Information Studies

The primary objective of this study is to understand students’ views about Internet usage in Lala Lajpat Rai College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai. A questionnaire survey was undertaken. The min findings are: (1) A high degree of awareness about the benefits of Internet among students; (2) the library, computer lab, Cyber café and home are deemed the most convenient places to access Internet; (3). The major purpose of students’ accessing Internet is education and entertainment; (4) students strongly agree that project work, quick and reliable communication, and the availability of updated information are motivating factors for using the Internet; (5). The study confirmed that Google is the most used search engine, followed by Yahoo; however, students were not aware of the advanced search strategy provided by these search engines, thus failing to make informed searches on the Internet.; (6) Internet use skills were acquired by majority of student by self-study and what they learnt through their friends; the study reveals that in the present Internet influenced academic environment, information literacy skills to use Internet effectively is a necessity. (7) Though students consider themselves smart enough to use the Internet, there are several problems they face in accessing the Internet. While they know that the needed information is available on the Internet, they are not sure about its completeness. And also, students feel that they lack the knowledge and skills needed to make informed searches to retrieve reliable and complete information.