The staff of the Folsom Library has begun to resolve issues related to the lack of space for library periodicals by replacing certain print materials with digital subscriptions to books and periodicals and adding additional digital subscriptions.
Newly acquired digital subscriptions to journals include Access Science, an online encyclopedia of science and technology, the Harrison’s Online medical database, and Science Direct, an interdisciplinary science research resource.
In addition to saving space and sometimes reducing cost, Library Director Loretta Ebert noted that the electronic journals also provide extra benefits that their print companies do not have, which she terms "value-added kinds of features."
Many digital collections let multiple users access the collections simultaneously, unlike printed books; as a result, members of the campus community do not have to worry about photocopying only sections of a particular resource, but instead may examine the entire periodical.
Students do not have to take the time to visit the library, but instead may access their research material from a dormitory or apartment at their leisure and print any pages that they may need.
Unlike the dated print resources, digital collections can contain updated information about emerging technologies such as biotechnology.
Additionally, users of the digital collections do not have to worry about returning the electronic resources back to the library on time.
Ebert noted that the flexibility of the library enables it to "be ready to be a digital library." She added, "We will be one of the major digital libraries in the country even though we would have never measured up by the standards of print collections."
Since other larger university libraries have such expansive print collections, it is much more difficult for them to convert all of their resources to make use of digital collections. They must instead have duplications in their print and digital collections during technology transition efforts.
A significant consequence of going digital is the ability to digitalize Institute records and make them available to the members of the campus community.
Students would be able to browse through the collection of architecture slides, read RPI’s history, and examine copies of old campus publications.
