information
and/or knowledge societies. Governments are transpiring
as electronic governments. Hence, we are experiencing
a digital transformation in our societies from an analogue
world to digital one.
The use of digital media is on rise around the world and
same phenomenon is emerging in Pakistan, a country with
175 million populations. Higher education sector received
a profound attention of authorities in recent years. ICT
applications have widely been introduced in higher educa-
tion institutions. Telecom sector of Pakistan received
significant investment and emerged as one of the most
developing sector in last decade.
Higher education sector is the most pivotal sector of
information consumption. Smith (2008) mentioned
numerous studies to demonstrate the increasing use of
digital information sources by students from primary to
graduate schools. Traditionally, academic libraries were
engaged to collect information resources around the world
to quench the information needs of the users. Libraries are,
especially in higher education sector, the store houses of
rich information resources but mainly in print. Digital
information publishers recognise the very importance of
these resources. This was the major reason that the most
influential players of digital era e.g. Google, Microsoft,
Open Content Alliance, etc. invested a large number of
financial resources and joined hands with libraries to digi-
tize their print information resources. Hence, it seems
* Corresponding author. Mobile: þ92 (0) 324 443 6554.
E-mail addresses: rafiqfsd@hotmail.com (M. Rafiq), kanwal.
ameen@gmail.com (K. Ameen).
1057-2317/$ - see front matter ª2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2012.04.007
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
The International Information & Library Review (2012) 44, 116e122

significant to seek the opinion of the library experts on the
use of digital media and demand for information in digital
formats in higher education sector of the country. The
analysis will enable the library administrators, funding
bodies, and decision makers to understand the emerging
trends and prepare accordingly to meet the information
needs of users effectively and efficiently.
Literature review
The review of literature relevant to the study covers rele-
vant resources in published, unpublished, and electronic
formats on digital transformation at large, increasing use of
digital information, emerging information society in
Pakistan, 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 e
so-called ‘Cyberinfrastructure’. The term used to describe
hardware, software, people, organizations, and policies e
evolve exponentially, doubling in power for a given cost
every year or so, amounting to a staggering increase in
capacity of 100e1000 fold every decade (Atkins, 2003). We
are experiencing profound and rapid changes in economic,
social, cultural and political spheres of our society. These
changes are mainly fuelled by the development of infor-
mation superhighways. The revolution of information
technology and telecommunication sector has created
a platform for the free flow of information, ideas and
knowledge across the globe.
The countries around the globe are emerging as infor-
mation and knowledge societies. There is an increased
dependency on information and communication technolo-
gies worldwide. The development of information society
core indicators (United Nations, 2008) presented a view of
the global information society eand the picture is a highly
consistent one. The study (United Nations, 2008) confirmed
that developed economies in general, along with several
developing economies in Asia, are presenting a promising
development in information societies. Use of ICT in these
economies is rising. United Nations with International
Telecommunication Union organized World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) in two phases i.e. Geneva in
2003 and Tunis in 2005 with the purpose to assess progress
and prompt further global action to capture the promise of
ICT for all (WSIS, 2005a, 2005b; World Summit on the
Information Society, 2007). The ultimate goal of these
activities is to transform this analogue world into digital
one.
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 like
e-health, e-government, e-democracy, information rich
portals, digital libraries, etc. The basic factor in this
transformation is the growth of telecommunication infra-
structure. There is an unprecedented growth in the use of
cellular phones, personal computers, networks, wireless
networks, interactive television, PDAs and the like.
International Telecommunication Union (http://www.itu.
int/) maintains a large number of reports, indicators and
statistics about telecommunication. These indicators
(International Telecommunication Union, 2009) revealed
a prominent growth in ICT applications, teledensity, tele-
phone (landlines and wireless) accessibility, etc. world
over. Moreover, the results of the United Nations E-
Government Survey 2008 indicated that governments are
moving forward in e-government development around the
world and infrastructure index reveals that investment in
cellular phones has been dramatic over the past three years
in both the developed and developing countries
(Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2008).
