The importance of aggregators for libraries in the digital era

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to define different types of aggregators and discuss their importance for libraries in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach - A review of literature on aggregators was carried out. The paper focuses mainly on the various aggregators and outlines their advantages and disadvantages for libraries. Findings - Libraries have been working with publishers and aggregators for many years; however, the issues related to aggregators are not well documented. Aggregators have been helping libraries to facilitate their services to users but they have some disadvantages for libraries such as the lack of library influence in selecting individual titles; the lack of control over the contents of aggregator packages; and the confusion of library users when accessing different packages. Originality/value - The paper provides a useful overview to researchers in any field, enabling them to achieve quickly a clear picture of aggregators in the electronic environment.