Pricing and Marketing the e-Databases and Deprivation of Users: A Case Study of Delhi State of India

Abstract

Worldly knowledge system can be termed as an integration of Knowledge economy, information technology, library system as a knowledge facilitator, and e-databases in the epoch of modern globalization. Users across the globe perceived it as a commodity and are paying the price of e-databases. Users and knowledge facilitation centers, libraries and information centers are spending substantial part of their proposed expenditure in order to purchase information products in terms of e-databases globally. Global information industry has touched $381billion in 2007. In India, except National Informatics Centre (NIC), rests of the e-database players are private and majority of them are MNCs and monopolist competitive market’s leaders. The State of Delhi has become a reputed e-database market in India and its players are globally aligned and locally well versed with governments and most of them are cropping government resources for their promotion of marketing. Whether they are really a promoter of knowledge development oriented activities or profit maximization agencies only?  Is increasing subscription rate of e-databases becoming a threatening issue for users and libraries and information centers and their establishments? Is nature of market and marketing of e-databases pricing models benefiting the consumers/users/Libraries and Information Professionals (LIPs)? How will the increasing subscription of databases be precipitated in term of development of knowledge economy a, users, libraries and information centers in the State of Delhi in near future? How should users and LIPs react?  This paper is a humble effort to deal with these pertinent questions.

Keywords: E-databases, Library Information Personals (LIPs), Pricing, Market Structure