This paper describes the perceptions of academic library users of library services. The study explored user preferences regarding the collection, services such as interlibrary loan, and Web browsing habits

Baskaran, C.

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2011 User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study C. Baskaran Alagappa University, cbklis@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac  Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Baskaran, C., "User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study" (2011). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 465. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/465   Library Philosophy and Practice 2011ISSN 1522-0222User Perception of Library Services inAcademic Institutions in the SouthernDistricts of Tamil Nadu, India: A CaseStudyC. BaskaranDeputy LibrarianCentral LibrarySchool of Library and Information ScienceAlagappa UniversityKaraikudi-630 003, IndiaIntroductionInformation science focuses on understanding problems from the perspective of stakeholdersand then applying information and other technologies as needed. In other words, it tackles systemicproblems first rather than individual pieces of technology within that system. In this respect, informationscience can be seen as a response to technological determination, the belief that technology "developsby its own laws, that it realizes its own potential, limited only by the material resources available, andmust therefore be regarded as an autonomous system controlling and ultimately permeating all othersubsystems of society." Within information science, attention has been given in recent years to humancomputer interaction, group ware, the semantic web value sensitive design, interactive designprocesses and to the ways people generate, use and find information. Today this field is called theField of Information, and there are a growing number of Schools and Colleges of Information. The usesof Information technologies or IT in different facets of every day life are considered as a barometer of acountry’s progress. Dramatic improvements are taking place in the two major components of IT:Computers and Telecommunication and these both have affected the entire scenario (1). The Impact ofinformation technologies on the library is quite obvious as it has created new types of work, promptedredefinition of certain functions, influenced interpersonal relationships and transformed traditionalorganization structures into new institutional entities(2). This study is southern districts of Tamil Nadu isbeing included four districts are Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga; these are focal places ofeducating in southern part of Tamil Nadu in India. These districts having around 150 institutions areavailable. We have distributed the questionnaires only colleges of Arts and science, Para Medical,Engineering and Technology only 145 questionnaires distributed and were received only 120questionnaires from the respondents. The researcher has found various methods of services arefunctioning in the academic institutions libraries. This is one of the significant attempts carried out forthe research. Different methods adopted by the library users in searching the legal database by theusers are identified. An attempt is made to assess the service quality; use of various search enginesand impressions of the law libraries is presented. Some of the popular journals and databases usedare listed (3).In the present situation, higher education is bound to opt for the unavoidable shift formthe culture of print to a culture of digital technology. This affects teaching, learning and research andalso the whole of higher education (4).ObjectivesFollowing are the important objectives of the study:1. To find the profile of the library users from academic institutions in Southern districts of Tamil Nadu.2. To observe the users perception and their attributes in the library3. To determine the types of some information sources and services require among the users.MethodologyA structured questionnaire was distributed to the 145 respondents of users in Arts,Paramedical, Engineering and Technology colleges Library and received 120 questionnaires fromdifferent faculty of institutions. All the valued responses were tabulated analyzed and interpreted in thefollowing paragraph.Analysis and DiscussionsAnalysis of the survey carried out by the investigators on the research topic User perceptiontowards the library services of Academic institutions of southern District of Tamil Nadu: A case study isanalyzed by several tabulation presented here.Table 1: Districts Vs. Faculties wise respondents.FacultiesDistrictsTotal RespondentsSivaganga Ramnad MaduraiArts &Science18(15.0)13(10.83)21(17.5)52(43.33)Engg./Technology9(7.5)15(12.5)8(6.66)32(26.66)Paramedical 8 (6.66) 9 (7.50) 19 (15.83) 36 (30.0)Total Respondents 35 (29.160 37 (30.83) 48 (40.0) 120 (100.0)District and Faculties wise distribution of respondents upon Sivaganga, Ramanatahapuram(Ramnad) and Madurai, The faculties wise respondents are belongs to Arts & Science, Engineering &Technology and Paramedical