Role of Remote Access Solutions for Accessing Library Resources: A Panacea for Sustainable Access to Legal Databases During Pandemic

Abstract

 Physical access to libraries and information centers was obstructed due to nationwide lockdown as an outcome of the spread of corona virus. In this scenario, libraries played a pivotal in extending reference and research services to its clientele through various mechanisms. Remote access to electronic resources is one of such mechanisms. The present study is an attempt to know diverse patterns of accessing electronic resources through remote access software during pandemic by users of a Law University based in India namely National Law University Delhi (NLUD). The study also aims to analyze the frequency of referred electronic resources during pandemic on various parameters such as most referred legal database, maximum number of downloads, maximum number of logins, content based logins and downloads for various legal databases from the perspective of different user categories. The data for the present study has been extracted from the remote access software namely RemoteXs subscribed by the university. The Study finds that post graduate students are the major users among different user categories accessing the electronic resources through remote access mechanisms during the lockdown period. The study also reveals that among various electronic resource categories, the most popular category were e-journals. Apart from this, most referred Indian legal database was Manupatra and JSTOR was the most popular International legal database.