Engagement of users with e-resources across agricultural libraries of Northern India
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-04-2017-0039 |
| Published date | 11 June 2018 |
| Date | 11 June 2018 |
| Pages | 233-245 |
| Author | Nazir Ahmad Bhat |
Engagement of users with
e-resources across agricultural
libraries of Northern India
Nazir Ahmad Bhat
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir,
Srinagar, India
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to identify the frequency at which the users of agricultural libraries of
Northern India tend to use the e-resources and explore the time they invest on average in a day in using
e-resources. An effort has also been made to examine the state wise, university wise and user category wise
tendency w.r.t. the frequency at which they use e-resources and the average time in a day they spend on their use.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey was adopted to conduct the study and a questionnaire was
used as a data collection tool. The investigator also interacted with the librarians through telephone and also
resorted to the e-mail communication to substantiate the responses and seek certain clarifications thereof.
Statistical Package for Social Science was used to analyse the data on an empirical basis. χ
2
test was used to
derive an association between the variables and test the level of significance thereof.
Findings –It is found that the users of North Indian agricultural libraries have got a great tendency to use
e-resources as majority of them are seen to use them “daily”and “2-3 times a week”. They prove to be
voracious, prudent and sensible users in the sense that they spend 2 hrs in a day, 1 hr in a day and even 3 hrs
in a day on usage of e-resources and thus go at par with the use pattern recorded in other domains of
knowledge across India. No remarkable difference is witnessed among different categories of users w.r.t.
frequency of use and the time spend on use of e-resources.
Research limitations/implications –This study has been conducted on e-resources only. Response to a
similar set of questions need to be collected from the same library users to consolidate the facts about the
print form of information and thus carryout a comparative study.
Originality/value –This is first work of its nature in Northern India with domain as agricultural libraries.
The outcome of the study will enable the librarians to judiciously decide about the proportion at which the
two formats of information resources need to be acquired and the facilities the libraries need to create for
adequate, smooth and reliable access to two formats of information.
Keywords Frequency of use, Agricultural libraries, Categories of users, Comparative assessment,
Electronic information resources (EIRs), Time spend
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
India has a vast network of agricultural libraries and, in Northern India, there are
17 well-established libraries in agricultural universities. As far as the types of registered
library users in agricultural university libraries are concerned, they comprise of officers of
the university, scientists (faculty members), research associates, research assistants,
technical staff, PhD scholars, masters’degree students, and undergraduate students.
The sources of information in contemporary libraries are available in both print and
electronic formats and the agricultural libraries of Northern India are not an exception to it.
Bhat (2016) found that the majority of the agricultural libraries in Northern India have a sound
collection of information resources in print form. The size of print collection varies significantly
from library to library, depending on the age of libraries. Major portion of the budget allocated to
these libraries is yet spent on acquisition of print form of information sources as these libraries
do not prefer to acquire much in electronic form, individually of their own. However, the
e-availability of information resources has paved a way for libraries to avail access to desirably
high quantum of resources on consortium basis, e.g. Consortium for Electronic Resources in
Agriculture (providing access to full text of 3,000+journals). The agricultural libraries are also
seen interested to acquire e-books, but inadequate budget seems to hamper their acquisition.
Library Management
Vol. 39 No. 3/4, 2018
pp. 233-245
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-04-2017-0039
Received 8 April 2017
Revised 13 November 2017
Accepted 16 November 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
233
Agricultural
libraries of
Northern India
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