disciplines, which have been shown rates highest 43.33 percent from Artsand Science and it is followed by 30 percent from paramedical. Table 1 showing that District wiserespondents highly occupy 40 percent by Madurai and followed by Ramnad district is 37 percent.Figure 1Table: 2 Status of RespondentsS.No Status Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai Total1 Students 22(18.3) 18(15.0) 27(22.5) 67(55.83)2 Faculty Members 10(8.33) 14(11.66) 13(10.83) 37(30.83)3 Others 3(2.5) 5(4.16) 8(6.66) 16(13.33) Total 35(29.16) 37(30.83) 48(40.0) 120(100)The status of academic institutions of Southern districts of Tamil Nadu users have surveyed inthis study is shown in Table 2 it may be observed from the table that majority of the respondents arestudents representing 55.83 in which Madurai districts academic institutions occupy fist position (22.5).Faculty members from the second largest number of respondents accounting to 30.83 percent it’sdistrict wise respondents Ramnad secure ma. The remaining 8.33 percent are faculty members The age of library from 20 years to 36 years and above, this information is detailed in Table 3.It may be observed from the table that a large number of respondents fall in the range of 36 andabove years representing 10 percent and high level respondents showing 5.8 percent at Maduraidistrict. This is but natural because most of the respondents from Madurai district is 9.16 percent andoverall growth is 24.16 percents from 21-25. The next highest group belongs to below 20 years agegroup representing 23.33 percent this age group represent equal level 8.33 percent by Ramnad andMadurai.Table 3: Age Wise RespondentsS.No. GenderNo. of RespondentsTotalSivaganga Ramnad Madurai1 Below 20 8(6.6) 10(8.33) 10(8.33) 28(23.33)2 21-25 9(7.5) 9(7.5) 11(9.16) 29(24.16)3 26-30 7(5.8) 8(6.6) 11(9.16) 26(21.66)4 31-35 6(5.0) 6(5.0) 9(7.5) 21(17.5)5 36 and above 5(4.16) 4(3.33) 7(5.8) 16(13.3) Total 35 37 48 120Figure 2The genderwise breakup of academic library users belonging to shown in Table 4. It may beseen from the table that nearly 72.5 percent its respondents occupy in higher level at Madurai districtwith 27.3 percent of the male. The remaining 27.3 percent of them are female.Table-4: Gender wise dispersionS. No. GenderNo. of RespondentsTotalSivaganga Ramnad Madurai1 Male 26(21.66) 28(23.33) 33(27.3) 87(72.5)2 Female 9(7.5) 9(7.5) 15(12.5) 33(27.3) Total 35 37 48 120The library users are shown in Table 5. It is clear from the table that majority of therespondent’s visits the library daily representing 35.0 percent and Madurai district occupy top level15.83 percent the next respondent goes to 22.5 percent their respective academic libraries once aweek. A very small segment of the representing 15.83 percent visits the library once a fortnightTable: 5 Frequency of Library visitS. No. FrequencyNo. of RespondentsTotalSivaganga Ramnad Madurai1 Daily 11(9.16) 12(15.83) 19(15.83) 42(35.0)2 Once a week 7(5.83) 8(6.66) 12(10.0) 27(22.5)3 Fortnight 5(4.16) 6(5.0) 8(6.66) 19(15.83)4 Month 6(5.0) 4(3.33) 5(4.10) 15(12.50)5 Rarely 6(5.0) 7(5.83) 4(3.33) 17(14.16) Total 35 37 48 120The users visit the library for various purposes for seminars, lectures to use database and torefer journals and so on. It may bee seen from Table 6 that the library users most frequently visit theirrespective libraries for preparing for seminars assignments and to refer journal articles 0.70 mean. Theusers also frequently visit their libraries to prepare for projects/seminars/assignment 0.66 mean andleast level mean secure the respondent for browse database is 0.44.  Table 6: Purpose of visitS. No Purpose of  visitNo. of respondent Mean scoreTotal MeanSivaganga Ramnad Madurai01 To Prepare for  lectures 0.25 0.18 0.27 0.7002 To prepare for Projects/Seminars/assignments 0.22 0.24 0.16 0.6603 To prepare for moot court 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.4904 To refer journal articles 0.20 0.21 0.29 0.7005 To browse database 0.14 0.18 0.12 0.44Code 5-  Most Frequently 4-Frequently 3-Occassionally 2-Rarely 1-NeverThe academic library often provide a various services like Book lending service, referenceservice and Inter library loan and so on. It is shown by Table 7, that the book lending and referenceservice mean score 1.30 and 1.26. Inter library loan service appear mean score 0.99.Table 7: Services QualityS. No Types of library servicesNo. of Respondents (Mean Score)Total MeanSivaganga Ramanad Madurai1 Book lending Service 0.37 0.43 0.43 1.302 Reference Service 0.48 0.35 0.29 1.263 Inter library loan service 0.45 0.48 0.27 0.995- Most frequently   4-Frequently 3-Occassioanally 2- Rarely 1-NeverThe frequency of use of various search engines by the academic library users are provided inTable 8. The respondents while browsing the net frequently use yahoo, Google, hotmail, Alta vista andLycos search engines with 0.45, 0.99, 0.47, 0.50, and 0.51 total mean respectively. Hot bot, rediffmailand sify are comparably less 0.33, 0.21 and 0.23, respectively.Table:8 Use of Search EnginesS. No Search EnginesNo. of Respondents(Mean Score)Total MeanSivaganga Ramnad Madurai1 Google 0.17 0.10 0.18 0.452 Yahoo 0.88 0.05 0.06 0.993 