Access to electronic resources and services among the research scholars: A study

This paper examines the access to electronic resources, services and barriers among the research scholars who are currently pursuing Ph. D programme in engineering, pure sciences, and social sciences in the educational institutions of Tamil Nadu, India. The major objectives of the study are to find the access to eresources, e-services and also the barriers faced by the research scholars. A well structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. It is found that majority of research scholars (82.3%) are accessed to "Google Scholars", and OPAC/WebOPAC service is highly used among other services. It is further analyzed that "Lack of permanent access" and "discontinuation of subscriptions" are formed as major barriers in accessing of e-resources and e-services. The study recommends creating awareness, highlighting the benefits of the resources & services, development/improvement of ICT facilities in the libraries to provide the information requirements of the user community.