Asia and pacific make the most populated region of the
globe. Information society indicators of Asia & Pacific pre-
sented a very bright picture and prospects. The region
showed a phenomenon growth in information society
applications. In the last decade, the Asia and the Pacific
region has experienced continuous ICT infrastructure
development and service uptake, which have led the region
to become a world leader in ICTs. By the end of 2007, the
region accounted for 1.4 billion mobile cellular subscrip-
tions, nearly 600 million fixed telephone lines, and more
than 551 million Internet users, which accounted for 39
percent of the world total. From 2000 to 2007, the region
added 415 million users, with an annual growth of 24
percent (compared to 19 percent globally) (International
Telecommunication Union, 2009).
Increasing use of digital information
Information has been recognized the most vibrant force and
factor of production in the contemporary economy. The
world has witnessed an unprecedented global flow of
information by virtue of development in ICTs. Develop-
ments in ICTs enable the conversion of information mainly
in analogue formats to digital formats and disseminate
among peers and virtual networks. The recent studies
conceded that dependence on digital information is
growing worldwide. The demand of digital contents influ-
enced the landscape of information production and pushed
the information publishers to switch from traditional print
base information production to electronic information.
Digital information offers significant advantages in
comparison with print resources. Digital information has
common characteristics and qualities, regardless of
whether the content is stored on DVD, CD-ROM or other
storage media, and can be linked to other materials to
create multimedia. It can be stored and delivered in
a variety of ways and can be copied limitless times without
degradation of the original (Hughes, 2004, p. 4). The
generally accepted advantages of using digital information
over print are: multi-access, speed, enhanced function-
ality, multimedia contents, re-useable information , ease in
management, interoperability and cheap storage (Lee &
Boyle, 2004, pp. 6e7). Harley (2007) explored the atti-
tudes of humanities and social science faculty about the
use and non-use of digital resources. The survey targeted
4443 faculty members of community colleges, University of
California campuses and liberal arts colleges in California,
USA. The survey revealed that instructors who use digital
Use of digital media in Pakistan 117

information resources do so far a variety of reasons
including convenience and time saving, integrating primary
source material into the course, improving students’
learning, allowing faculty to do new things in the class-
room, etc. Nevertheless, the most-cited obstacles to the
effective use of digital resources were the availability,
reliability and expense of the necessary equipment in the
classroom. Other major obstacles were identified as: scar-
city of digital images available for non-western fields; and
difficulty in locating high-quality pedagogically related
credible materials. The study emphasized the need of
publishing online the indigenous resources available with
non-western libraries.
Emerging information society in Pakistan
Internet has become an essential tool for scholarly and
business communication in Pakistan. The use of broadband
services has started to grow in homes and offices located in
major cities. This trend is expected to accelerate. Efforts
to network the country continue, and so far, over 3002
towns and cities have been plugged into the Internet
backbone till 2007e2008 (Pakistan Economic Survey
2009e2010, 2010).
Telecom sector of Pakistan showed a phenomenon
growth in recent years. The cellular mobile subscribers
continue 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 in
2000 while Teledensity (Fixed þWLL þMobile) reached at
62% in 2008e2009 (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority,
2010). In March 2009, there were 10,001 cities/towns/
villages covered and 26,300 cell sites installed by all
cellular operators. Wireless Local Loop (WLL) services are
becoming increasingly popular both for the rural and low
population density areas. WLL subscribers stood at 2.64
million in March 2010 (Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority, 2010).
Pakistan is ranked amongst top five most dynamic
economies in terms of increased internet penetration in
South Asian Region (UNCTAD, 2009). The number of total
internet user stands at 17.5 million in March 2008, with
10.1% penetration that counts, for 2.7% of internet users in
Asia (Internet World Stats, 2009). Broadband is experi-
encing healthy growth in recent years and companies are
providing broadband services with DSL, Cable, FTTH and
WiMax technologies across Pakistan whereas DSL is the most
popular technology. As of April 2010, there were 816,807
broadband subscribers (Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority, 2010).
Several other indicators reveal that Pakistan is witness-
ing digital transformation. The country has made a signifi-
cant development in terms of information society
indicators in recent years. Shafique and Mahmood (2008)
established the emergence of an information society at
a very fast pace in Pakistan. The study revealed that the
information society applications such as e- learning,
computer-supported political participation, e-government
initiatives, telemedicine, information and communication
technologies (ICTs), cellular phones, satellite dishes, the
internet, etc. indicate a prominent growth.
