A Voyage of Prints to e Prints

The advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have changed the traditional static libraries into live service agencies which are now functional 24 x 7 day/night discarding the barriers of boundaries. The quality information handling techniques and the information storage media of today have opened and offered new opportunities for the librarians and users. It has also brought drastic changes in the formats and techniques of information retrieval. Slowly and gradually the printed medium is giving way to electronic prints. The open access electronic sources provide the users an interface with which the user can access the documents from any source and any corner of the world through internet and World Wide Web. The present paper has made an attempt to track down the history of printing medium and techniques of printing from ancient world to the modern era of electronic and digital printing. The relevance of Five Laws of Library Science given by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan in today's digital world has also been discussed. Various formats of digital prints, sources of e Prints along with the advantages and disadvantages of both, printed and electronic prints also find a mention in the paper.