Information use pattern of teachers and students of Punjab University Regional Centre, Sri Muktsar Sahib: A case study

The present was study conducted with the aim to determine the information use pattern among the teachers and the students of Punjab University Regional Centre, Sri Muktsar Sahib. The study also investigated the frequency of library visit and to identify various purposes of library use by the academic community of regional centre under study. The other purposes include finding usage and awareness of users about digital information resources and services available in the centre. A well structured questionnaire was designed to collect the data from the respondents. The respondents of the study include teachers, students pursing M.Phil. (Punjabi), L.L.B. and M.C.A. in the centre. Total 147 questionnaires were distributed among all the academic community mentioned above and 107 questionnaires were received back proper filled in with response rate of 72.78%. The results of the study indicate that a majority of the respondents i.e. 58.87% are using libraries on daily basis. A majority of the respondents use the library for research purposes with 53.27% responses. The study concluded that in this era of information explosion, there is an instant need to educate the academic community of the centre under study on how to use effectively use and retrieve information e-resources and what kinds of services and tools are available to bridge the gap between information have and to get the exact piece of information needed. Keywords: Information Seeking Pattern; Teachers; Students; User Study; Library Usage; Panjab University; India