Information Search Strategies Among Theological Faculty Members in Tamil Nadu

This research article studies the information seeking search strategies used by theological faculty members in Tamil Nadu. It is based on a structured questionnaire sent to 120 select faculty members, of which 101 questionnaires were returned, achieving a response rate of 84%. Major findings of this study contribute to understanding the awareness and use of search options among respondents. Basic and keyword search options are commonly used by respondents in online sources while preferences for references from books and journals are more popular among faculty members to locate bibliographic information in print sources. This study further noted that faculty members are generally seeking information for preparing class lectures and preaching sermons and respondents indicated that Google searching is highly used by them for locating online information. The respondents expressed that borrowing books and using reference books and journals are the most compelling reasons for visiting libraries. Reading table of contents and reading specific articles are common strategies used by faculty members while looking for information in print resources. The non-availability of full-text articles, lack of scholarly national publications and retrieving irrelevant articles are problems faculty members commonly face while searching online resources. The findings of this study have impact on library instruction, and for improving library services and collections in theological institutions in Tamil Nadu

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITY READINESS FOR PROVIDING E-LEARNING AND ALLIED SERVICES IN THE ENGINEERING COLLEGE LIBRARIES OF KERALA

Over the last decade, rapid reforms have been undertaken in the higher education sector such as policy framing, pedagogical transformations, accreditations, faculty standardisations and, most importantly, e-learning. Institutions, especially engineering colleges were quick and steady to admit the concepts of e-learning and its applications in the teaching and learning process. Online repositories and subscribed contents are no more an unfamiliar notion among the concerned users in engineering colleges. Though the majority of colleges are willing to embrace the new changes, academic circles are quite sceptic on the adequacy and suitability of infrastructural facilities available in the respective colleges. Many are concerned about the possible gap between the availability of e-resources and the mechanisms for effective accession and use of the e-content; for the teaching and learning process. This paper discusses on, the study conducted among the librarians of engineering college libraries in Kerala state, about the infrastructural support available for the accession and usage of e-resources

E-RESOURCES AND ITS ADOPTION AMONG ENGINEERING COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS PERTAINING TO KERALA STATE

Matching with the many strides made in higher education, the engineering institutions in our country are devoting heavily on academic resources, specifically e-resources, since the quality of engineering institutions are also assessed in terms of availability of quality library references, collections, repositories and ICT tools for facilitating knowledge proliferation and its usage. An extensive study has been conducted among the Faculty of Engineering colleges in Kerala aimed to find the availability, infrastructure support and consumption status of various types of e-resources. As part of study predesigned and well-structured questionnaire was distributed among the librarians and faculty members of the selected engineering colleges. Gathered data were analyzed and results were compliant with the proposed hypothesis. The results give insights on availability e-resources in the engineering colleges, its usage and the associated and to rectify the problems faced by the users while accessing e-resources thereby making the library service more beneficial for the academic community of the engineering colleges under study

A STUDY ON LIBRARY USE BY CHENNAI MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTRE STUDENTS AND FACULTIES AT TRICHY

Information is all around us and is the staple diet of human beings. Information is variously perceived as facts, intelligence, data, news and knowledge. Information has been a common ingredient to all areas of human endeavour, be it the day to day affairs of business, matters of life and death or the most trivial pursuits. In a modern industrial society there are negligibly few individuals, who do not, from time to time, occasionally/frequently have any requirement of information. It is an essential accompaniment of almost every social activity. Information is considered as important that contributes towards the development of a nation. It provides the core for the development of knowledge, the basis for innovations, the resources for informed citizenry and as a result become a key commodity for the progress of a society. Members of a society acquire the needed information from a variety of sources. However several of these sources are expensive, complex or difficult for individuals to acquire and use. Therefore, the role of libraries becomes vital in meeting the information needs of individuals in the society. Libraries develop their collections, facilities and services to meet the information needs of their patrons. A health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health professionals, students, patients, consumers and medical researchers to improve, update, access or evaluate health care. The library is the most preferred source of information for gathering information for the medical students and the teaching faculties. Teachers, laboratories, and libraries are important components in providing effective medical education. The main purpose of medical library is to support medical education, including teaching, research and patient – care. Just as a healthy brain is essential for a healthy human being, a healthy library is an asset for promotion and advancement of health science in health education. In medical libraries, the latest technologies are increasingly used to collect, store, retrieve and disseminate a great amount of information to help medical professionals in their day-to-day education, research and clinical practices. The medical websites and database developed by medical institutions, associations, agencies, and publishers provide the latest information. In a developing country like India, medical professionals are quite aware of the new technologies used by their counterparts in the developed nations. Despite of enormous money spent for library and information sciences

Faculty Perception on Library Facilities: A Survey on NAAC Accredited Autonomous Arts and Science Colleges in Coimbatore City

The present article has made an attempt to study the faculty perception on Library faculties in Autonomous Arts and Science Colleges in one of the biggest cities in Tamil Nadu, India. There colleges got accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India, hence the standard of education and faculties in these colleges are generally behind to be the best. The study used a questionnaire and the results revealed that faculty have a low perception on the collection, services, ICT facilities, manpower and infrastructure facilities of libraries in these colleges