Evolving Library Services in Agri-Education: A Survey of Resource Utilization, Academic Impact, and ICT Challenges at S.V. Agricultural College, Regional Library, Tirupati ANGRAU

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to explore the transformation of libraries, information resources, services, and products in this electronic era due to the wide impact of Internet, electronic, communication and information technology. The study also includes a survey among the students of master of agricultural sciences Post Graduate students and Research Scholars to know about their views on the changing informational requirements of them and what they expect from the libraries in this digital era. A survey method has been adopted to get the data from the targeted users. Out of a total 220 administered questionnaires, 186 completely filled questionnaires were received back and found valid for analysis the response rate is achieved (@84.5%. The study finds that 76.9% of the postgraduate, Research Scholars of agricultural students have good awareness and use of digital resources and services, while 79.6% of the respondents access e-journals easily and 65.6% of the respondents access e-books easily. It is also explored by the study that WEB OPAC is the most utilized resource by the respondents 100% for their academic and research endeavors, while 47.8% respondents reported time constraints hinder their ability to access digital information resources. The study concluded with the suggestion that practical session and short-term training programs particularly on e-learning must be conducted to improve the use of digital resources and services among the agricultural students and other research fraternity.