Increasing use of digital information in Pakistan
Unprecedented advantages of digital information have also
been greatly felt by the Pakistani community especially in
academics. The demand for digitized contents is ever
increasing worldwide and the same phenomenon is emerging
in Pakistan (Ameen & Rafiq, 2009). Ullah’s (2007) survey of
Medical Postgraduate Trainees and revealed that respon-
dentswerewellconversantwithinternetusageandwidely
used online information resources and electronic databases
to fulfil their information needs. A recent survey (Malik &
Mahmood, 2009) mentioned that the students of University
of the Punjab Lahore has eagerly adopted web to fulfil their
information needs. Online information resources are exten-
sively used by the students for their academic tasks. Another
study (Rafiq & Ameen, 2009) conceded that university
teachers preferred information in digital formats.
Increasing use of digital information in universities of
Pakistan was greatly affected by the emergence of digital
libraries. There is visible and commendable development of
DLs in the field of higher education in Pakistan. HEC-National
Digital Library Program (HEC-NDL), a project of Higher
Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, is a unique project
providing access to full-text digital databases to users of
public and private universities and non-profit research and
development organizations throughout Pakistan. It was
initially introduced as a collaborative project of the UK
based International Network for the Availability of Scientific
Publications (INASP), in connection with the implementation
of their Programme for the Enhancement of Research
Information (PERI). Implementation of the PERI programme
in Pakistan allowed the HEC to provide a vast quantity of
scholarly publications to the researchers. Inclusion in the
programme enables the participating institution to access
over 20,000 high quality, peer-reviewed journals, databases
and articles across a wide range of disciplines based on
electronic (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 Digital
Library, 2010). The statistics shows that there is a signifi-
cant increase in the total number of articles downloaded
from the previous years (Said, 2006).
Higher education institutions of Pakistan
The tradition of education, in this part of the word, has
persisted since ancient times. One of the early examples of
the educational institution is found in the ruins near and
around Taxila (known as Takshasila in old times). It was
attached with Buddhist monasteries for the education of
monks. Taxila remained a great seat of learning up to the
fifth 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 were
religious institutions and known as Maktabs and Madrassahs.
The colonial period under the British rule provided the
foundations for the contemporary education. The constit-
uent area that formed Pakistan heritages only two univer-
sities i.e. University of the Punjab, Lahore established in
1882 and University of Sindh, Jamshoro chartered in April,
118 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen

1947. University of Sindh was in organization stage when
Pakistan came into existence. So it is rightly to say that all
the universities except University of the Punjab are the
product of post-independence period. University of the
Punjab Lahore set the model for the establishment of new
universities in the country. The current scenario of Pakistan
presents a promising and significant growth from 1998 to
onward 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 be
categorized into general and professional universities. The
professional 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 affiliating
institutions. The universities award affiliations to the arts and
professional degree colleges to impart higher education. In
2009, there were1219 degree colleges affiliated with univer-
sities and degree awarding institutions in the country with
21,112 teachers in degree colleges and 46,893 teachers in
universities and degree awarding institutions of the country
(Pakistan Economic Survey2008e2009, 2009). Moreover, there
is an increase in students’ enrolment in HEIs. An enrolment of
741,092 is estimated in 2008e2009 in higher education over
640,061 in 2006e2007. Pakistani universities produced 613
PhDs during 2008 as compared to 420 PhDs during 2007e2008
(Pakistan Economic Survey 2008e2009, 2009).
Higher education sector of Pakistan has received major
attention of the government in recent years. A number of
programs were initiated to build the nations’ higher
education sector and capacity of knowledge creation,
processing, dissemination and usage. University Grants
Commission was replaced by Higher Education Commission
(HEC) of Pakistan, in September 2002, with enhanced
mandate and broad mandate to evaluate, improve and
promote the higher education and research sector in
Pakistan. The reform agenda has been supported through
the granting of a large array of powers to the Commission to
fulfil its mandate, and record increases in financial
resources by the government to support this process. In last
decade, HEC has invested a large amount of resources to
alter the basic functions of universities. Emphasizing on
promoting the research culture, HEC initiated a number of
attractive initiatives; offered research grants; provided
travel grants for teachers, and research students to present
their research papers in international conferences; funded
national and international conferences, workshops, semi-
nars, etc.; engaged foreign faculty in universities/DAIs on
lucrative salary packages; offered tenure-track system,
a lucrative salary package, of appointments; etc. HEC also
offered overseas scholarships for PhD and MS leading to
PhD, post doctoral fellowship and local PhD scholarships to
improve the manpower provision in higher education sector
of the country. It was truly a multifarious development era
that higher education have seen in recent years from basic
infrastructure development to knowledge based initiatives.
