USAGE OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES, SERVICES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THE LIBRARY USERS IN UNIVERSITY OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS (UVPA), SRI LANKA

The electronic resources have become one of the major sources of information for teaching, learning and research activities, as present era is mainly depending on internet based online resources. Though the conditions are prevailing as such, majority of the library users do not have sufficient knowledge and skills to use the electronic resources and services. Hence, before commencing awareness programs and orientations it is essential to measure the usage, issues and challenges of using e-resources and services by the library users. This study was designed to speculate the usage and problems of using e-resources and services provided by the UVPA library. Population of this study was UVPA library users and random sampling method was used for selecting the participants. Among the population total number of 450 library users were considered as the sample. Sample has been represented 300 number of students in three faculties and 150 number of academic and nonacademic staff members. Structured online questionnaires were used as main data collection instrument and interviews and observations were used to collect the primary data. The response rate was 100%. The study revealed that the majority (72.7%) of library users (students and staff members) aware of the e-resources and services provided by the library. But, only 62.2% of the library users used the e-resources and services. Most of the respondents used library Web-resources (website), OPAC (searching and renewing service) and past exam paper downloading facility, respectively as a percentage of 62.2%, 60.9% and 57.8%. In additionally findings were revealed that 46% of respondents used the e-journal and Digital Repository System. Compare to the other services E-mail service and database usage were fairly low. Study has shown that nearly 37.8% of respondent had never used the e-resources and services. User satisfaction and usefulness of e-resources and services was 62.2% of the participants. Based on the findings, the reasons for lower usage of e-resources and services were lack of infrastructure facilities, lack of user education and user awareness programs, English language barriers, and lack of IT skills and knowledge. Accordingly, library should play active role by commencing well-planned user awareness programs and more user education programs, developing infrastructure facilities and subscribing more e-resources. Further to this researcher suggest to revise the curriculums by adding more practical sessions and establishing email or mobile alert update service to get maximum benefit of the e-resources and services.