use of web based information sources among post-graduate...

International Journal of Library and Information Studies Vol.9(1) Jan-Mar, 2019 ISSN: 2231-4911

http://www.ijlis.org 93 | P a g e

Use of Web Based Information Sources among Post-Graduate students of Bangalore University: A study

Mr. Prashantha S. C.

Librarian Acharya Institute of Graduate Studies

Soladevanahalli, Bengaluru E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Basavaraja M T

Librarian Acharya Institute of Technology

Soladevanahalli, Bengaluru E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract - The purpose of the study is to identify the use of web based information sources among the students. The main objectives of the study is to purpose of use of web based information sources, place, frequency and benefits of use web based information sources and also problems faced by the students while accessing web based information sources. The present study identified that 50.6% of males and 49.4% of females are participated in the study. Among the respondents, 33.22% of the respondents are from Science and Social Science and 33.55% from Commerce discipline are participated. The found that more than half 51.4% of the respondents always use e- theses and dissertations, e-books (38.8%), open source literature (29.7%) and e-journals (25.2%). Furthermore, 37.3% of the respondents strongly agree that by using web based information sources can save time, Information available in various formats as per the need (25%) and Better source of Information (23.1%) are the most benefits. The study also found that 42.6% of the respondents strongly agree that Low bandwidth, lack of assistance from library staff (33.1%) and retrieval of irrelevant/ junk information (31.5%) are the major problem faced by them while accessing web based information sources. Therefore, based the result of the study, possible recommendations have been made to resolve the problems faced by the students while accessing web based information resources. Keywords: Web based information, information sources, students, Bangalore University.

1. Introduction In recent years, there have been a number of changes in the higher education sector and academic institutions. The emergence of web information resources has tremendously transformed information – handling and management in University libraries (Ani and Ahiauzu, 2008). These remarkable changes include the way in which information is provided to the University Communities. A number of web information resources initiatives have been put in place in the world to assist in the development training and use of web information resources in a number of academic institutions in the world. Advances in computer applications amid the previous couple of decades have gotten radical changes the manner in which data is gathered, store, composed, got to, retrieved and consumed. The use of PCs in data preparing has conveyed a few items and administrations to the scene.



The Internet and the Web are always impacting the advancement of new methods of scholarly communication; their potential for delivering goods is very huge, as they overcome effectively the geographical restrictions related with the print media. Further, the dissemination time between product publication and its conveyance has been radically decreased. The Internet can be utilized for efficient retrieval and meeting information need. This is imperative for college libraries since a large portion of them call for more research work. This imperative certainty is persuading numerous libraries to move towards computerized e-assets, which are observed to be more affordable and more valuable for simple access. This is particularly useful to inaccessible students who have constrained time to get to the libraries from outside by dial-up access to regularly accessible electronic assets, principally CD-ROM, OPACs and Internet, which are supplanting the print media. Libraries have seen an incredible transformation as of late both in their accumulation advancement and in their administration structure. Throughout the most recent quite a long while, a noteworthy change has been seen in accumulation improvement strategies and practices. Print medium is progressively offering route to the electronic type of materials (Narayana & Goudar, 2005). The study of use of web based information sources by the post-graduate students particularly in creating nations has been a noteworthy and momentous issue from the recent few decades. The present ambit of data environment is rich, portrayed by an explosion of data sources and suppliers, a variety of strategies for getting to data and a repetition of substance from numerous sources. Information explosion has prepared to look for information in an expanding method for assortment of decent variety at various dimensions, recurrence, and volume and utilize. This circumstance seems, by all accounts, to be a vague and heterogeneous in character with the goal that information needs of a specific gathering of clients and information explosion out of a particular situational association are distinctive to decide. Again the utilization of data is complex to the point that there can't be a solitary framework to concoct the assignment of successful recovery without evaluating their particular needs. This circumstance has made ready to the idea of data look and the way of deciding the example of pursuit has been considered as Information needs and Information Seeking Pattern. Research on the investigation of information needs, information looking for conduct and information gathering propensities for a specific network will help an information Centre all the more adequately in creating projects and utilizing the accessible assets in an ideal way. Keeping in the view the importance of use of web based information sources, the present research study has been undertaken to investigate the use of web based information sources among post-graduate students of Bangalore University. 2. Objective of the study

To know the use of web based information sources among post-graduate students. To know the place and frequency of use of web based information sources. To identify the purpose of use of web based information sources by students. To know the problems faced by the students while accessing web based information

sources.