However, financial crises faced by the country hit hard on
the higher education sector too. A number of new develop-
ment projects were reduced from 116 during 2007e2008 to 29
during 2008e2009. Overall spending on development projects
was reduced to 8167.760 million during 2008e2009 from
15,390.455 million during 2007e2008 (Pakistan Economic
Survey 2008e2009, 2009). Nonetheless, this crises adversely
hit the research and development projects, overseas schol-
arships for PhD and MS leading to PhD, post doctoral fellowship
and local PhD scholarships, etc.
Research design and methodology
A comprehensive literature review was conducted along with
semi-structured in-depth interviews of 25 library experts for
the purposeof study. The interviewees were selected with the
help of some senior knowledgeable professionals and the
attention was given to ensure diversity of the sample and
representation of all the four provinces of Pakistan. Further-
more, the interviewees’ professional experience, expertise
and professional repute was carefully considered. Telephonic
and email contacts were used to fix appointments with the
interviewees. The interviews were conducted in the offices of
the interviewees. The researcher visited Karachi, Rawalpindi,
Islamabad, and Lahore to conduct the interviews. The
researcher did not visit Quetta and Peshawar because of the
deteriorated conditions of law and order in these cities. The
interview of a library expert from Quetta was conducted in
Karachi, when he was in the city for another meeting.
During interviews, an initial rapport was developed
consciously with the interviewees. All interviews were
recorded by an electronic voice recording apparatus with
the permission of the subjects and they were comfortable
with the recording. The interviewees were given option to
talk in English or Urdu languages to avoid language barrier
in the pursuance of the real insight from interviewees. The
recorded interviewees were coupled with notes during and
just after the interviews.
The recorded interviews were transcribed in English with
professional objectivity. Summary of analysis was extracted
from the interview transcripts manually. Interpretations,
comments, and quotes from the transcripts have been used
to explain the contents. The study ensured the anonymity
of the interviewees by referring the quotes from interview
transcripts without the names of the persons.
Research questions
The study was intended to answer the following research
questions:
1. What is the status of use of digital media in higher
education sector of Pakistan?
2. What is the status of demand for digitized contents in
higher 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 digital
transformation. Interviewees were asked to opine on the
flourishing digital culture in higher education sector in
terms of the use of digital media. A considerable number (7
Use of digital media in Pakistan 119

out of 25) of interviewees asked for the explanation of the
concept of digital media. Keeping in view the library
perspective, following list of digital media drawn from
Wikipedia was mentioned as examples for the purpose of
study (Table 1):
Internet
Compact disc
Digital video
Digital television
e-book
e-journals
A significant majority (20) of interviewees were of the
opinion that the use of digital media in higher education
sector of the country is growing. Six interviewees see it as
a positive factor. However, two interviewees expressed
that the use of digital media is primarily for entertainment.
One interviewee mentioned that the use varies institution
wise. Lack of orientation was also considered a hindrance in
the growing use of digital media by an interviewee.
Interpretations and discussions
There are many reasons e.g. currency of contents, ease in
use, reduced time lag to information access, time and space
independency, etc. of the popularity of digital media. A
significant factor of the growing use of digital media in HEIs
of 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-government
initiatives, telemedicine, information and communication
technologies, cellular phones, satellite dishes, internet,
present the emergence of an information society in this
country at a very fast pace (Shafique & Mahmood, 2008). The
technological infrastructure of the universities has been
significantly enhanced in recent years. Universities have
established LAN, WAN, video-conferencing facilities, Wi-Fi
connectivity, broadband internet connectivity, etc. which
has ultimately increased the use of digital media in higher
education sector in Pakistan.
High cost of print media is another factor of the growing
use of digital media, as stated by an interviewee, “The
people in developing countries don’t have sufficient
resources. Print media is becoming so much costly that
people are unable to go for, so the focus on digital media is
increasing very much”.
