ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION NEED AMONG THE FACULTIES OF SELECTED MEDICAL COLLEGES IN PUDUCHERRY – A STUDY

Information has become the most important element for progress in society. To thrive in this modern era, one needs a variety of information, no matter how well versed one is in a field or profession. Also the migration of information from paper to electronic media promises to change the whole nature of research (Witten et al. 1995). Online and offline e-resources have also become an essential resource in learning process. It is to be mentioned that libraries in developing countries like India are investing increasingly large amounts of their financial and human resources in electronic sources, ranging from e-content such as online journals, ebooks and data files, to software such as word processing, presentation and citation management packages. The researchers and scientists in academic institutions totally depend on the reading sources available in libraries and information centres in order to achieve the aim of carrying out quality research which in turn will increase the image of the researchers and the institutions concerned as well. Therefore, it is vitally important that libraries educate their users to take advantage of these useful, expensive and sometimes complicated sources and tools. In view of the above, the researcher intended to undertake this study with an aim to assess the information need based on the demographic profile of the faculties working in selected medical colleges in Puducherry.