Análisis longitudinal del Sistema Bibliotecario ecuatoriano

The success of the finest universities in the world is based to a large extent on the development of the library system. At the same time these systems are subjected to a competitive dynamic, with the aim of promoting knowledge generation. Ecuador is not exempt from this dynamic and currently finds itself in the midst of an overall development of its higher education system. The present study offers a longitudinal analysis of the current state of the university library system, based on a sample 25 of the 54 existing universities. Under consideration were administrative, technological, economic and service variables, the most important being the number of documents per student and the investment in database access. In addition, the way in which libraries acquire scientific information databases is explored, together with what is currently on offer and the level of government investment for providing database access.