A Feasibility Study of Replacing Printed Reference Sources by Free Electronic Reference Sources in University Libraries

This research investigated the possibility of the eplacement of printed reference sources by free electronic eference sources. A content analysis method was carried out on 25 printed reference sources (out of 1364 titles available in Ferdowsi University libraries) including 5 encyclopedias, 5 atlases, 5 biographies, 5 dictionaries and 5 directories. For each printed ource, a similar electronic one was selected and examined. In both printed and free electronic reference source, 5 entries (250 in total) were analyzed according to checklists to see if they match the content as well as the structural criteria. The scores obtained to each entry in free electronic sources as well as those in printed ones were compared. Findings showed that: 1. There is a significant difference between the scores obtained from the entry analysis in free electronic sources and those in printed sources implying that free electronic sources have more capabilities in answering reference questions. Therefore, free electronic reference sources have considerable capacity to replace printed reference sources. 2. There is significant difference between the scores obtained from the analysis of the quality of indexes of the content of printed sources as well as those of free electronic ones. From the content point of view free electronic reference sources are more capable in fulfilling reference questions than their equivalent printed sources. 3. There is a significant difference between scores obtained for the structure of printed sources and electronic sources. From a structural point of view, free electronic reference sources have more capacity to fulfill reference questions than their similar printed reference sources.