Abstract:
The library of the University of Kelaniya plays a significant role to support learning, teaching
and research activities of the academic community by providing print and e-resources. As at
July, 2016 the library of the University of Kelaniya comprised of 250301 printed books, 2157
CD-ROMs, 1203 theses and 800 non-book materials. In addition, the library has subscribed to
60 local journals and access to provide over 12,500 full text academic journals and 100,000 ebooks.
At present library usage patterns and information seeking behaviors of undergraduates have
been change due to the introduction of Wifi facilities for students and changes of the courses
modules, curriculums and teaching methods of the university education system. Both academic
staff and students have adopted and continue to use the online information retrieval for their
academic and research work. This study aims to compare the usage of library and the Internet
to find information sources in the faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences, Science and
Commerce & Management in the University of Kelaniya. This research attempts to determine
the factors of enthusiasm and the disinterest of students on using library and Internet. All the
undergraduate students in the University which is 8440 (as at August 2016) were taken as the
study population and 368 students were selected as the sample by using Krejcie and Morgan
method. The quantitative data were analyzed by using Descriptive Statistical Method.
Findings, of the study indicated that undergraduate students of all the selected faculties use both
the library and the Internet to fulfill their information needs. The students of faculty of Science
and faculty of Commerce & Management selected Internet as the most preferred source of
information.
