Research Publications
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Item Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as Catalysts of Educational Transformation in the Higher Education Sector of Sri Lanka: A Systematic Literature Review(Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka, 2024-10-16) Munasinghe, M. A. K. S.; Suraweera, S. A. D. N.; Weerasinghe, K. G. H. D.This systematic literature review evaluates the transformative effects of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Sri Lanka’s higher education and library services. It explores how MOOCs democratize education by broadening access to previously costly and limited educational infrastructure and integrating them into library practices for enhanced access and professional development. The review synthesizes various sources to assess MOOC utilization, challenges like low completion rates, inconsistent quality, and digital divides. Strategic improvements are proposed to align MOOCs with educational and socio-economic goals in Sri Lanka. The findings highlight MOOCs’ current uses, barriers, and potential as supplements to traditional education, aiming to optimize learning outcomes and support educational transformation in both academic and library environments.Item Library service enhancement for differently abled undergraduates at University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka: A review of project(University of Jaffna, 2022) Warnasooriya, Thrishala; Munasinghe, M.A.K.S.The library, University of Kelaniya, has given special attention to ensuring the equal provision of facilities for differently abled undergraduates. Accordingly, a service enhancement project was initiated to encourage them to visit the library, access the physical collection and gain a first-hand experience. Accordingly, audio-visual cubicles were established to encourage the library usage of differently abled under- graduates. The users were facilitated with a braille book collection, together with a management system, CD and cassette collection, and on-demand reading service, which consisted of 568 items, both lending and reference materials. The collections were searched from the access points of author, title, ISBN, and subject headings. Further, a bilingual searching facility was enabled. CD and cassettes can be played at the given cubicles during library opening hours. A trained library staff member was available for on-demand reading service. The printed books were issued from the lending or reference section. Further, e-resources were read for the users’ requests. In the project’s next phase, the selected recommended readings authored by the University Academics will be converted into a braille document. The project enabled the library to play the role of facilitator to provide equal provision for all users.Item Adoption of electronic books in a higher education setting: an exploratory case study based on Diffusion of Innovation and Garner’s Hype Cycle paradigms(Annals of Library and Information Studies, 2021) Jayasundara, C.C.The purpose of this research was to examine the status of library users' adoption of e-books in line with Rogers's Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and Gartner’s Hype Cycle (GHC) Model in the context of Fiji National University (FNU). The FNU Library introduced e-books to its user community in 2014. Purposively chosen 40 undergraduate students from the College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies were selected as the sample to conduct in-depth interviews. The study revealed that the participants' e-book adoption habits were primarily divided among early adopters, early majority, and late majority. The results disclosed many factors that influence the adoption of e-books, such as familiarity with the technology, personal taste, exposure to trial access, use of preferred access devices and enthusiasm for reading. Findings indicate that e-books adoption of university undergraduates in line with the DOI and GHC paradigms has substantiated how the underpinning theories could help interpret the adoption of e-books in teaching and learning environment. Thus, this research will help librarians and educators develop a robust mechanism for better understanding the inherent status-quo of e-book usage in higher education institutions. These research findings will also help develop strategies that can significantly enhance universities' traditional teaching and learning performance with emerging technologies.Item Development and validation of a tool to predict information seeking behavior of medical undergraduates, Sri Lanka.(Proceedings of 11th International Conference of University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka- 2021, 2021-09-22) Marasinghe, M. P. L. R.; Chandratilake, M. N.; Kasturiratne, K. T. A. A.Information seeking behaviour is a set of actions expressing information needs, searching, evaluating, selecting, and utilization of information. The study aimed to develop and validate a tool to measure the information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Final and penultimate year students in medical faculties in universities of Kelaniya, Peradeniya and Colombo, and Eastern University in Sri Lanka were invited for the study. The elements of information seeking behaviour were defined by thematically analyzing the content of focus group nine discussions with medical undergraduates. The scale was developed based on the Integrated Behavioural Model. The preliminary scale with 60 items was developed and pretested. The responses of a field test with the participation of 436 medical undergraduates were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and psychometric analysis. The tool was refined to include 40 items and the revised version was administered to 645 of medical undergraduates. The sub-components of the 40-item tool partially matched with the theoretical framework and the reliabilities of overall and sub components demonstrated high to moderate reliabilities. The tool can be used to evaluate the information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates effectivelyItem User survey on online library resources and services during the Covid-19 pandemic: A case of University of Kelaniya.