Online Library Budgets

The Globe and Mail today had a section on Education with an article about A new world of digital libraries by Kate L. Barrette. The story quotes Michael Ridley, Chief Information Office and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph to the effect that now they spend 63% of their acquisitions budget on digital resources (31% for print) compared to five years ago when it was 20% digital. That is a big change in the ratio of digital to print.

Here is a quote from the article:

Many of the libraries are devoting more than 50 per cent of their acquisitions budget to on-line resources, from acquiring electronic journal titles to reference software and electronic books. It’s fundamentally changing the ways students and faculty access information as well as the way librarians store it.

Why are still stuck only reading the online stuff instead of using computers to do other things with this digital treasure?