3. Methodology The purpose of present study is to investigate the use of web based information sources among post-graduate students of Bangalore University. The total strength of the post-graduate students Bangalore University was 3648 for the academic year 2017-18. The study was selected 632 post-graduate students from Bangalore University. The present study is based on the survey method. After reviewing the literature published in various national and international journals by the previous researchers, the questionnaire was designed to fulfil the stated objectives. The final version of the questionnaire consisted of various pre-coded questions to produce fast and easy quantitative reliable data. There were 800 questionnaires personally distributed by the researcher to randomly selected post-graduate students from Bangalore University and a total of 632 duly filled questionnaires were collected for further analysis.

4. Data Analysis and Interpretation

Table 1. Gender-wise distribution of respondents

Gender Frequency Percentage Male 320 50.6% Female 312 49.4% Total 632 100.0%

Gender wise distribution of respondents of Bangalore University is presented in Table 1. It can be seen from the table that 50.6% of the respondents are males and 49.4% of the respondents are females.

Figure 1. Gender-wise distribution of respondents

Table 2. Use of web based information sources by respondents

Discipline Gender Total Male Female Science 108 (17.08%) 102 (16.13%) 210 (33.22%) Social Science 105 (16.61%) 105 (16.61%) 210 (33.22%) Commerce 107(16.93%) 105(16.61%) 212 (33.55%) Total 320(50.63%) 312(49.36%) 632 (100%)

320 (50.60%)312 (49.40%)

Gender-wise distribution of respondents

Male Female



Table 2 indicates the discipline and gender wise use of web based information sources by the respondents. It can be seen from the table that all the respondents 632(100%) of the Bangalore University use web based information sources. Among the respondents, 33.22% of the respondents are from Science and Social Science discipline and 33.55% of the respondents are from Commerce discipline respectively. The gender wise use of web based information sources shows that 50.63% of the respondents are males and 49.36% are females.

Table 3. Types of web based information sources used by the respondents Web based information

sources Always Often Some Times Rarely Never

E-Journals 159 (25.2%)

208 (32.9%)

53 (8.4%)

200 (31.6%)

12 (1.9%)

E-Books 245 (38.8%)

209 (33.1%)

40 (6.3%)

120 (19.0%)

18 (2.8%)

E-Magazines 153 (24.2%)

61 (9.7%)

56 (8.9%)

195 (30.9%)

167 (26.4%)

E-Conference Proceedings 145 (22.9%)

24 (3.8%)

290 (45.9%)

128 (20.3%)

45 (7.1%)

E-Report 126 (19.9%)

40 (6.3%)

114 (18.0%)

248 (39.2%)

104 (16.5%)

E-Teaching Materials 100 (15.8%)

30 (4.7%)

76 (12.0%)

250 (39.6%)

176 (27.8%)

E-Standards/Specifications 89 (14.1%)

44 (7.0%)

75 (11.9%)

305 (48.3%)

119 (18.8%)

E-Tutorials 100 (15.8%)

119 (18.8%)

138 (21.8%)

200 (31.6%)

75 (11.9%)

E-Database 148 (23.4%)

112 (17.7%)

102 (16.1%)

149 (23.6%)

121 (19.1%)

E-Thesis and Dissertations 325 (51.4%)

46 (7.3%)

102 (16.1%)

69 (10.9%)

90 (14.2%)

E-Patents 99 (15.7%)

30 (4.7%)

208 (32.9%)

241 (38.1%)

54 (8.5%)

Subject Gateways/E-Portals 87 (13.8%)

25 (4.0%)

191 (30.2%)

144 (22.8%)

185 (29.3%)

Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds 86 (13.6%)

59 (9.3%)

274 (43.4%)

87 (13.8%)

126 (19.9%)

Open Source literature 188 (29.7%)

102 (16.1%)

133 (21.0%)

151 (23.9%)

58 (9.2%)

E-Reference resources,(Dictionaries, encyclopaedias etc.)

92 (14.6%)

211 (33.4%)

128 (20.3%)

129 (20.4%)

72 (11.4%)

Students and Faculty generated contents (Project reports, Research papers, etc.)

117 (18.5%)

237 (37.5%)

93 (14.7%)

139 (22.0%)

46 (7.3%)

Types of web based information sources used by the respondents are presented in Table 3. More than half 51.4% of the respondents of Bangalore University are always use e- theses and dissertations, followed by e-books (38.8%), open source literature (29.7%) and e-journals



(25.2%). It also can be seen from the table that 37.5% of the respondents are often use Students and Faculty generated contents (Project reports, Research papers, etc. followed by E-Reference resources such as Dictionaries, encyclopaedias etc. (33.4%), e-books (33.1%) and e-journals (32.9%). The above table also shows that 45.9% of the respondents of are sometimes use E-Conference Proceedings, followed by Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds (43.4%), E-Patents (32.9%) and Subject Gateways/E-Portals (30.2%). The table depicts that 48.3% of the respondents of are rarely use of E-Standards/Specifications, followed by E- Teaching Materials (39.6%), E-Reports (39.2%), E-Patents (38.1%). The result of the study also shows that 29.3% of the respondents are never use of Subject Gateways/E-Portals, followed by E-Teaching Materials (27.8%), E-Magazines (26.4%) and Blogs, Wikis, RSS feeds (19.9%) respectively.

