Challenges and Opportunities in Building a Successful Digital Library in Developing Countries

Abstract

The present research work describes the use of the electronic resources by the teaching community at Mekelle University, Ethiopia. The survey was conducted by using questionnaires to collect the data. The questionnaires were administrated to total 1516 on duty teaching faculties of seven colleges. Including the College of Natural and Computational Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Health Science, the College of Law and Governance, the College of Business and Economics, the College of Language and Social Sciences, College Dry Land Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as nine regular institutes including; the Ethiopian Institute of Technology, the Mekelle Institute of Technology, the Institute of Paleo Environment and Heritage Conservation, the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, the Institute of Geo-Information and Earth Observation Sciences, the Institute of Environment and Gender Development Studies, the Institute of Population Studies, the Institute for Climate and Society, and the Institute for Water and Environment at Mekelle University. The survey also examines the purpose of use, frequency, difficulties, and availability of electronic information resources subscribed by the Mekelle University Digital Library. Finally, the data was interpreted, concluded, and suggestions have been given for improvement of electronic information resources at library web portal.