Information Seeking Behaviour of Agricultural Science Students: A Study at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the information seeking behaviour of postgraduate students who  are studying in different agricultural science disciplines at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural  University (CCS HAU), Hisar, India. In the study, it was also try to determine what the information  requirements of the targeted respondents are, and to determine their awareness of library services available to  them currently. For data collection, survey method was adopted with the aid of structured questionnaire. The  data were collected over a period of 20 days between January and February 2021. Total 200 postgraduate  students, who were studying in different agricultural sciences departments were approached randomly and  shared questionnaires to them in the library premises. Out of total 200, 177 valid questionnaires were collected  and considered for final analysis, which representing the response rate @88.5 percent. The study found that  library & its resources (44.64 percent), and Internet & social media are the two main sources of information  seeking for the respondents. More than 70 percent respondents were preferred to search their required  information from electronic information resources due to easy to search and use, whereas, around 39 percent of  the respondents seeking information for preparing examination and 23.72 percent respondents seeking  information for preparing class assignments. About 70 percent of the respondents were quite satisfied with the  staff of the library, whereas, 14.12 percent respondents were rated staff behaviour and support as excellent. 50.84  percent respondents were opined that the services and facilities provided by the university library has very  effective and plays a very important role in their academic and research work. The outcome of this research would  help the similar type of other institutions of the country as well as of other countries to understand the changing  needs and behaviour of students and researchers and to develop information resources and services in their  premises.