Original Research Article
Year: 2016 | Month: December | Volume: 6 | Issue: 12 | Pages: 1-8
The Utilization of Library Services by Undergraduate Students in a Medical College
Parande Malangori Abdulgani1, P. S. Borle2, V. S. Tapare1
1Associate Professor, Statistician,
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, B.J. Govt. Medical College, Pune, India.
Corresponding Author: Parande Malangori Abdulgani
ABSTRACT
Background: Medical students must learn to collect information by their own efforts, to develop adequate professional competence. Many factors influence the use of the libraries. This study was undertaken to determine usage pattern and hurdles in use of the information resources and library services in a Medical College.
Objectives:
- To determine the extent of use of the library and IT services
- To discover problems faced by students and to suggest improvements of resources in library
Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among undergraduate students during January to February 2014. A predesigned and a pretested questionnaire were used. The data was tabulated and analyzed using Epi Info and MS Excel.
Results: In the present study, the 105(32.2%) were daily visiting the library. The main purpose of students visiting library was self-study (78.6%). In the present study, students opined that physical facilities like refreshment facility, no. of seats ,washroom facility were inadequate in 78.3%, 75.8%, 50.0% of cases respectively and 47.8% said that the recent editions of textbooks were not available every time that they were asked for. Only 9 (7.3%) were using these IT services daily. The major recommendations for library facility suggested were no. of seats to be increased, adequate ventilation and increase no. of recent editions of books while the major recommendation for IT facility was free Wi-Fi and uninterrupted internet connection. Around 30.6% were fully satisfied about their objectives in the library while only 5.7% were fully satisfied with IT services. Apparently, respondents from third year compared to first and second year reported higher degree of usage in almost all resources.
Conclusions: The study suggests that fulfillment of more needs to be done to promote self-directed learning. The usage of library, its resources and services needs to be improved.
Key words: Library Usage, Utilization, Medical students.