Factors Influencing Students’ Willingness to Use Academic Library after COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract This paper is an attempt to determine the factors which influence the willingness of the students to use academic libraries after lifting the COVID-19 lockdown. A quantitative study design has been opted to conduct a cross-sectional survey from students of the BS (4 Years) program of five public sector universities in the Punjab province, Pakistan. A stratified random sampling technique has opted and a sample of 1288 students has been sampled. A well-structured questionnaire having close-ended questions has been constructed to measure the response in terms of (dis)agreement. Multiple regression analysis has been applied to predict the dependent variable. The study findings assert that students are willing to use the academic library for their academic work along with the following protective measures after the COVID-19 lockdown. It depends on the enforcement of the COVID-19 related aspects. These aspects include social distancing, wearing a face mask, seating arrangements in the library, and availability of hand sanitization in the academic libraries. The study findings conclude that students have practiced physical distancing in the library, wear a mask, hand hygiene, and also have a lack of fear of infection of COVID-19 pandemic that enhances their willingness to use the academic library.