Students’ Attitudes towards Library Facilities and Information Resources of University Libraries in Tamil Nadu: A Survey

Abstract

The present century ushered in the knowledge economy whereby information, access to it, and the ability to use it to create new knowledge becomes the single most important skill that individuals need to acquire in order to succeed. The workplace is asking for university graduates who have acquired a stronger intellectual framework for using information for discovery. This calls for a change in the university educational landscape and a pedagogic shift from the closure learning system where students and the teacher communicated and interacted face-to-face to include a new learning system that is virtual, distributed, problem-based, more student-centered, and facilitated by global information networking systems. This is a knowledge-based pedagogy and requires that both students and teaching faculty acquire information seeking and management skills. E-learning, open access to resources, distance education, interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration enhanced by information communication technologies are major developments that are reshaping library services. Consequently, new roles and services have emerged for university librarians. Taking up the characteristics of an electronic information resource, librarians are more “distributed” and play a central role in the teaching/learning programmes of the university: they serve as consultants in information resources management and coordinate information technology applications; they provide instructions on research methods and other areas that deal with incorporating information communication technologies into learning, and are more actively involved in providing information instructional programmes to both faculty and students. The present study evaluates the use of library facilities and information resources in university libraries in Tamil Nadu. A survey of 518 students from 5 universities in Tamil Nadu was conducted through a set of questionnaires. The collected data covers the use of library resources, services, (e.g. reference services, photocopying services), etc. The chapter concludes that the main intention for the use of libraries has been the academic interest of the students.