Pandemic Information Access Challenges and Expectations about the Post-Covid Era: A Survey of Pakistan Students' Opinion Regarding Academic Libraries' Services and Staff

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges students faced in accessing the information from academic libraries during COVID and factors that contributed to stress among students during the pandemic. Another purpose of the study was to know the expectations of the students regarding libraries' services and library professionals' competencies in the post-COVID era. A quantitative research approach and survey method was employed to conduct this study. The population of the study was students of public and private sector universities in Pakistan. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that lack of digital resources (limited access to the internet and digital devices such as smartphones) and limited information skills found the highest mean score (3.92 and 3.90 respectively) regarding contributing to stress among the students. Similarly, findings confirmed that lack of access to printed material and printers, scanners, recorders, and websites with limited guidelines were the major challenges students faced while accessing the information from academic libraries during the period of a pandemic. Students agreed and expected remote access to information sources, availability of more electronic content, presence of online tutorials regarding the use of information sources and access to institutional repositories from libraries after the COVID era. Respondents also agreed that post-COVID librarians should be good information managers, communicators, problem solvers and internet librarians. The study also shares the implications for practitioners and polisymakers and future research directions for academics and researchers.