(University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka, 2021) Ranaweera, R.A.A.S.; de Silva, A.P.U.; Rubasinghe, A.S.Covid-19 is one of the tragic outbreaks of the world. Emergence of Covid-19 has become a global crisis and has created a massive impact on the day today lives of people including business, education, health, transportation and careers. Temporary closures and social distancing were introduced to limit the spread of the virus in the society. Education was drastically affected by these restrictions and preventive measures. Universities were physically closed but methods were devised to continue their educational process. Online teaching and e-learning technologies were applied in university education. Along with that, university libraries round the globe also shifted their services more towards to digital and virtual environments. In Sri Lanka too, university libraries also shifted their formal services to digital platforms as much as possible to cater to the academic community who study and work from home. This study reflects on the user’s opinion on the library resources and services rendered to them by the library, university of Kelaniya during the outbreak of Covid-19. It also investigated the challenges and barriers faced by the users using library facilities in this period. There were 264 undergraduates from the faculties of Commerce and Management Studies, Computing and Technology and Humanities participated in this survey. Adhering to the health guidelines, an online questionnaire was distributed among the study sample using the Google online form to collect data for this study. Study findings confirm that the 59% of the users were satisfied with the online library services and facilities offered by the library. Past papers repository (74.6%) was the most frequently used online library resource Technical issues and lack of awareness prevented the undergraduates from fully utilizing the online resources and services offered by the library during the pandemic.Item The Impact of the Performance Appraisal Process on Job Satisfaction of the Academic Staff in Higher Educational Institutions(Educ. Sci. 2021, 2021) Dasanayaka, C.H.; Abeykoon, C.; Ranaweera, R.A.A.S.; Koswatte, I.Performance appraisal is one of the key management tools which identifies employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Usually, this is the major mechanism of gathering information for rewarding/training employees based on their performance, and hence a key to achieve organisational goals by creating a satisfied workforce. Therefore, this study was aimed at examining the effects of the Performance Appraisal Process on job satisfaction of the university academic staff. The information collected within one of the largest universities in the UK via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews showed that the existing appraisal process majorly aligned with the requirements of the research-excellence-framework of the UK, which is greatly concerned with research rather than teaching. Furthermore, it was found that there is no clear link between promotions, salary increments, and rewards, etc. with staff performance within the current appraisal process. Eventually, it was realised that the majority of the academic staff of the source university were dissatisfied with the current performance appraisal process, and this could be the situation in the majority of universities in the UK. Therefore, further research in this area is highly recommended to explore extensive information to create a favourable work/study environment for both staff and students within the universities.Item How a “fine regime” of an unacceptable user behaviour policy affects library use: nudging or shoving?(Journal of Access Services, 2021) Jayasundara, C.C.A discussion of long-term thefts in the library suggested creating a highly punitive policy that captures the dynamics of the context through a holistic approach. The study inquired about how the penalty regime affects the attitudes of students and library staff toward fines. Data was collected through in-depth interviews to reveal three groups' attitudes: offenders, principled users, and staff. Twenty staff were interviewed, and forty of the students interviewed were registered users, 20 of whom had previously been fined for attempting to steal books, while the rest had no record of policy violations. The findings show that 30% of students were aware of the existence of the written policy only after being punished, which indicates that they were not given proper library orientation at the outset. The paper discusses how heavy fines and banishment from the library impacted attitudes toward the services offered in the building. Feedback from participants can be part of an early warning system used to maintain a high-level of service quality minimizing security issues.Item Sexual health information seeking behaviour of adolescents and their satisfaction with the information outcome: An application of the theory of motivated information management(Elsevier The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 2021) Jayasundara, C.C.This study investigates how the Theory of Motivated Information Management influences adolescents' sexual information-seeking behaviour and their satisfaction with the information they find. A cross-sectional investigation that purposively selected and surveyed 128 adolescents in the Matara District of Sri Lanka using a semi-structured