Characteristics of the Electronic Journal: Library Philosophy and Practice

Electronic journal facilitates dissemination of research results in less time, at low cost and offer universal accessibility, flexibility and interactivity. There are a number of journals on the Internet, which are accessible absolutely free. Libraries should select such journals, evaluate them and make them available to their user community through their local websites. Characteristics of one such journal Library Philosophy and Practice have been studied. Library Philosophy and Practice (http://www.uidaho.edu/∼mbolin/lp&p.htm) is a peer-reviewed and free electronic journal. The general features of the journal like: format, layout, accessibility, subject coverage, collaboration pattern, usage of illustrations, referencing style, extent to which electronic resources were cited in the text as well as in the References sections, and their categorywise accessibility is documented. The general layout and format of the journal is attractive. Topics covered included technical issues such as collection development, technical services, information technology, information skills, citation analysis, etc. Only two papers were multi-authored, while the remaining 17 papers were single-authored. Out of 52 linked electronic resources in the text 94.2%, and out of 45 linked electronic resources in the References sections 84.4% could be accessed. Out of 19 papers studied, 8 papers had a total of 7 figures, 7 tables, 6 appendices, 4 charts, and one slide show presentation in PowerPoint. The electronic resources were categorized according to their contents into Home Pages, Personal papers, emails, documents, electronic journals, local files, exhibits, FAQs, journal lists, press releases, newsletters, catalogues, encyclopedia, Help pages, magazines, news service, reports, and syllabi. References in the texts and in the References sections were: (47.4%) Home Pages, 21.6% personal papers and, 31% belonging to other categories.