A survey of students' use of and satisfaction with university subscribed online resources in two specialized universities in a developing country

Abstract

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a survey conducted in two specialized public universities in Bangladesh to assess students' electronic information resources use and their satisfaction with university subscribed resources.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire was used to assess the use of and satisfaction with university subscribed electronic resources by the students. The major problems faced by them in accessing online resources were also identified. In order to analyze the influence of students' demographic characteristics on overall satisfaction with university subscribed resources, Mann‐Whitney and Kruskal‐Wallis tests were carried out. The problems faced by the students were tested in relation to their opinion on overall satisfaction using chi‐square test.FindingsThe survey results showed that the students are not at all satisfied with the current level of university subscribed online resources. The students identified limited access to computers and slow download speed as major problems. These problems do affect electronic resources use by students in these universities. However, the problems are mainly related to poor ICT infrastructure which may also lead to other drawbacks such as unwillingness to use the resources regularly and thus low satisfaction with such resources.Originality/valueThis is the first time an attempt has been made to empirically assess the use of university subscribed online information resources by the students in Bangladesh.