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In order to setup user-centered services the library needs to know the users and their needs. One of the main tools that can be used to evaluate and assess the library services is the user survey. This paper presents the results of a user survey conducted among the members of academic staff. The objective of this study was to examine the library usage pattern of the academic staff members of Faculty Arts at University of Peradeniya. Specifically, this study was attempted to assess the user satisfaction towards the library services and resources while identifying the constraints are faced in using the library. A questionnaire was used as a data collection tool and all permanent academic staff members in the Faculty of Arts were taken as the population of the study. The findings of the survey revealed that the faculty staff visits the library mostly for checking out books and for using the reference collection. Most of them were using the OPAC to search information and library webpage and the internet for teaching and research. Most of the faculty members were satisfied with the library and library collections except periodical collection and they were also satisfied with the arrangement of the resources and the physical condition of the library. Most of faculty members showed highest level disagreement with the statements given in the questionnaire as the barriers encountering when using the library.

Keywords

User Survey, Usage Pattern, Academic Staff, University Library.

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References

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Study of Referencing Pattern and Characteristics of Citations in Economics Theses

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Authors

Chamani Gunasekera ¹

Affiliations
1 Main Library, University of Peradeniya, LK

Source

Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management), Vol 52, No 6 (2015), Pagination: 441-449

Abstract

This study analysed citations appeared in the economics postgraduates' theses in order to identify their referencing pattern and bibliographic characteristics. 1975 citations appended in the 16 masters and 2 doctoral dissertations on economics submitted from 1996 to 2014 to the main library, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka were analysed. These citations were examined to find out the distribution of authorship pattern, bibliographic form, core journals, geographical location, language and subject wise distribution of journal citations. The results revealed that the monographs are the most dominant bibliographic format of literature on economics research while single authorship prevails among the citations. Chronological distribution of the citations were examined and it was found that most of the cited materials were 20 years old or less in age and the highest citations were recorded in the period from 1991 to 2000. Most of the publications cited by the economics researchers were published in English language. The most cited journal titles were identified from the citations from journal literature while majority were from foreign journals and 89% of the journals were on economics followed by 2% on public administration. The highest journal citations were recorded in the period from1986 to 1995 with 34% of citations. The findings from this study could serve as a tool for collection development and can be used to guide collection maintenance and design of user services in libraries.

Keywords

Bibliometric Techniques, Citation Analysis, Economics Theses, Sri Lanka.

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Motivational Factors for Faculty Contribution to Institutional Repositories and their Awareness of Open Access Publishing

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Authors

Chamani Gunasekera ¹

Affiliations
1 Senior Assistant Librarian, Main Library, University of Peradeniya – 20400, LK

Source

Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management), Vol 54, No 3 (2017), Pagination: 147-153

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes towards Institutional Repositories (IR) and open access publishing among the faculty members in the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Survey method was adapted and a questionnaire was distributed among all permanent academics in the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. The results revealed that only 40% of the respondents were aware of open access publishing and nearly 15% of them had never heard of "open access". These results gave an insight that majority of the respondents are not familiar with 'open access'. The results further revealed that 15% of the respondents learnt about institutional repositories through web search engine while 13% learnt from information provided at faculty or meeting held in the university and by working in subject based archives. Only 44% of the respondents were aware of the university digital repository and 47% mentioned that they were not aware of it. The interesting finding is that 55% of the respondents reported their willingness to contribute to the university digital repository in future while 18% of them were not willing to contribute. Most of the respondents contributed to IR because they support the principle of open access and the major barrier to contribute to IR is fear of plagiarism.

Keywords

Faculty Awareness, Institutional Repositories, Open Access, Motivational Factors.

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References

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Mackie, M (2004). Filling Institutional Repositories: Practical strategies from the DAEDALUS Project, Ariadne, 39. Accessed on: 28/02/2017. Retrieved from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/mackie/.

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Roy, Bijan Kumar; Mukhopadhyay Parthasarathi and Biswas, Subal Chandra (2011). An Analytical Study of Institutional Digital Repositories in India. Library Philosophy and Practice (e- journal), Retrieved from: http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/ accessed on 01/03/2016.

