Use Pattern of Information Sources and Services by the Job Seekers at Public Libraries in Chennai City - A Study

An attempt made in this study to know about the use pattern of information sources and services by the job seekers with the special reference of public libraries in Chennai city. Well structured questionnaires distributed randomly to the users of public libraries to investigate the aims of the study. The result shows that most of the respondents are male with the age group of 26 to 30 and have the educational qualification of a graduate. Majority of the respondents are having an average level (53.8%) of information literacy skills. Most of the respondents are moderately aware (55.7%) about the information sources and services of public libraries. Majority of the respondents (68.35%) visit the public libraries often. Job oriented books (83.54%) are often used by the respondents followed by 56.33% of job oriented periodicals, 35.44% of e-resources and 43.04% of encyclopedia and dictionary are used occasionally. 68.35% and 45.57% of the respondents use the reading room and notice board and new arrivals display service often. Most of the respondents (65.19%) and (58.23%) often use online public access catalogue or web OPAC and browse themselves in the stock area. Majority of the respondents (56.96%) satisfied with the information sources and services (63.29%) available in the public libraries. Most of the respondents agree that there are some problems like insufficient information sources (34.81%), inadequate services (34.18%), lack of search techniques (51.90%), infrastructure (47.47%) and library timings (40.51%).