Access, Awareness and Use of Electronic Resources by Post Graduate Students in Gulbarga University

Universities are seeking to play a key role in the research and development process. An important element in the research process is the accessibility of information resources and services provided by libraries. Postgraduate students are key producers of research in universities, and an important element in their research process is the access to information. This study examines postgraduate students' views on the access, awareness and usage in facilitating their research and their satisfaction with the sources and services currently provided. The Random Sampling technique together with a Questionnaire was used for data collection from 50 postgraduate students from Gulbarga University. The findings shows that the majority (90.1%) of respondents acknowledged the important role of library in facilitating research, and 72.5% of the respondents were satisfied with the current role being played by the libraries. However, certain areas needed to be improved such as longer opening hours for physical visits, in spite of the facilities for remote access assistance for supporting students' research. The findings will be useful to academic libraries in providing better services to postgraduate students for their research. The paper records the reasons why Post graduate students use electronic information resources are; research activity, Paper writing for publication, and referring course materials. It suggests further for an improvement in the access facilities with high Internet speed and subscription to more e-resources by the University Library. The present study also attempts to encounter different problems faced by the students during accessing e-resources.