questionnaire was designed. The variables such as high-risk sexual behaviour, having a partner or not, sexual curiosity, computer self-rated proficiency, sex of the adolescents, self-rated English proficiency, Uncertainty Discrepancy anxiety and self-efficacy were used to inquire about the contributing effects on adolescents' sexual health information seeking behaviour. The findings reveal that the most important sexual health information for adolescents is the information related to “high-risk sexual behaviour” and “sexual curiosity”. Boys are more likely to engage with sexual health information in a positive way than girls. The results further validate the TMIM framework. The orientation of associations between model variables has been consistent with past studies, particularly the negative relationship between anxiety and efficacy. Adolescents expressed difficulties in obtaining health information, including difficulty determining the quality of information and the lack of appropriate health information, highlighting the need for effective measures in this area. To overcome these barriers, the Ministries of Health and Education, the National Library, the Academic Library System and particularly medical/health libraries in universities, and the National Youth Services Council should plan easily accessible, outcome measurable, and appropriate opportunities and training through their official centres and institutions.Item TOWARDS AN ORGANIZATIONALLY SENSIBLE HR RISK ASSESSMENT IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: A CASE OF A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY(Library Philosophy and Practice,University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2020) Jayasundara, C.C.Employees can be a resource of sustained success and a competitive advantage in any orgnisation, reliant on skilled workforce. However, dearth of trained labour force to drive the manpower requirement of local industries has become a long lasting burden in some small counties. These countries do not have adequate professional advancement opportunities for librarians and support staff to become professionals or paraprofessionals due to lack of openings for specialist education in the field of librarianship. Thus, human resource risks in libraries of such countries are comparatively higher. It is therefore needed to identify and assess the severity and impact of HR risks to mitigate the future burdens with a set of carefully planned HR management practices, which can positively increase the risk resilience. Due to less professional educational opportunities, economic downturn and outflow of educated personnel in Fiji, employers have been unable to recruit and retain suitably qualified professionals and paraprofessionals specially for academic libraries. All universities have hired many librarians from foreign countries and some universities have employed untrained manpower for paraprofessional work. Consequently, this research also tried to identify HR threats and vulnerabilities related to the Department of Library services in the Fiji National University (FNU) with the objective of directing the opted library for a possible risk mitigation plan. The study used qualitative methods by exercising semi-structured interviews for a sample of 25 professionals and paraprofessionals in the library. The research identified HR risks, their prevailing circumstances, library operation and its relationship with these HR risks, and finally to address what could be improved. Nevertheless, the management of HR risk will be continuing and its connotation will be unique and richer because of the Library is a part of a larger autonomous venture. It is therefore found that HR risks are bound to overall management of the university to cause a profound and extensive impact.Item Beware the Tyranny, Resulted by Impact Factor Mania Among the Scientists: A Critical Review(Journal of the University of Ruhuna, 2020) Jayasundara, C.C.Publishing articles in high-ranked journals brings a higher payoff that designates a greater likelihood of scholastic success of academics and researchers. In the present climate, it provides many opportunities for researchers to be in a "Golden Club" and catch a great deal of offers from Head-hunters, particularly for jobs, research grants, and consultancies, as many people in the research/academic industry still rely on the fact that greater impact is widely apparent in high ranked journals and the journals with high Impact Factor (IF). In universities, many researchers in academic administration positions, who have already progressed with high visibility by publishing research in journals with high IF, always attempt to put into action the same level of requirements and stipulations in publications for tenure decisions of academic and research staff together with rewarding and endowing perks including financial incentives. Assessing junior colleagues purely by exercising the IF score or journal ranks in senior researchers' mind-set has been widely prevalent in academia in the global context. Enforcing rules and regulations for promotion, recruitment, and financial incentives for tenure decisions only for the publications in high profiled journals with top IF is a kind of mania. It, in turn, creates a dismantle discrimination and precede for academic bullying and professional prejudice in universities. Thus, this paper discusses some of the problems with IF and journal ranking mechanisms, which consist of prevailing distortions in the scientific industry by disclosing the failures to predict the definite impact and creation of perverse incentives. It further proposes some points to be taken for reforming/devising an appropriate mechanism targeting the definite impact of essential scientific values of research and researchers that can be readily used for measuring the impact