Use of online journals and databases: a case study based University of Moratuwa

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