Another reasonmentioned was the increasingreplacement
of print media by digital. The respondents perceived that
print media is going to disappear. People are more and more
relying on digital media especially in area of periodicals. More
and more periodicals are available in e-formats. In next 5e10
years, probably, a lot of paper versions of periodicals will
simply disappear and users will have no choice anymore
except digital access. Some sciences are, right now,
publishing nothing in print. The transition of publishing model
from traditional print base to solely electronic is enormously
growing in scholarly journals. The ease of access, flexibility
and decreasing cost offered by digital media are the main
cause of its popularity. Academic community has experienced
the increasing benefits of digital media especially in research
journals and periodicals, in recent decades. Hence, it seems
that the academic publishers, in near future, will largely
discontinue the print publications and focus on digital
publishing, especially in journals and periodicals that will
affect 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 it
seemed worthy to note. It is true that digital divide largely
exists in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the ICT applications are
not available everywhere in Pakistan. “The rural areas of
Baluchistan [the province with largest area and the least
population] have not seen the abundant ICT applications
yet. Internet is hard to find there. Even in six universities of
Baluchistan, the use of digital media is less [in comparison
with the universities in other provinces of the country]”, an
interviewee noted. Although majority of Pakistani univer-
sities currently have better ICT infrastructure, yet the lack
of digital orientation among students hinder the use of
digital media applications, another interviewee raised the
important point. This aspect although mentioned by only
one respondent yet may be considered very much impor-
tant in researchers’ perspectives. It further emphasize the
importance of information literacy programs.
Some reservations about the academic use of digital
media were also observed in interview transcripts. Two
respondents stated that current use of digital media is for
entertainment instead of information seeking. It may be
said that the digital transformation is not at a mature stage
and use of digital media is for entertainment. However, in
the age of Web 2.0 with social networking applications of
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Library Things, Delicious,
etc., it is hard to differentiate entertainment and infor-
mation activities. Nevertheless, the interviewees’ opinion
is on the basis of a general myth that entertainment and
information are some sort of opposite pole of a continuum.
Nevertheless, the entertainment and information activities
are interwoven in the current tools of digital media. Overall
opinions of the respondents clearly unfold the growing use
of digital media in higher education sector of the country.
Demand for digitized contents in higher education
The interviewees were asked to through light on the
demand for digitized contents (d-contents) by the users of
HEIs. The analysis of information is as follows (Table 2):
Table 1 Use of digital media in higher education
(NZ25).
Contents analysis Freq.
Use of digital media in higher education
sector is growing
20
Growing use of digital media is a positive indicator 6
Use of digital media is just for entertainment
and not for information
2
Use of digital media varies from institution
to institution
1
Lack of digital media orientation is a hindrance 1
120 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen

Sixteen interviewees perceived that the demand for the
information contents in digital formats exists in higher
education sector, while all were agreed about the increase
in demand for d-contents. Seven recognized that certain
advantages associated with electronic information are
enhancing the demand. Two interviewees mentioned
another important factor of demand enhancement was the
less choice in contents’ formats as electronic publishing is
getting popularity and a number of contents have been
moved from print base publishing to electronic. Two have
considered the important role of HEC digital services in this
demand enhancement. The interviewees also mentioned
some hindrances to enhancement of demand for d-contents
as: text-book based education system; non-availability of
digital access to indigenous scholarship; lack of orientation
of 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 for
digitized contents is increasing. At our university, recently,
we have cancelled print subscription of 200 journals and
subscribed Science Direct Complete Health Science Edition,
Harvard and Wiley Interscience. Because it is demand of
the users and as the concept of virtual and digital library is
spreading; people, students, researchers, and staff
members demand resources in digital formats”.
It was also stated that another reason of rising demand is
the limited choices of information formats to users. For
example, one interviewee commented, “Demand is going up
because more and more things are going to be available in
digital formats and paper versions will be either not avail-
able or very expensive”. Another chief librarian’s experience
was, “We subscribed an electronic library for 25 article per
month basis. Within two months we have to extend our
subscription limit to 75 articles per month. It was the users
demand that we have increased the subscriptions. In last 3
years, we have subscribed five scholarly e-databases of
information resources on the demand of the users”. Another
aspect mentioned was, “People don’t have the time. They
want exact information. They are in hurry to submit their
assignments. So if libraries have information contents in
digital formats, offer better access, and having improved
retrieval techniques, they [users] can accomplish their tasks
efficiently”. Another interviewee mentioned, “Demand has
been increased overwhelmingly, research students require
digitized contents that are very much essential for their
research work”.
