Exploring the challenges of e-resources acquisition to enhance access and the enabling factors to embrace patron-driven e-resources acquisition in Ethiopian university libraries

University libraries curate their collections striving to align with the academic disciplines of their respective institutions and to fulfill the diverse information needs of their users. The integration of digital technologies into library operations has significantly impacted their services and activities. Despite the numerous challenges, Ethiopian university libraries attempt to provide access to electronic resources. This paper aims to investigate the obstacles surrounding e-resource acquisition to enhance access and to identify the existing facilitating factors to the embrace patron-driven acquisition within Ethiopian university libraries. This study adopted an explanatory research method with a qualitative approach. The research focused on librarians, library directors, and postgraduate school directors from two public universities in Ethiopia: Jimma and Ambo Universities. A total of 22 participants were selected purposefully, and 19 of them responded accordingly. Data was collected using semi-structured Delphi techniques and interviews and analyzed using QDA Miner Lite software. The study uncovered several challenges hindering e-resource acquisition, including limited user involvement in the acquisition, the absence of an online acquisition system, inadequate acquisition budget, scarcity of relevant content, exorbitant journal costs, foreign currency constraints, and protracted licensing procedures. Conversely, the research identified enabling factors to patron-driven e-resource acquisition adoption, including the presence of ICT infrastructure, the proliferation of postgraduate programs, librarians’ strong willingness and professional readiness to integrate e-resources in the library collection, heightened user interest in e-resources, the prevalence of e-learning practices, initiatives to enhance digital services and supportive management. Therefore, addressing the challenges and leveraging enabling factors is imperative to formulate a strategic plan for effective patron-driven e-resource subscription in Ethiopian university libraries.