Alta vista 0.14 0.21 0.12 0.474 Hotbot 0.20 0.16 0.14 0.505 Lycos 0.17 0.18 0.16 0.516 hotmail 0.08 0.13 0.12 0.337 rediffmail 0.05 0.08 0.08 0.218 Sify 0.08 0.05 0.10 0.23Note 5- Most Frequently  4-Frequently  3-Ocasionally 2- Rarely 1-NeverConclusionThis study discussed user much more interest on using Internet for accessing scientificinformation in which global level publications. This study reveals that faculty of science respondentssecured maximum level due to keen search and obtained information by scientific journals andelectronic publications. The maximum number of users are visited the library for preparing seminars,conferences and assignments. The Internet users are preferring Yahoo search engine and Google isnext position in this study.References1. Dluman, A.K. 2003.Basics of information Technology for Librarians and Information Scienctists.2vols. Ess Ess Publications, New Delhi2.   Munshi, M.N. 1998. Assessing the Use of IT and its Impact on Libraries and Information centers,Bangladesh Journal of Library and Information Science. 1(1):pp.79-83.3. Khiser Nikem and Yogesh, H.E. 2006.Use of law libraries in Mysore City: A survey. KelproBulletin,10(2):pp.84-93.4. Papatergious and Solomonidous,C. 2005. Gender Issues in Internet Access and favorite Activitiesamong Greek High School Pupils Inside School, Computers and Education, 44(4),pp.377-393.5. http://libqual.com/documents/admin/kyrillidougreece papers.doc.

User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
2011 
User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the 
Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study 
C. Baskaran 
Alagappa University, cbklis@gmail.com 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac 
 Part of the Library and Information Science Commons 
Baskaran, C., "User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the Southern Districts of 
Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study" (2011). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 465. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/465 
  
Library Philosophy and Practice 2011
ISSN 1522-0222
User Perception of Library Services in
Academic Institutions in the Southern
Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case
Study
C. Baskaran
Deputy Librarian
Central Library
School of Library and Information Science
Alagappa University
Karaikudi-630 003, India
Introduction
Information science focuses on understanding problems from the perspective of stakeholders
and then applying information and other technologies as needed. In other words, it tackles systemic
problems first rather than individual pieces of technology within that system. In this respect, information
science can be seen as a response to technological determination, the belief that technology "develops
by its own laws, that it realizes its own potential, limited only by the material resources available, and
must therefore be regarded as an autonomous system controlling and ultimately permeating all other
subsystems of society." Within information science, attention has been given in recent years to human
computer interaction, group ware, the semantic web value sensitive design, interactive design
processes and to the ways people generate, use and find information. Today this field is called the
Field of Information, and there are a growing number of Schools and Colleges of Information. The uses
of Information technologies or IT in different facets of every day life are considered as a barometer of a
country’s progress. Dramatic improvements are taking place in the two major components of IT:
Computers and Telecommunication and these both have affected the entire scenario (1). The Impact of
information technologies on the library is quite obvious as it has created new types of work, prompted
redefinition of certain functions, influenced interpersonal relationships and transformed traditional
organization structures into new institutional entities(2). This study is southern districts of Tamil Nadu is
being included four districts are Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga; these are focal places of
educating in southern part of Tamil Nadu in India. These districts having around 150 institutions are
available. We have distributed the questionnaires only colleges of Arts and science, Para Medical,
Engineering and Technology only 145 questionnaires distributed and were received only 120
questionnaires from the respondents. The researcher has found various methods of services are
functioning in the academic institutions libraries. This is one of the significant attempts carried out for
the research. Different methods adopted by the library users in searching the legal database by the
users are identified. An attempt is made to assess the service quality; use of various search engines
and impressions of the law libraries is presented. Some of the popular journals and databases used
are listed (3).In the present situation, higher education is bound to opt for the unavoidable shift form
the culture of print to a culture of digital technology. This affects teaching, learning and research and
also the whole of higher education (4).