Table 4. Place of access of web based information sources by respondents Places Frequency Percentage

Department 274 43.4 Library 240 38.0 Hostel 416 65.8

Table 4 represents the place of access of web based information sources by respondents of Bangalore University. It is identified from the result of the study the majority 65.8% of the respondents are access web based information sources in Hostel, 43.4% of the respondents are access in their respective departments and 38% of the respondents are access web based information sources in Library. It is observed from the result of the study that the majority of students have not access web based information sources in the Library.

Table 5. Frequency of use of web based information sources by respondents

Frequency Response Percentage Daily 185 29.3%

2-3 Days in a week 264 41.8% Once in a week 113 17.9% Occasionally 70 11.1%

Total 632 100% Frequency of use of web based information sources by respondents of Bangalore University is presented Table 5. The result of the study shows that 41.8% of the respondents use web based information sources 2-3 days in a week, followed by Daily (29.3%), Once in a week (17.9%) and 11.1% of respondents use web based information sources Occasionally.

Table 6. Benefits of use of web based information sources

Benefits Strongly agree

Agree Can’t Say

Disagree Strongly Disagree

Time saving 236 (37.3%)

273 (43.2%)

48 (7.6%)

51 (8.1%)

24 (3.8%)

Better source of information 146 (23.1%)

390 (61.7%)

95 (15.0%)

1 (0.2%) -

Access to up-to-date information 131 (20.7%)

347 (54.9%)

71 (11.2%)

61 (9.7%)

22 (3.5%)



Note: 5= Strongly agree, 4= Agree, 3= Can’t Say, 2= Disagree, 1= Strongly Disagree Table 6 reveals that the benefits of use of web based information sources. The table depicts that 37.3% of the respondents of Bangalore University are strongly agree that time saving is the benefit to use web based information sources, followed by Information available in various formats as per the need (25%) and Better source of Information (23.1%). The table indicates that the majority 61.7% of the respondents are agree that better source of Information, Access to up-to-date information (54.9%) and easy portability of e-resources (52.8%). The result of the study shows that 48.4% of the respondents are opined that they can’t say improvement in the quality of professional work. It is observed from the table that 30.7% of the respondents are disagree for access to electronic resources 24/7, followed by Information available in various formats as per the need (13.1%), Access to up-to-date information (9.7%). The table also observed from the table that only 5.7% of the respondents are strongly disagreeing to access to electronic resources 24/7 is benefit.

Table 7. Problems faced by the respondents while accessing web information sources

Improvement in the quality of professional work

5 (0.8%)

287 (45.4%)

306 (48.4%)

6 (0.9%)

28 (4.4%)

Information available in various formats as per the need.

158 (25.0%)

140 (22.2%)

251 (39.7%)

83 (13.1%) -

Easy portability of e-resources 21 (3.3%)

334 (52.8%)

219 (34.7%)

58 (9.2%) -

24/7 access to electronic resources

16 (2.5%)

262 (41.5%)

124 (19.6%)

194 (30.7%)

36 (5.7%)

Problems Strongly agree

Agree Can’t Say

Disagree Strongly Disagree

Poor connectivity (Low bandwidth)

269 (42.6%)

324 (51.3%)

2 (0.3%)

25 (4.0%)

12 (1.9%)

Retrieval of irrelevant/ junk information

199 (31.5%)

330 (52.2%)

88 (13.9%)

15 (2.4%) -

Frequent power failure 135 (21.4%)

270 (42.7%)

142 (22.5%)

75 (11.9%)

10 (1.6%)

Server down or system problem 162 (25.6%)

261 (41.3%)

156 (24.7%)

45 (7.1%)

8 (1.3%)

Unfamiliar file formats 95 (15.0%)

296 (46.8%)

188 (29.7%)

53 (8.4%) -

Change in URL 87 (13.8%)

292 (46.2%)

194 (30.7%)

59 (9.3%) -

Change of the content/ information

78 (12.3%)

350 (55.4%)

161 (25.5%)

43 (6.8%) -

Non availability of latest software ( to view, read and write accessed information)

