CDROM versus online: the UK perspective
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045252 |
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| Pages | 307-309 |
| Author | Richard Hollis |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
CDROM versus online: the
UK perspective
Richard Hollis
Bowker-Saur,
60 Grosvenor
Street,
London W1X 9DA,
UK
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the
arguments
for
and against the delivery of electronic
information via CDROM and online services.
To support this overview, the results of a recent independent
survey sponsored by Bowker-Saur amongst UK business
information users are
presented.
The survey analyses
frequency of use of online hosts and databases; CDROM as
a unique source or supplement / alternative to online;
CDROM for current or historic data; multiple access by
networks; ratio of use between CDROM and online
databases; end-user searching of CDROM and online
databases; re-charging for searches undertaken on
CDROM and online; and criteria for selecting CDROM and
online services.
Conclusions drawn from the results of the survey are
supplemented by personal observations on the UK
information
market,
based
on
direct first-hand contact with
academic, public and corporate libraries throughout the
UK.
1.
Introduction
The literature of library and information science is already full
of references to the continuing debate on the relative benefits
of CDROM over online, and I therefore cannot hope to offer
the definitive guide to the pros and cons of CDROM versus
online. However, since Bowker-Saur is publisher of Library
and Information Science Abstracts
PLUS,
a quick subject
search through the literature on LISA PLUS is certainly to be
recommended for an exhaustive and international overview.
At
the
First Southern African Online Information Meeting,
Catherine Dubbeld (1991) raised the pertinent question of
whether CDROM is a viable alternative to online searching
for academic libraries. In concluding that although CDROM
was found to be more economic than online searching in the
long term, the real problem appears to
be
that academic librar-
ies,
in acquiring CDROM, would be forced to choose, not
between CDROM and online but between CDROM and
equivalent printed sources.
This,
incidentally, has also been Bowker-Saur's experi-
ence following the publication in the autumn of 1992 of such
abstracting and indexing services as British Humanities In-
dex, Current Technology Index and Applied Social Sciences
Index & Abstracts on CDROM. Despite the availability of
such databases
online,
the
migration of subscribers to the new
CDROMs has been almost exclusively from existing users of
the printed services and not the online users.
Similar patterns of
usage
were detected in a survey of Brit-
ish public library CDROM
holdings.
East
(1992)
observed that
22%
of
139
local public library authorities had cancelled Whi-
taker's British Books in Print in favour of Bookbank and
38%
had purchased Bowker's Books
in
Print PLUS in preference to
the print subscription. This trend is likely to accelerate even
faster with
the
forthcoming Global Books
in
Print
PLUS,
com-
bining the Bowker, Whitaker and Thorpe databases.
This particular trend
is also
documented by Tenopir
&
Neu-
fang (1992), in a survey of US and Canadian member libraries
of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to determine
their use of online and CDROM databases, which concluded
that although CDROM caused some migration from online,
most migration was from printed sources to CDROM.
2.
The AEBIG survey
Much of the present debate has focused on the information
needs of academic libraries and their requirements for high-
volume usage of databases at fixed costs by inexpert end-
users—
a scenario readily satisfied by the advent of
CDROM. Following the recent publication of CDROM data-
bases in the fields of management, corporate affiliations and
advertising, Bowker-Saur sought to investigate the attitudes
and opinions of the UK business information community over
preferences for CDROM and online sources, through spon-
sorship of a survey to a special interest group of Aslib, the
Association for Information Management.
The Aslib Economic and Business Information Group
(AEBIG) CD-ROM versus Online Questionnaire represents a
snapshot of members' views on the mediums of online and
CDROM databases, and attempts to chart their likely devel-
opment in use over the next year.
3.
Methodology
In December 1992, 350 questionnaires were circulated to
members of
AEBIG.
By
the
response
date
of
1
February 1993,
some 122 completed questionnaires had been received, giv-
The Electronic Library,
Vol.
11,
No.
4/5,
August/October 1993 307
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