Objectives
Following are the important objectives of the study:
1. To find the profile of the library users from academic institutions in Southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
2. To observe the users perception and their attributes in the library
3. To determine the types of some information sources and services require among the users.
Methodology
A structured questionnaire was distributed to the 145 respondents of users in Arts,
Paramedical, Engineering and Technology colleges Library and received 120 questionnaires from
different faculty of institutions. All the valued responses were tabulated analyzed and interpreted in the
following paragraph.
Analysis and Discussions
Analysis of the survey carried out by the investigators on the research topic User perception
towards the library services of Academic institutions of southern District of Tamil Nadu: A case study is
analyzed by several tabulation presented here.
Table 1: Districts Vs. Faculties wise respondents.
Faculties
Districts
Total Respondents
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
Arts &Science
18
(15.0)
13
(10.83)
21
(17.5)
52
(43.33)
Engg./Technology
9
(7.5)
15
(12.5)
8
(6.66)
32
(26.66)
Paramedical 8 (6.66) 9 (7.50) 19 (15.83) 36 (30.0)
Total Respondents 35 (29.160 37 (30.83) 48 (40.0) 120 (100.0)
District and Faculties wise distribution of respondents upon Sivaganga, Ramanatahapuram
(Ramnad) and Madurai, The faculties wise respondents are belongs to Arts & Science, Engineering &
Technology and Paramedical disciplines, which have been shown rates highest 43.33 percent from Arts
and Science and it is followed by 30 percent from paramedical. Table 1 showing that District wise
respondents highly occupy 40 percent by Madurai and followed by Ramnad district is 37 percent.
Figure 1
Table: 2 Status of Respondents
S.No Status Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai Total
1 Students 22(18.3) 18(15.0) 27(22.5) 67(55.83)
2 Faculty Members 10(8.33) 14(11.66) 13(10.83) 37(30.83)
3 Others 3(2.5) 5(4.16) 8(6.66) 16(13.33)
 Total 35(29.16) 37(30.83) 48(40.0) 120(100)
The status of academic institutions of Southern districts of Tamil Nadu users have surveyed in
this study is shown in Table 2 it may be observed from the table that majority of the respondents are
students representing 55.83 in which Madurai districts academic institutions occupy fist position (22.5)
.Faculty members from the second largest number of respondents accounting to 30.83 percent it’s
district wise respondents Ramnad secure ma. The remaining 8.33 percent are faculty members 
The age of library from 20 years to 36 years and above, this information is detailed in Table 3.
It may be observed from the table that a large number of respondents fall in the range of 36 and
above years representing 10 percent and high level respondents showing 5.8 percent at Madurai
district. This is but natural because most of the respondents from Madurai district is 9.16 percent and
overall growth is 24.16 percents from 21-25. The next highest group belongs to below 20 years age
group representing 23.33 percent this age group represent equal level 8.33 percent by Ramnad and
Madurai.
Table 3: Age Wise Respondents
S.No. Gender
No. of Respondents
Total
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
1 Below 20 8(6.6) 10(8.33) 10(8.33) 28(23.33)
2 21-25 9(7.5) 9(7.5) 11(9.16) 29(24.16)
3 26-30 7(5.8) 8(6.6) 11(9.16) 26(21.66)
4 31-35 6(5.0) 6(5.0) 9(7.5) 21(17.5)
5 36 and above 5(4.16) 4(3.33) 7(5.8) 16(13.3)
 Total 35 37 48 120
Figure 2
The genderwise breakup of academic library users belonging to shown in Table 4. It may be
seen from the table that nearly 72.5 percent its respondents occupy in higher level at Madurai district
with 27.3 percent of the male. The remaining 27.3 percent of them are female.
