INFORMATION ACCESS BEHAVIOUR AND SATISFACTION OF MEDICAL COLLEGE GRADUATES IN CHENGALPATTU DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU
Keywords:
Information Access pattern, Information seeking behavior, Medical College Graduates, Medical College libraries, User satisfaction, Chengalpattu District, Satisfaction level of users.Abstract
The study examines the information access behaviour and satisfaction of medical college graduates in Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu, with particular reference to their use of library services. Data were collected from students across six medical colleges in the district SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Government Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital, Melmaruvathur Aathiparasakthi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, and Bhaarat Medical College & Hospital. For this study using a structured questionnaire covering awareness, purpose and frequency of use, search strategies and skills, infrastructure adequacy, barriers encountered, and overall satisfaction with information resources and services. Of 1,500 questionnaires distributed (250 per college), 1,397 were returned, yielding an overall response rate of 93.13 per cent. The findings reveal 714 (51.11%) were male and 683 (48.89%) were female, indicating a fairly balanced gender representation in the sample with a marginal predominance of male respondents. Regarding the library visit twice a week (23.6%) is the most preferred frequency of library visit among the respondents, closely followed by weekly visits (21.9%) and bi-weekly visits (21.5%), while fortnightly visits (12.2%) are the least preferred pattern across all five years of study,. the majority of respondents (54.26%) are satisfied or fully satisfied with the library facilities, the majority of respondents (62.06%) feel that needed information is available either consistently or intermittently through online resources, the considerable proportion (37.94%) reporting the pattern indicates that financial/access barriers (subscription cost) and technical/infrastructural constraints (network and hardware/software) are the dominant obstacles to e-resource use among medical college library users in Chengalpattu District..
