DIGITAL INFORMATION RESOURCES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: BY SELECTION TOWARDS HIGH-QUALITY COLLECTIONS, BY ETHICS TOWARDS USING CULTURE

Text topic: E-Libraries

Text author: Вука Јеремић

The most important role of academic libraries is to provide high-quality, credible and actual information resources for students, professors and scientific researchers. Academic librarians perform specific acquisition policy with selection process as a key purchasing method both for traditional and digital publications. To enable adequate level of learning and scientific research, academic professionals have to define priorities and then carefully apply strong selection criteria. Building digital collections demands permanent quality control which mustn’t turn into censorship. On the other side, it is very important to educate young population in ethical aspect of digital resources using. Some of the ethical dilemmas faced by librarians and users have arisen because of rapid information and communication technology development. The speed and efficiency of electronic information systems which include local and global networks, databases and processing programs, force users to confront entirely new rights and responsibilities which constitute so-called Internet ethics, computer ethics or information ethics. The core issues of information ethics include intellectual freedom, equitable access to knowledge, privacy protection and intellectual property. Library professionals have been concerned with these issues for centuries, but advances in information technology have made the academic population more aware of new challenges in ethical area.