Perception of Library Professionals towards Library Research Support Services

Abstract

Library Research Support Services (LRSS) encompass a range of valuable resources and assistance provided by libraries to help researchers at every stage of their scholarly pursuits. The present cross-sectional study is primarily aimed at understanding library professionals' perceptions of LRSS and identifying their problems. The study is based on the responses received from the library professionals of select universities of the National Capital Region (NCR), India. The results of the study indicate that the most preferred service was 'Database Services' having the highest average mean score of 4.58, followed by 'Infrastructure Facilities'
(4.51) and 'Institutional Repositories' (4.43). The least preferred service was 'Scholarly Publishing Services' which had the lowest mean score (3.98). In terms of problems faced, the most significant problems reported were financial problems/ lack of budget (mean = 4.04) and short age of library staff (mean = 3.92). Other problems included speed and connectivity of Internet, multifarious user demand across different academic departments, the inadequacy of infrastructure and the special needs of the researchers. The value of this research lies in its unique contribution to studying the perspectives of library professionals regarding LRSS,
especially in the Indian context.