Reference Services in Private University Libraries of Assam: A Study

Abstract Objective: The present study intends to investigate the private university libraries of Assam and their different kinds of library services and reference services, web 2.0 features and its different adopted methodology for the advancement of library services and how these library services are being provided and what are the technical or non-technical measures adopted by the library professional to perceived job performance. It also intends to carry out additional library facilities like an online learning support system and enabling future generations to utilize acquired knowledge from the study libraries. Methodology: For this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection have been used. A structured questionnaire was prepared for librarians and the library user’s and sent to the head of the libraries to finds out the status and performance of references services and a questionnaire for each particular library user was also distributed among the categories of library user’s to carry out relevant information regarding user’s demand and perceptions. A personal interview with the librarians of the study libraries and the library users were also conducted for proper measurement. Findings: The study findings show that the adoption of different categories of reference services to facilitate the category of users and online learning support system by the study libraries where basic library services performed by 100% (13 numbers) ADBU, ADTU, MSSV, RGU, and 92% (12 numbers) AKU and 54% (7 numbers) KAV and RGU acquired highest 73% (16 numbers) for reference services and ADTU acquired highest 47% (7 numbers) for web-based reference services. It also highlighted the online learning support system where RGU acquired the highest 69% (11 numbers) Originality: It is an original work of my study which I have created independently that is free from any sort of plagiarism. It has not been published before in its current or a substantially similar form, nor is the work currently being considered for publication by any other journal/conference proceedings