A Study on the Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of Faculty Members of Colleges affiliated to Assam University, Silchar

Abstract

The core user group in a college library are the faculty members of the college and it is the first and foremost duty of the college libraries to fulfill their information needs and hence build a collection that will support their academic requirements. Here a study has been made to ascertain the information needs of the college teachers in colleges of Assam University and the purpose of the study is to find out the pattern of overall interaction of the teaching community with the library and information system. Both quantitative and qualitative research approaches have been used to collect relevant data. The collection of data for the present study has been initiated by conducting a survey among the respondents. The findings of the study has given a clear picture of the diverse information needs of the teaching fraternity in colleges and the multifarious role of the libraries to fulfill their needs and has also thrown light on the information seeking behaviour along with plausible suggestions as to how to improve the libraries in colleges. The results of the study are expected to help in improving the library services towards teachers/students and also in planning and executing effective library services to them, which can prove to be a great boon to the library users for getting the right information at the right time.