DEVELOPMENTS IN USAGE AND ACQUISITIONS OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN THE BALTIC STATES' LEADING TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES: PAST TRENDS AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

This paper begins with an overview of the situation of technical university libraries in the Baltic States during the Soviet era. It analyzes the more recent use of resources together with the costs and financing needed to acquire scientific information. Analysis of the financial opportunities of the three leading technical university libraries indicates that due to disparate funding levels, the opportunities for these libraries to spend resources on scientific information differ greatly from institution to institution. Limited resources account for the considerably lower frequency of library usage, especially of electronic information, in poorly financed libraries.