197 (31.2%)

223 (35.3%)

158 (25.0%)

54 (8.5%) -



Note: 5= Strongly agree, 4= Agree, 3= Can’t Say, 2= Disagree, 1= Strongly Disagree The problems faced by the respondents while accessing web information sources are shows in Table 7. It can be seen from the table that 42.6% of the respondents of Bangalore University are strongly agree that poor connectivity (Low bandwidth) is the major problem faced by the respondents while accessing web based information sources, followed by lack of assistance from library staff (33.1%), retrieval of irrelevant/ junk information (31.5%) and 31.1% of the respondents strongly agree that non availability of latest software (to view, read and write accessed information). The table depicts that little more than half 55.4% of the respondents are agree that Change of the content/ information, followed by retrieval of irrelevant/ junk information (52.2%), unfamiliar file formats (46.8%), and Change in URL (46.2%) are major problems faced by the respondents while accessing web based information sources. It also can be seen from the table that 58.9% of the respondents are can’t say that lack of IT knowledge to effectively utilize the service/ e-resources, followed by Using electronic resources often detracts from doing work (49.1%), Lack of assistance from library staff (36.4%), unorganized information content (34.2%). It is observed from the study that 16.3% of the respondents are disagree to lack of assistance from library staff, followed by frequent power failure (11.9%), change in URL (9.3%), non availability of latest software ( to view, read and write accessed information) (8.5%) and lack of IT knowledge to effectively utilize the service/ e-resources (8.4%). The table also indicates that only 2.8% of the respondents are strongly disagree to using electronic resources often detracts from doing work, followed by Unorganized information content (2.2%), Poor connectivity (Low bandwidth) (1.9%), Lack of IT knowledge to effectively utilize the service/ e-resources (1.7%). 5. Discussion and Conclusion

Concerns about the character of online information and users’ capability to evaluate it effectively prompted this study of students’ use of Web-based information sources, their perception of information integrity across media, and their verification efforts. This evaluation is particularly crucial given the increasing use of Web-based information sources among university students and a parallel increase in misinformation online (Null, 2000). The present study reveals that more and more students are using the web-based information sources for their academic work these days. There appears to be greater scope for further improvements in terms of equipment, technology and facilities. A few advanced academic exercises such as workshops, seminars and special lectures become necessary to update knowledge and know-how. The study area's faculties and students could try the worldwide emerging trends of transformation and sophisticated application methods. Likewise, libraries could subscribe to more e-journals.

Unorganized information content

105 (16.6%)

259 (41.0%)

216 (34.2%)

38 (6.0%)

14 (2.2%)

Lack of assistance from library staff

209 (33.1%)

82 (13.0%)

230 (36.4%)

103 (16.3%)

8 (1.3%)

Using electronic resources often detracts from doing work

63 (10.0%)

202 (32.0%)

310 (49.1%)

39 (6.2%)

18 (2.8%)

Lack of IT knowledge to effectively utilize the service/ e-resources

32 (5.1%)

164 (25.9%)

372 (58.9%)

53 (8.4%)

11 (1.7%)



Furthermore, because the utility of the Internet for students, in particular, rests upon a properly significant view of the reliability of Web-based information sources, it is important to assess the extent to which students differ from a more general adult Internet user populace. The result of the study found that, only 51.4% of the respondents of Bangalore University are always use e- theses and dissertations, e-books (38.8%), open source literature (29.7%) and e-journals (25.2%). Based on the result of the study, it is recommends that, there is a need to motivate the students to optimum utilization of these sources. The study also found that 42.6% of the respondents strongly agreed that poor connectivity (Low bandwidth) is the major problem faced by them while accessing web based information sources. Therefore, there is need to increase the bandwidth to resolve the issue. Another problem faced by the respondents is lack of assistance from library staff (33.1%). Hence, there is a need to train the library staff regarding co-operation with the students while accessing web information sources and help them in all the way. Furthermore, study also found that respondents strongly agree that retrieval of irrelevant/ junk information is also one of the major problem faced by them. Therefore, it is come to know that the students are lacking behind the Internet search skills. Hence, Internet search skills need to teach the students. References Ani, O. E., & Ahiauzu, B. (2008). Towards effective development of electronic information

resources in Nigerian university libraries. Library Management, 29(6/7), 504-514. Narayana Poornima and Goudar IRN, “E-Resources Management through Portal: A Case

Study of Technical Information Center”, In: International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICIM2005), 22-25 Feb 2005, P 1-19.

Null, C. (2000). Web of lies: hoaxes, jokes, fakery, fraud: your online credibility faces an

uphill battle. PC/Computing, 6

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