It appeared that HEC digital initiatives have greatly
influenced the demand for d-contents. HEC-NDL Program,
initiated in 2004, made available the digital contents from
renowned information providers like Science Direct, Ebrary,
McGraw-Hill Digital Library, Taylor & Francis E-Journals
(InformaWorld), SpringerLink, Cambridge University Press
(CUP), American Mathematical Society, American Chemical
Society, American Institute of Physics, JStor, Emerald,
Wiley Interscience, American Chemical Society (ACS),
Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and many
more. This initiative has positively influenced the users’
information behaviour and they are demanding information
contents in digital formats.
The interviewees also mentioned some hindrances to the
growth of demand for d-content. One of the major
hindrances was identified as text-book based education
system of the country that does not embargo the students to
necessarily consult the library resources. Another hindrance
noted by six interviewees was the non-availability of local
scholarship in the digital formats. The indigenous channels
of scholarly communication (journals, thesis, books, etc.
published in Pakistan) are not currently available in d-
formats. In case of social sciences and humanities, the
hindrance is more challenging. For example an interviewee
reported, “We have number of diaries, govt. reports,
committee reports, etc. but they are not digitized. Same is
the case with other indigenous information material. This is
an important factor hindering the demand for d-contents”.
This point was also addressed by another interviewee by
stating “There is a lot of material that I know is available in
Urdu and several other regional languages. None of them is
available electronically right now.There is a requirement
to digitize it and make it available online. If we do it, it will
be welcomed by lot of scholars not just in Pakistan but
around the world”. It shows that large number of indigenous
documents needs the digitization.
Another hindrance expressed was lack of orientation of
d-contents among library professionals as well as users. It
indicates 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 digital
media in higher education sector”. It was revealed that
some institutions that belong to the lesser developed areas
of the country, such as Baluchistan, do not have the same
rising pace of demand for contents in digital format. The
digital divide is due to the poor socioeconomic background
of the users’ community as well. The students who come in
Table 2 Demand for the d-contents in higher education
(NZ25).
Contents analysis of the responses Freq.
Demand for the d-contents is increasing 25
Demand for the d-contents exists 16
Certain advantages of d-resources are
enhancing the demand
7
Text-book based education system is a
major hindrance in the demand
enhancement
4
Non-digitization of indigenous
scholarship (local scholarly contents)
is a major hindrance to meet the
demand of the users
4
Lack of orientation of d-contents is a
hindrance in increasing demand
2
HEC digital services have created much
demand for d-contents
2
Libraries are not playing their role to
enhance this demand
2
Demand is going up because of an
increase in e-publishing
1
Demand varies from institution to institution 1
Use of digital media in Pakistan 121

higher education sector from such deprived areas of the
country are not well abreast with ICT applications. Their
use of digital media as well as demand for d-contents is less
than the students who are well abreast with latest ICT
applications.
Modern libraries play a major role in creation of demand
for its resources through promotional activities. Libraries
subscribe a resource, publicize it, market it, and attracts
the users. It appears that libraries are not playing their due
role to enhance this demand. Culture of demand always
needs to be created and for the creation of this demand
culture, libraries have to perform. The current digital
paradigm calls for a proactive role of the libraries to market
d-resources and enhance the demand of the user.
Conclusion
It may be concluded that the use of digital media is on rise
and demand for digitized contents is growing increasingly.
However, libraries are not fully prepared to meet this
demand due to a number of barriers. The non-availability of
local material in digital formats is the most important
hindrance. The results necessitate the paradigm shift in
current library acquisition practices in Pakistan that are
mainly focused on information resources in print formats.
The findings of the study make a good case for the libraries
to focus more on acquisition of information resources in
digital formats as well as initiate digitization initiatives. The
findings also emphasize the need for information literacy
programs by libraries to enable the users to fully exploit the
available information resources in digital formats.
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122 M. Rafiq, K. Ameen