Online Databases Backbone for Teaching and Research: Case Study of Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, affiliated to Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra (India)

The library facilities and services have changed during the pandemic from both the librarians’ and library users’ points of view. Research and academic communication disseminated via emerging online databases and resulted in creating awareness and utilization of electronic resources remotely. The present study investigates the availability, awareness, and use of online databases subscribed from direct publishers and also accessed from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India, under the INFEED project by Rajarambapu Institute of Technology (RIT) staff members and students during the lockdown period. A mixed research approach (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) has been applied by using an online questionnaire as a data collection tool. Total 128 filled questionnaires were received with an 85.3 percent response rate, and it is found to be valid for analysis. More than 90 percent of the respondents were aware of the Online Databases. Science Direct is a highly used database by 50 percent of the users, majority i. e. 75 percent of the respondents use E-books as a source of information from an online database. The study also found some problems faced by the respondents, such as network problems, technical problems, lack of guidance, etc. Finally, the study made it very clear that most of the users are satisfied with the Online Databases provided by the institutional library