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The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic hampered the availability of information sources and services in most academic institutions around the world. Making information available during major crisis reveals the long-standing position of the library in helping its patrons. This post COVID-19 study that took place between February 2020 and January 2021 investigated the availability of information sources and services during the COVID-19 pandemic in university libraries in Nigeria. Using a descriptive design, the study used 240 students who were purposely selected from 30 universities including federal, state and private universities in South-South geographical zone of Nigeria as sample. The study revealed that information sources such as: e-books, print journals, e-journals and electronic databases and services such as: Circulation, interlibrary loan, remote access, SDI, online reference services among others were available to the patrons in university libraries in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings showed that the inhibiting factors against the availability of information sources and service in university libraries were poor telecommunication network, closure of some library sections, lack of preparation, unavailability of library policy on pandemic/disaster management and poor coordination among others. The study recommended some areas for improvement to ensure the availability of information sources and services to the library patrons during major crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries must provide supportive environments and unhindered services to their users to support their academic well-being. A survey of 202 Punjab Agricultural University Library users was conducted to determine users' satisfaction with the library webpage, library resources, infrastructure facilities, and library services. The study found differences in the satisfaction level and awareness of library services and facilities among the undergraduate, graduate, research scholars and faculty users. A compulsory credit-based course exists for postgraduate students only, leaving the other users uninformed about the services and facilities offered by the library. It was discovered that a robust ICT infrastructure is required since most of the users assessed the ICT infrastructure as 'average'. Data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, researchers aim to understand the attitude of users towards information technology application in two university libraries of north India, namely Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla and Panjabi University, Patiala. Survey method of research was used to collect data from the users. The sample consisted of 391 users, which included PG Students, Research Scholars and Faculty Members in the Faculties of Social Sciences and Sciences in both the universities. The data were collected through structured questionnaires and further analysed using the Chi-Square test and Kruskal-Wallis test. The data analysis and discussion reveals that despite a few number of library users being involved in the decision-making of IT application in libraries and availability of few training programmes on the know-how of IT systems, a positive attitude towards information technology application prevails among the library users in both the university libraries. In the end, some key recommendations are presented for deriving more benefits from future IT initiatives in libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a critical review of selected studies. A point of departure is the focus on the methodology used and the related issue of whether the inferences drawn are justified by the methodologies used. This is thus meant to be potentially useful for researchers in the broad area of information -seeking behaviour of the users in a digital environment. Eleven studies were selected for a deeper understanding of their users' information needs and information-seeking behaviour and to make suggestions on how to enhance the effectiveness of library services and their efficient utilisation. The libraries selected for the present study are diverse-college libraries, university libraries, public libraries and a Government Department library. Our review is based on the results obtained through critical study and examination of the literature with the main focus on the Information Seeking Behaviour of the users. There is a diverse range of libraries and users covered by these studies, and several interesting hypotheses could be statistically validated. Without statistical validation of hypotheses, the inferences lack robustness. This is a striking weakness of the extant literature-including the sample examined here. However, some constructive suggestions are made. These include a focus on special libraries, methodological extensions and refinements, and a broadening of the hypotheses and validation of inferences. We believe our review fulfils an important gap as scant attention is given to analytical rigour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]