Information Resources Preservation: Bottlenecks and their Effect on Library Information Services

Abstract This study investigated the factors hindering information resources preservation and the extent to which information services are affected in academic libraries. The population consisted of 170 library staff who were conveniently selected from the seven academic libraries under study. The researchers prepared a well-structured questionnaire for data collection and the responses were subjected into SPSS version 20 and content analysis. Findings revealed that lack of awareness, inappropriate building, and lack of preservation plan and being unsure on how to get started, being unsure on how to protect digital information resources and inadequate funding are the factors hindering effective preservation in academic libraries in Tanzania. The study also revealed that lack of information resources preservation affects library services to a great extent. The study concludes that damage of information resources affected information services. The study recommends that academic libraries management in collaboration with other stakeholders should establish a preservation consortium that will oversee the preservation issues in academic libraries country wide that may reduce the extent to which the barriers of information resources preservation affects the information services in the country. Through this consortium experts in the field of preservation will share skills on how they could tackle the preservation challenges together.