Abstract
The objective of this case study was to explore the use of online databases, user perception towards online databases, user satisfaction with facilities provided by the library for using online resources. The participants of the user survey were dawn from four categories of the University; academic staff members, postgraduate students, undergraduate students and students of Institute of Technology - University of Moratuwa (ITUM). Total of 400 participants were selected for the survey. Analysis confirmed that frequency of use of electronic databases have been restricted only to few data bases (Blackwell Synergy, Science Direct and Wiley Inter Science). Relatively a lesser usage level was observed for the online journals compared to print journals. User groups have satisfied with the programmes conducted for promoting online resources. They have highlighted different areas that should be improved by the library. Providing printing facility and offering remote access facility were main requests of the users. Academic members and postgraduate students had higher online resource usage than the undergraduate students and ITUM students. The major problems examined within the study included, lack of computer and Internet facilities, lack of awareness to electronic resources provided by the library, ineffective communication channels, and irrelevancy of articles in the provided databases and inefficient support of the library. Key Words: Online databases, Information retrieval, Electronic journals, Electronic Media, User Survey, Information Searches doi: 10.4038/jula.v12i0.332 Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka (Vol. 12) 2008 p.124-149
Highlights
I n the past the main role of the libraries was ownership and storage of print materials
The objectives of this study were finding out the use of online databases by specific user categories, investigating the user perceptions towards online databases, finding out the user satisfaction on the services provided by the library for online databases and identifying the obstacles faced by the users in using online databases and their services
The four user categories of this study have shown different usage levels for online databases
Summary
I n the past the main role of the libraries was ownership and storage of print materials. Librarians and information workers have created variety of tools for organising the knowledge. Computers and their related technologies have a major impact on information handling. Computer databases and their indexes have become important resources for organising the knowledge. These new technologies have gradually replaced the traditional tools by introducing number of applications. Developments of these new services mainly depend on feed back of the end users. Conducting a user survey was very important to obtain the exact situation of the services of the library
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