Table-4: Gender wise dispersion
S. No. Gender
No. of Respondents
Total
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
1 Male 26(21.66) 28(23.33) 33(27.3) 87(72.5)
2 Female 9(7.5) 9(7.5) 15(12.5) 33(27.3)
 Total 35 37 48 120
The library users are shown in Table 5. It is clear from the table that majority of the
respondent’s visits the library daily representing 35.0 percent and Madurai district occupy top level
15.83 percent the next respondent goes to 22.5 percent their respective academic libraries once a
week. A very small segment of the representing 15.83 percent visits the library once a fortnight
Table: 5 Frequency of Library visit
S. No. Frequency
No. of Respondents
Total
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
1 Daily 11(9.16) 12(15.83) 19(15.83) 42(35.0)
2 Once a week 7(5.83) 8(6.66) 12(10.0) 27(22.5)
3 Fortnight 5(4.16) 6(5.0) 8(6.66) 19(15.83)
4 Month 6(5.0) 4(3.33) 5(4.10) 15(12.50)
5 Rarely 6(5.0) 7(5.83) 4(3.33) 17(14.16)
 Total 35 37 48 120
The users visit the library for various purposes for seminars, lectures to use database and to
refer journals and so on. It may bee seen from Table 6 that the library users most frequently visit their
respective libraries for preparing for seminars assignments and to refer journal articles 0.70 mean. The
users also frequently visit their libraries to prepare for projects/seminars/assignment 0.66 mean and
least level mean secure the respondent for browse database is 0.44.  
Table 6: Purpose of visit
S. No Purpose of  visit
No. of respondent Mean score
Total Mean
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
01 To Prepare for  lectures 0.25 0.18 0.27 0.70
02 To prepare for Projects/Seminars/assignments 0.22 0.24 0.16 0.66
03 To prepare for moot court 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.49
04 To refer journal articles 0.20 0.21 0.29 0.70
05 To browse database 0.14 0.18 0.12 0.44
Code 5-  Most Frequently 4-Frequently 3-Occassionally 2-Rarely 1-Never
The academic library often provide a various services like Book lending service, reference
service and Inter library loan and so on. It is shown by Table 7, that the book lending and reference
service mean score 1.30 and 1.26. Inter library loan service appear mean score 0.99.
Table 7: Services Quality
S. No Types of library services
No. of Respondents (Mean Score)
Total Mean
Sivaganga Ramanad Madurai
1 Book lending Service 0.37 0.43 0.43 1.30
2 Reference Service 0.48 0.35 0.29 1.26
3 Inter library loan service 0.45 0.48 0.27 0.99
5- Most frequently   4-Frequently 3-Occassioanally 2- Rarely 1-Never
The frequency of use of various search engines by the academic library users are provided in
Table 8. The respondents while browsing the net frequently use yahoo, Google, hotmail, Alta vista and
Lycos search engines with 0.45, 0.99, 0.47, 0.50, and 0.51 total mean respectively. Hot bot, rediffmail
and sify are comparably less 0.33, 0.21 and 0.23, respectively.
Table:8 Use of Search Engines
S. No Search Engines
No. of Respondents(Mean Score)
Total Mean
Sivaganga Ramnad Madurai
1 Google 0.17 0.10 0.18 0.45
2 Yahoo 0.88 0.05 0.06 0.99
3 Alta vista 0.14 0.21 0.12 0.47
4 Hotbot 0.20 0.16 0.14 0.50
5 Lycos 0.17 0.18 0.16 0.51
6 hotmail 0.08 0.13 0.12 0.33
7 rediffmail 0.05 0.08 0.08 0.21
8 Sify 0.08 0.05 0.10 0.23
Note 5- Most Frequently  4-Frequently  3-Ocasionally 2- Rarely 1-Never
Conclusion
This study discussed user much more interest on using Internet for accessing scientific
information in which global level publications. This study reveals that faculty of science respondents
secured maximum level due to keen search and obtained information by scientific journals and
electronic publications. The maximum number of users are visited the library for preparing seminars,
conferences and assignments. The Internet users are preferring Yahoo search engine and Google is
next position in this study.
References
1. Dluman, A.K. 2003.Basics of information Technology for Librarians and Information Scienctists.2
vols. Ess Ess Publications, New Delhi
2.   Munshi, M.N. 1998. Assessing the Use of IT and its Impact on Libraries and Information centers,
Bangladesh Journal of Library and Information Science. 1(1):pp.79-83.
3. Khiser Nikem and Yogesh, H.E. 2006.Use of law libraries in Mysore City: A survey. Kelpro
Bulletin,10(2):pp.84-93.
4. Papatergious and Solomonidous,C. 2005. Gender Issues in Internet Access and favorite Activities
among Greek High School Pupils Inside School, Computers and Education, 44(4),pp.377-393.
5. http://libqual.com/documents/admin/kyrillidougreece papers.doc.


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User Perception of Library Services in Academic Institutions in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study

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