Impact of Availability of E-Resources on User Satisfaction in Agricultural Libraries of Northern India

The main objectives of the study were to assess the level of user satisfaction with regard to the following types of Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) relevant to agriculture and allied disciplines, viz. Indexing and Abstracting (I&A) Databases; e-Journals; e-Books; and e-Theses. Seven universities were surveyed using a questionnaire for collecting data. The investigator used telephonic and e-mail communication and had a face-to-face interaction with respondents to substantiate the responses and remove ambiguities. The level of users’ satisfaction has been measured using a five point Likert scale. A great majority of respondents are satisfied about the availability of e-abstract databases (87.92%) and e-journals (89.67%). Despite the fact that only three of the surveyed libraries are found to subscribe to a single e-book collection of 600 titles, surprisingly a good percentage of the library users (69.08%) are satisfied with the availability of e-books. Same is the case with e-theses, whereof the majority of respondents (60.33%) are satisfied, despite the fact that only one e-theses database that too only of Indian coverage i.e., KrishiPrabha is made available to users

Influence of personality traits on open access mode of publishing

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of personality traits on perception and acceptance of open access (OA) mode of publishing by the author community of University of Kashmir, India. The study is an attempt to highlight the relationship between personality traits of authors and OA mode of publishing. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the responses of 48 faculty members affiliated with different Departments of Science Discipline of University of Kashmir. Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience) were tapped through ten-item personality inventory, and information regarding OA was gauged through six self-devised statements. Findings – Pearson correlation test confirms statistically significant relation between personality traits and different dimensions of OA mode of publishing. Personality traits are found to have an influence on author’s perception of OA mode of publishing. However, the study could not ascertain any relation between the notions of an author about the quality of OA content with any of the personality traits. Emotionally stable authors are found to explicitly submit their work in OA journals without any anxiety or negativity. Agreeable and conscientious authors also prefer to keep their work open to make it helpful to the broader audience and get maximum recognition from peers and citations to their work respectively. However, some authors (agreeable) hesitate in submitting their work in open platforms due to the fear of getting their works easily copie

Status of collection in agricultural libraries of Northern India with an overview of the trend in acquisition

Purpose – This paper of this study is to attempt to explore the status of collection in agricultural libraries of Northern India and assess the magnitude of impact of the advent of electronic information resources (EIRs) on the contemporary acquisition. Design/methodology/approach – While adhering to the survey method, the questionnaire was used as a data collection tool to collect data from university librarians. Telephonic interaction and e-mail correspondence were also used to clear doubts, remove ambiguities and obtain data of higher significance from the respondents. Findings – The majority of the agricultural libraries in Northern India have a sound collection of information resources in the print form, which may continue to act as a source of attraction for users in the future for a long time to come. Yet, the acquisition of information resources in the print form across the studied libraries continues at routine pace, and as such the advent of e-resources seems to have not yet laid any prominent impact on acquisition of resources in print form. E-Books have not yet been fully incorporated into the library collection and that e-journal collection “CeRA” (Consortium for Electronic Resources in Agriculture) seems to gratify the needs of users of these libraries, as no additional e-journals are seen to be subscribed to at present. Research limitations/implications – Only seven agricultural libraries have been taken as a sample. Moreover, the work is confined to only two aspects, i.e. current status and the impact of EIRs on acquisition of information resources. Other aspects like those of collection development, storage and accommodation, preservation, library functionality and library services need to also be studied. Originality/value – This is first work of its nature in Northern India with agricultural libraries as their domain. The findings will help the librarians and the library advisory committees decide on logical grounds about the proportion at which the print and electronic forms of information resources need to be acquired

Emerging Web 2.0 applications in open access scholarly journals in the field of agriculture and food sciences

