Utilization of e-resources by faculty members of Agricultural Universities: An analysis

Libraries have evolved manifold times with technology playing a great part in making learning more accessible. With growing accessibility of the Internet, huge impetus is on the global access of information resources. This paper discusses the utilization of e-resources by the faculty members. A survey of 134 faculty members of three oldest agricultural universities of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh was conducted. It was discovered that faculty members of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University (HPAU), use e-books, e-journals, and e-databases ‘weekly’ whereas faculty members of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) ‘rarely’ use e-books and e-databases. The frequency of using e-resources ‘daily’ is quite low by the faculty members of all the three agricultural universities. Nearly 14 percent faculty members of HPAU are ‘unaware’ of the CAB Abstract and half of the faculty members of HAU ‘rarely use it. Almost 14 percent faculty members of PAU & HPAU and 20 percent HAU faculty members are though aware of the resource but do not use Krishiprabha. However, faculty members generously use e-resources for research and teaching, and reveal good interest in e-journals and e-databases