The use of electronic information resources is growing rapidly. The actual science information is electronic as a rule - practically all the journals of engineering and natural science have electronic versions and a certain number of them are available only electronically. Electronic scientific information in technical universities is the basis for research and development, degree study and professional specialty, to a certain extent. It is widely agreed by producers and purchasers of information that the use of electronic resources should be measured in a more consistent way. Librarians want to understand better how the information they buy from a variety of sources is being used; publishers want to know how the information products they disseminate are being accessed. Findings of this study suggest that the financial opportunities of technical university libraries in the four neighboring countries - Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, Helsinki University of Technology, Tallinn University of Technology Library and Scientific Library of Riga Technical University (henceforth referred to as KTHL, HUTL, TUTL and RTUL respectively) - to spend resources on electronic publications are very different.