EVALUATING THE UTILIZATION AND IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES OF ISLAMABAD

Abstract

Background

The growing use of electronic resources in university libraries has made itself an identity of the contemporary education. E-resources including e- books, e- journals and digital databases allow students and faculty to have instant access to a plethora of academic material, making research and learning easier. Nevertheless, even with the increasing use of these tools, there are concerns on how well they have been used, whether they are readily available and how they have influenced academic performance, especially within the setting of university libraries in Islamabad.

Objectives

This research seeks to examine the use and the effect of the electronic resources on the university libraries of Islamabad. The study particularly aims at the available accessibility, awareness, and training of e-resources and the frequency of usage and its impact on the academic performance of students. Moreover, the paper delves into the difficulties that learners encounter when accessing such materials, and evaluates their general satisfaction with the library services.

Methodology

The research utilized a descriptive survey design, where the data were collected by the administration of 400 students belonging to different disciplines and different levels of study at Islamic universities in Islamabad by means of structured questionnaires. The survey questionnaire contained both quantitative and qualitative variables, which were aimed at determining the level of awareness among the students, the patterns of their use, as well as the attitudes towards the quality and relevance of electronic resources. Data interpretation was performed through descriptive statistical analysis, and there was a cross-tabulation of variables to determine their relationship.

Results

The results have shown that even though electronic resources are not hard to find, there is a lot of problem with their utilization. Most of the students indicated that e-resources have a positive effect on their academic activity whereby there are significant gains in research and assignment work. Nevertheless, internet connectivity was found to be a problem due to low rates of internet connectivity, technical changes, and lack of proper training as an obstacle to maximization. Another major conclusion of the study was that although a significant percentage of students knew that there were e-resources available, they believed that the training programs that were available were not adequate to help them improve their skills of using them. The levels of satisfaction were a positive one, although it was proposed to improve such aspects as database updates, support of the staff, and the interface of the digital platforms.

Conclusion

Electronic resources are also very important concerning improved academic performance and research works. Nevertheless, in order to make the most out of them, universities need to fix the infrastructural problems, have extensive training programs and have resources regularly replaced. The university libraries in the city of Islamabad can be in a better position to help their students succeed academically by enhancing accessibility, technical support and quality of their resources.