Access to electronic resources and services among the research scholars: A study

This paper examines the access to electronic resources, services and barriers among the research scholars who are currently pursuing Ph.D programme in engineering, pure sciences, and social sciences in the educational institutions of Tamil Nadu, India. The major objectives of the study are to find the access to e-resources, e-services and also the barriers faced by the research scholars. A well structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. It is found that majority of research scholars (82.3%) are accessed to “Google Scholars”, and OPAC/WebOPAC service is highly used among other services. It is further analyzed that “Lack of permanent access” and “discontinuation of subscriptions” are formed as major barriers in accessing of e-resources and e-services. The study recommends creating awareness, highlighting the benefits of the resources & services, development/improvement of ICT facilities in the libraries to provide the information requirements of the user community.