Trends in using CD‐ROM is academic libraries of three South Asian countries ‐ Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Available to Purchase

High hopes were attached to CD‐ROM technology at its inception in bridging the gap between ‘information rich’ and ‘information poor’ countries. However, this is technology is entering the libraries of developing countries at a much slower pace than expected. This paper explores the use of CD‐ROM in academic libraries of three South Asian countries, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A questionnaire was used for data collection and 39 academic libraries participated in the study. It was found that only one‐half of the libraries were using CD‐ROM technology and 65% of these were facing financial difficulties in sustaining it. TWO‐thirds of the libraries have only up to two CD‐ROM workstations and, on average, libraries have just over four CD‐ROM titles. Most of the library staff was self trained and only libraries were undertaking promotional and user education activities. This paper suggests that donor agencies and leading publishers should pool their resources to develop full‐text CD‐ROM products to help sustain the flow of digital information to these countries.