Availability and Accessibility of E-resources under HELINET Consortium of RGUHS: Survey among Librarians

Abstract

Introduction: Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka, Bangalore will be established a full pledged University Library in its premises and computerize all its library operations along with the  introduction of electronic library concept and health information network in the state. This will provide access  for higher value of medical reference books and to various types of electronic medical databases. HELINET  Consortium is a conglomeration of owning, sharing and accessing essential medical literature of core scholarly  international e-journals, e-books and databases by all the colleges under this digital library network round-the clock. Purpose: The main purpose of this is to describe the availability and accessibility of the e-resources  subscribed and provided under HELINET Consortium at Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences  (RGUHS), Karnataka. The study would help in designing an instrument to evaluate utilization of e-resources  and their availability and accessibility. The purpose of the study was to learn what e-resources were used, how  they were used (i.e. users' skills in handling e-resources) and why they were used. Design/Methodology/Approach: The present study has been designed on the availability and accessibility of  e-resources under HELINET Consortium by the health science college Libraries affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi  University of Health Sciences, Karnataka. The tools used for collection of data pertaining to the present study  are online questionnaire, which is followed by online through google form method was designed and used. The  Librarians email ID collected through RGUHS User Friendly Solution Gateway (Remote Access) under  HELINET Consortium. The sample consisted of 125 librarians working in libraries attached to 125 health  science education institutes. In these institutes Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Ayurveda an Allied  health services are being trained. Analysis was conducted using SPSS and MS-excel sheet and output was  translated into charts, graphs, lines, frequencies and percentages. Findings: The results of this study indicate  that all libraries attached to institutes affiliated to HELINET consortium had access to Internet in their  libraries. The 71% of the colleges were having Wi-Fi facility in their campus. The 72 out of 125 libraries  (52.7%) affiliated to HELINET are only automated.Majority of the libraries attached to HELINET consortium  uses proprietary software for automation. 117 (93.6%) libraries were having subscribed to HELINET services  in their libraries. Originality/Value: The study presents the availability and accessibility of e-resources under  HELINET Consortium of RGUHS by the Librarians of the colleges affiliated to RGUHS.