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Xia, J. (2008). A Comparison of Subject and Institutional Repositories in Self-Archiving Practices. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(6): 489–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2008.09.016.

Assessment of Self Archiving in Digital Repositories: Is there any Difference between Science and Agriculture Scholars?

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Authors

Chamani Gunasekera ¹

Affiliations
1 University of Peradeniya, Galaha Rd – 20400, LK

Source

Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management), Vol 55, No 5 (2018), Pagination: 237-246

Abstract

This study examines the differences in scholarly publishing and self-archiving practices of academic scholars in the faculties of agriculture and science in University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Survey method was adapted and a questionnaire specifically designed was used to achieve the objectives of the study. The study population consisted of all permanent academic staff in the two faculties. The study established that majority of the respondents of both faculties were aware of self-archiving concept as a means for providing open access but not many of them had experience in self-archiving. Majority of respondents from both faculties began this activity two to three years ago and they learnt about self-archiving by working in a field with established subject based archives. The original motivators for self-archiving were self motivation and declared citation advantage of open access papers. Agriculture scholars deposited more full text articles in digital repositories than science scholars. When analyzing the results of this study, it was proved that most of the scholars in agriculture faculty preferred to deposit conference papers while science scholars mostly preferred preprint materials. PDF is the most preferred file format to deposit in the digital repositories.

Keywords

Agriculture Scholars, Digital Repository, Science Scholars, Self Archving, Sri Lanka.

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References

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Kim, J. (2011). Motivations of faculty self-archiving in institutional repositories. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(3), 246–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2011.02.017.

Lawal, I. (2002). Scholarly Communication: The Use and NonUse of E-Print Archives for the Dissemination of Scientific Information. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 36. Accessed on 11.12.2016. Retrieved from http://www.istl.org/02-fall/article3.html.

Mackie, M. (2004). Filling institutional repositories: Practical strategies from the DAEDA LUS project. Ariadne, 39. Accessed on 24.03.2017. Retrieved from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk.library/issue39/mackie/.

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Exploring First Year Undergraduate Students’ Information Literacy Skills: Experience at the Faculty of Management, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Electronic Information Seeking behavior of Education Postgraduates:A Case Study at University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka

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Authors

Chamani Gunasekera ¹, R. Balasubramani ²

Affiliations
1 Main Library, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, LK
2 Department of Library and Information Science, Bharathidasan University, Palkalaiperur, Trichy – 620024, Tamil Nadu, IN

Source

Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management), Vol 56, No 4 (2019), Pagination: 206-210

Abstract

The present study explored electronic information seeking behavior of postgraduate students in Education in relation to their scholarly activities. The present study was conducted to examine whether the postgraduates students utilize electronic resources and services provided by the library and the extent to which the library was used. A questionnaire was administered to all the postgraduate students in the Department of Education, Faculty of Arts, and University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in September 2017 and the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software. The results revealed that most of the respondents used electronic resources available in the library, and websites and online catalogs are the most preferred electronic resources. This study showed that most of the respondents used e-resources for their research works and writing assignments and the average time spent for using e-resources was one to two hours per week. It is evident that most of the respondents preferred to access e-resources from the University library and the cybercafés and most of them were aware of e-resources available in the library. The study further identified some constraints users face when using electronic resources.

Keywords

Education, Electronic Information, Information Seeking Behavior, Postgraduates.

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References

Garg, R. M & Tamrakar, A. K. ( 2014). Utilization of electronic resources by the postgraduate students, research scholars and faculty members of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Journal of Scientometric Research, 3(2), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.4103/2320-0057.145621

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Langlois, C. (1997). Information technologies and University Teaching, Learning and Research. Paper presented at workshop on the role of Universities in the future information society held at Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic September 25-27. Retrieved from http://www.cvut.cz/ascii/cc/icsc/nii/schedule/Langlois2.html.

Millawithanachchi, U. S. (2012). Electronic resources usage by postgraduates at the University of Colombo: Identifying the critical success factors. Annals of Library and Information Studies. 59(1), 53–63.

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Peiris, N. D. 1 & Peiris, B. L. (2012). Use of electronic information resources by postgraduate students: A case study. Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka, 16(1), 46–69. https://doi.org/10.4038/jula.v16i1.5197.

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