Electronic resources have become a dominant feature of higher education, both traditional and distance learning based. Unlike in the past when universities relied majorly on the physical library and hard copy of books, e‑books accessible through e‑libraries are the dominant features of this century’s institutions of higher learning. This study investigated pre‑service teacher trainees by distance and the utilization of e‑learning resources. A survey research design was used to carry out the study. One hundred and forty four (144) pre‑service teachers by distance from three institutions offering teacher training programmes by distance in South Africa completed the anonymous web based survey designed to gather data which provide answers to the five (5) research questions in the study. The results revealed a high utilization of e‑resources to learn but a low utilization of e‑resources to teach among the respondents. The study recommends institutional based training on the techniques of accessing and utilizing e‑learning resources for pre‑service teacher trainees in ODL institutions.