AWARENESS AND USE OF CeRA CONSORTIUM AMONG THE STUDENTS OF UTTAR BANGA KRISHI VISWAVIDYALAYA, PUNDIBARI, COOCH BEHAR (W.B.), INDIA: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the awareness and use of Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture (CeRA) among the students of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (UBKV), Pundibari, Cooch Behar (West Bengal.), India. A questionnaire based survey has been conducted in the premises of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (UBKV), Pundibari, Cooch Behar of West Bengal state of India and tried to evaluate the current status of information seeking behaviour and awareness and use of Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture (CeRA) among the students. The copies of well structured questionnaire have been distributed among 150 postgraduate students of the University. Out of the distributed questionnaires, 127 filled-in questionnaires were properly received back with overall response rate @84.66% and included in the study for further analysis.It was found that 48.81% respondents were aware about the CeRA and its use. On the question of adequacy of resources available on CeRA, 45.66% of the respondents were feel adequacy and 25.98% respondents were opined somewhat adequacy. Regarding satisfaction level about the use of CeRA resources, 51.96% of the respondents shown their satisfaction with the use of CeRA resources. It was also found that 37.80% of the respondents were facing the problem of slow response to get requested articles under Document Delivery Service (DDS), while 34.64% respondents facing the problem of slow speed of Internet. Based on the findings, the researcher has also suggested that more and more electronic resources should be subscribed and incorporates on the CeRA platform. Furthermore suggested that more training programs on awareness and use of CeRA Consortium as well as e-resources should be organize on frequent basis by the central library of UBKV so that users can able to access their desired information efficiently.

Keywords: Agricultural libraries; Agricultural universities; Awareness; CeRA Consortium; Electronic resources; Information seeking behaviour; Usage analysis