Purpose – The study aims to focus on the application of Web 2.0 tools in Agriculture and Food Sciences open access journals. The changing trends in scholarly publishing processes have revolutionised the academic world. The shifting of academic journals to open access mode has been on the rise because of the numerous benefits associated with it. The high level of profitability reaped from open access titles has forced them to experiment with new and innovative technologies, including Web 2.0. The new shift in the form of Web 2.0 has sifted in to the open access journal world. Open access journals in the field of Agriculture and Food Sciences are growing and so are the features and functionalities within them. Because of these new innovative tools there is an urgent need to focus on their adoption. Design/methodology/approach – Directory of Open Access Journals, being one of the growing open access journal directories, was selected for the purpose of data gathering. The journals selected for the study included those titles which were currently active. Findings – The open access journal landscape in the field of Agriculture and Food Sciences is influenced by the Web 2.0 revolution. The degree of experimenting with Web 2.0 in open access journals in Agriculture and Food Sciences is evident and can prove an excellent platform for the dissemination of agricultural information in a more advanced mode. Researchlimitations/implications – The study will be helpful for journal administrators who belong to the field of Agriculture and Food Sciences to know the actual status of Web 2.0 adoption by the journals in their field. The study can also be helpful for journal administrators for the adoption of Web 2.0 tools to achieve a better, more innovative and interactive scholarly platform. It will also enable us to know how the new pioneering technology – Web 2.0 – can help to explore new innovative ways of managing information in the scholarly world in general and the Agriculture and Food Sciences discipline in particular. Originality/value – The study can be extended to harness the effects of Web 2.0 on the research activities of the scholars associated with various disciplines of Agriculture and Food Sciences. How Agricultural scientists make use of Web 2.0 for sharing and exchange of information for their academic development can also be researched. The impact of Web 2.0 tools on the citation counts of open access journals can also be studied

A GLIMPSE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENABLED LIBRARY SERVICES

Libraries and information centers are existing in the societies from time immemorial. The basic functions of the libraries revolve around acquiring information sources and making these information sources available to those who are in need of information. Nature of these activities changed with passage of time. In the Pre-Gotenburg era, libraries were focusing on the collection of manuscripts and other such materials. Preservation of these manuscripts was the priority of libraries. But after the invention of printing press, focus of libraries shifted to the collection of printed materials like books, journals, newspapers etc. With the popularization of education among different sections of societies and democratization of knowledge, librarians shifted their focus from collection of materials to more and more accessibility of users to the library collection. Librarian in the Post- Gotenburg era were no more custodians of knowledge but were regarded as facilitators, who provide supporting services to users in accessing information sources with more convenience. Revolution brought about by information and communication technology (ICT) has influenced each and every facet of library and information centers

How Post Graduate Students Use and Access Electronic Resources in the Universities of Jammu and Kashmir

Purpose: Easy availability and accessibility of information in multi-formats, advancement in tech savvy tools and improvement in information organization have led to the heavy use of electronic sources of information. Same is expected about the students pursuing various courses in different universities of Jammu and Kashmir. The paper explores, analyses and discusses the use of electronic sources of information by the students pursuing various courses in the universities of Jammu & Kashmir. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the use of electronic sources of information, a total of 927 students using stratified random sampling were selected from four universities of Jammu & Kashmir. Sample was taken in accordance to the population ratio from each of the select universities. A welldrafted questionnaire was used as a data gathering tool and was personally distributed among all the students. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: The use of electronic sources of information has increased among the university students by the introduction of Information Technology. There is a transformation from the traditional way of seeking information towards the tech savvy mode. Students mainly use laptops for seeking their desired information. Internet and Newspapers are mostly used to stay updated. The awareness and assistance regarding the use of electronic sources of information is mostly given by friends and teachers rather than library staff. The study also reveals that students face a number of physical problems including strain in eyes and neck while accessing electronic sources of information. Practical implications: The paper is highly applicable to the administrators and managers of university setups to understand the use and impact of electronic sources on the university students in the digital environment. It will further help the university libraries to subscribe qualitative electronic resources and launch awareness as well as assistance programs among the users to enhance their information literacy skills

How Post Graduate Students Use and Access Electronic Resources in the Universities of Jammu and Kashmir

Purpose: Easy availability and accessibility of information in multi-formats, advancement in tech savvy tools and improvement in information organization have led to the heavy use of electronic sources of information. Same is expected about the students pursuing various courses in different universities of Jammu and Kashmir. The paper explores, analyses and discusses the use of electronic sources of information by the students pursuing various courses in the universities of Jammu & Kashmir. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the use of electronic sources of information, a total of 927 students using stratified random sampling were selected from four universities of Jammu & Kashmir. Sample was taken in accordance to the population ratio from each of the select universities. A welldrafted questionnaire was used as a data gathering tool and was personally distributed among all the students. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: The use of electronic sources of information has increased among the university students by the introduction of Information Technology. There is a transformation from the traditional way of seeking information towards the tech savvy mode. Students mainly use laptops for seeking their desired information. Internet and Newspapers are mostly used to stay updated. The awareness and assistance regarding the use of electronic sources of information is mostly given by friends and teachers rather than library staff. The study also reveals that students face a number of physical problems including strain in eyes and neck while accessing electronic sources of information. Practical implications: The paper is highly applicable to the administrators and managers of university setups to understand the use and impact of electronic sources on the university students in the digital environment. It will further help the university libraries to subscribe qualitative electronic resources and launch awareness as well as assistance programs among the users to enhance their information literacy skills

