Usage Pattern of E-Resources by Scientists in Select Plantation Research Institutes in South India: A Study

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study the issues of use of electronic information resources by the scientists of selected Plantation Crops Research Institutes in South India. The survey was conducted and primary data were obtained from the scientist through structured questionnaire. The research findings shows that majority of the respondents are having rural social background (66.18%) and the majority of them possess PhD degree in Plantation Crops Research Institute in South India. All the scientists visits library for gathering the various information. The most important purpose of visit to the library was to refer the periodicals 86.96% and to borrow and return of the books were 73.91%. Majority of the scientists used their department (93.24%) and home (42.51%) for accessing the electronic information resources. The electronic journals (full text/abstracts) (56.52%), Internet websites (66.18%), Search engines (68.12%) were used to greater extent and Online Access to databases (33.33%) & Electronic Reference Services (38.16%) used to a moderate extent by the scientists. The most of the scientists learnt requisite skill of using electronic information resources through self-study by trial and error method, browsing through internet and guidelines from friends & colleagues. It is very much clear through WA values that, the subjects such as Plantation Crops (3.52), Plant Physiology (2.65), Plant Pathology/Entomology (2.59), Biotechnology (2.55), Botany/Clone Evaluation (2.63), Agronomy/Soils (2.51), Crop Physiology (2.51) were found to be priority subjects in plantation crops research. The study also found that majority of the scientists (84.54%) used databases to get the needed information and less number of scientists 15.46 were not used to databases. According to WA values, it is very much clear that Springer link (2.66) Science Direct (2.59), CAB Abstract/e-books (2.19), CeRA (2.2) are the occasionally used databases in plantation crops research. The study also found that majority of scientists (69.56%) used CeRA consortium for accessing the electronic information resources and rest of the 30.43% of the scientists were not using CeRA.

Keywords: E-resources, Databases, CeRA Consortium, Plantation Crops Research Institutes, etc.

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