Survey on usage of university main library by undergraduates of Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya.

Abstract

The main library of the University of Kelaniya plays a major role in advancing knowledge of its users. It provides a huge collection of reading materials for reference use or lending. The aim of this study is to understand the usage of main library by 1st, 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates of Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya. The objectives of this study are to assess the usage and usage patterns of the students of Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya. The study focused on estimating the average time of library usage, investigate the average number of books read by students per month, identify in which stream students use the library most, understand the reasons and periods in which students access the library most, and estimate their overall satisfaction on the main library. The data required for the study was collected through a survey that was conducted during the period of September – December 2016. Among the 1670 students registered in the Faculty of Science, 197 respondents were randomly selected using stratified random sampling method (without replacement) by considering students’ education streams as strata. After an initial pilot survey was conducted, questionnaires were distributed among the 197 respondents. The collected data were analysed using a statistical software to meet the objectives. Eighty seven percent of the students of the Faculty of Science use the main library whereas highest number of students (90%) using the library was from the Biological Science stream. The average library usage time of a student is about 2 hours per week. The average number of books used by students per month is two books. The main reason to use the library by the students is for studying their lecture notes and second reason is to read additional reading materials. Students use the library least at the beginning of the semester and widely use the library during the study-leave period. Reasons cited for reluctance to use the university library by the students who do not use the library, were lack of free time and the administrative rules of the library. Majority of the students (70%) use the university main library whereas few of the students use other libraries. It was also found that approximately 51% of the undergraduates of Faculty of Science were satisfied about the facilities provided by the university main library. The results of this survey will be useful to understand the usage of main library by the students of Faculty of Science in order to assist the administration to, further improve the productive use of its resources.