Efficiency of Research Scholars in Accessing Information Resources: A Case Study of Jammu University

Society is constantly facing challenges of handling and accessing information due to rapid advancements in technology and upheavals brought in by technological breakthroughs. Due to the emergence of Internet and World Wide Web, there is huge information available all over, which is posing challenges before library and information centres not only in managing vast amount of information but also how to pass relevant information smoothly to its users and at the same time educating them to extract relevant information with in least possible time using various information accessing tools. The present study attempts to highlight the efficiency of research scholars of different faculties of the University of Jammu in accessing information resources using various strategies like search engines, consortia, Boolean operators, phrases, truncation of terms, online databases and so on. It also discusses in detail the impact of technological changes on research scholars and their awareness about the various search strategies to access information sources more efficiently and effectively. An attempt has been made at the end to provide suggestions to improve information accessing skills and the role of library professionals in improving users’ skills to access relevant information in a proper way.