Researchers' perception and attitude towards Open Access (OA) resources: an alternative model and important for academic and research libraries

Open Access (OA) resources has become an alternative resource as the pandemic outbreak has forced all the educational institutions remain closed. It has become a great source for the research scholars as the libraries have stopped traditional functioning of the libraries and focussing more on online-based services. This study has been conducted based on the data collected from the research scholars of Bharathidasan Uiversity, India, one of the prestigious universities has got highest rank. The study results showed that research scholars were aware of OA resources such as e-journals, e-books, e-theses and dissertations, Open Access Coursewares, whereas they were not aware much about other sources such as e-contents, reports, directories, IRs, e-proceedings etc. They accessed the resources from library and low access found from other places. They aware of the resources through library professionals, supervisors and user awareness programme and research was the major purpose of using the resources. Easy to use and global resources at one place were the reasons for using the resources. Limited access to computers, delay in downloading and lack of search skills were the issues faced by them. The study suggested to organise user awareness programme periodically and allocate more funds for procuring computers and high internet bandwidth connection.