| Abstract : Digital information resources are no longer
considered special or experimental materials. They are now just one of many
types of resources offered by libraries. However, methods for the evaluation
of digital information resources have yet to become standard in Japanese
academic libraries. This paper discusses electronic journal aggregators,
which were the source of the electronic resources that were evaluated in
this study. The introduction of products which offer direct access to electronic
journals that have been aggregated by an Internet host was examined. However,
to make an evaluation based solely upon the comparison of the functions
of the media itself is insufficient. It is necessary to have a method that
brings together the property of convenience that is inherent in electronic
resources with that of the conveniece to the user. Evaluation methods
of digital information resources also takes a mass marketing approach, i.e.
an approach that aims at all users of these resources. However, this methodology
is ineffective and has deficiencies. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize
a target marketing approach. In his book “Diffusion of Innovations," E.
M. Rogers classified adopters of innovation into the following five categories
: 1) innovators, 2) early adopters, 3) early majority, 4) late majority
and 5) laggards. This categorization scheme showed a high degree of validity
in the case of the evaluation of digital information resources. |