Public Libraries in Srinagar and Budgam Districts of Jammu &Kashmir: An Assessment

Public libraries play a very important role in creating knowledge based societies. Importance of public libraries has been realized at national and international levels. Present paper highlights the concept of public libraries in the contemporary societies. This study focuses public libraries in terms of infrastructure, collection development, collection organization, human resources and services. Scope of the study is limited to the two districts of Jammu and Kashmir state (India) viz., Srinagar and Budgam. Questionnaire and personal interview methods were adopted for collecting the data. Results of the study indicate that public libraries under the scope of present study are ailing on different fronts like physical infrastructure, collection development, services and human resources. Majority of public libraries in both districts are housed in rented buildings and are facing space problems. Collection available in libraries varies. Traditional services like lending of documents, reprographic services are being provided by the libraries and services based on ICT like internet based services are provided by a small number of libraries. Dewey decimal classification is used by majority of libraries for organising their collection. While staff working in public libraries of District Srinagar is mostly professionals but those working in public libraries of district Budgam are mostly non-professionals. It is suggested that appropriate measures taken by the governments in consultation with the experts in the field of library and information science can be the panacea for all the problems faced by these libraries. It is appropriate to integrate ICT facet into the functioning of public libraries for facing the challenges in a knowledge based society

Research in the spotlight on social web: Analyzing the top 100 Altmetric articles of 2015

The availability of research on social web is an important factor to determine its societal impact. The inability of traditional citation based metrics to provide a complete picture of web based scholarly content has given rise to alternative or to better say complementary way of measuring the impact of research, “Altmetrics”. The phenomenon of altmetrics has received global attention for its role to share research and allows visualization of important and interesting papers from a specific research area and time period. The current study attempts to analyze the articles (Top 100) that have caught the public attention in 2015 as revealed by the Altmetric.com. The paper explores the disciplinary nature, contributing source, publishing body, authorship and collaboration pattern of the articles. It also spotlights the Institutional and geographical distribution of the articles along with the tools where articles were shared and discussed. The study is first of its kind to analyze the articles that have made their mark on the social media in the year-2015

Status of collection in agricultural libraries of Northern India with an overview of the trend in acquisition

Purpose – This paper of this study is to attempt to explore the status of collection in agricultural libraries of Northern India and assess the magnitude of impact of the advent of electronic information resources (EIRs) on the contemporary acquisition. Design/methodology/approach – While adhering to the survey method, the questionnaire was used as a data collection tool to collect data from university librarians. Telephonic interaction and e-mail correspondence were also used to clear doubts, remove ambiguities and obtain data of higher significance from the respondents. Findings – The majority of the agricultural libraries in Northern India have a sound collection of information resources in the print form, which may continue to act as a source of attraction for users in the future for a long time to come. Yet, the acquisition of information resources in the print form across the studied libraries continues at routine pace, and as such the advent of e-resources seems to have not yet laid any prominent impact on acquisition of resources in print form. E-Books have not yet been fully incorporated into the library collection and that e-journal collection “CeRA” (Consortium for Electronic Resources in Agriculture) seems to gratify the needs of users of these libraries, as no additional e-journals are seen to be subscribed to at present. Research limitations/implications – Only seven agricultural libraries have been taken as a sample. Moreover, the work is confined to only two aspects, i.e. current status and the impact of EIRs on acquisition of information resources. Other aspects like those of collection development, storage and accommodation, preservation, library functionality and library services need to also be studied. Originality/value – This is first work of its nature in Northern India with agricultural libraries as their domain. The findings will help the librarians and the library advisory committees decide on logical grounds about the proportion at which the print and electronic forms of information resources need to be acquired