Awareness about e-resources for educational purposes: A study of the select arts and science colleges in Kerala

This study aims to assess the awareness about electronic resources among the academic community in the higher education sector in Kerala. It also established an association between awareness and other independent variables such as gender, age, academic status, course of study, possession of personal computer, Internet at residence and discipline. This cross-sectional study employed stratified random technique for selecting a sample of 879 respondents. The study reported that the percentage of respondents who were ‘very much aware of general as well as subject-specific e-resources was very low’; the males are seemingly more aware than their female counterparts; the respondents belonging to the 30–39 years age group were found to be more aware; the teaching community is more aware than students; those who have a personal computer are more aware about e-resources; those having Internet connectivity at residence; the awareness about electronic resources is more among respondents belonging to Science and Commerce than among those belonging to Social Sciences and Humanities.