Library facilities of Govt Medical College, Chandigarh better than Govt Medical Facilities of Punjab: Research of Punjabi University
Kanwar Inder Singh/ April 16,2023
How medical students use the library; what is the condition of these libraries; how satisfied students are with these libraries; A research was carried at the Department of Library and Information Science of Punjabi University, Patiala with the objective of researching these aspects. With reference to the library, “Information about the behavior of students of Government Medical Colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh”, this research work was conducted by researcher Anamika under the guidance of Dr. Trishanjit Kaur. This research throws light on the low or non-use of library resources by medical students and the reasons behind this. In this research project, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, Government Medical College, Amritsar, Government Medical College, Faridkot and Govt. Medical College, Patiala were made the subject of the study.
Researcher Anamika has told that 600 MBBS students from four government medical colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh were included as sample for this research and further, out of these 600 students, 492 students were selected for analysis. It is on this analysis that the results of this research work are based. She conveyed that a pilot survey was conducted as a model in this regard after which two sets of questionnaires were prepared for students and librarians/library in-charges of selected colleges. The data obtained through the survey was analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. The analysis revealed that 63.4% of the total 492 students are going to the library for preparing notes and only 7.3% are going to the library for recreation.
About 67.8% students accessed online journals and e-resources from the library at Chandigarh, 58.8% used ‘PubMed’ which is a free medical search engine. Compared to this, the ‘MedScape’ platform was used by very few people. 66.9% of these students are using e-journals. 95.2% of students of Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh are satisfied with their library facilities and 89.3% of students of Government Medical College, Amritsar are dissatisfied with their library. The researchers said that primary data collection sources were used for this research work, which included questionnaires and interviewing students and library staff for data collection. So, all the data was collected offline.
Dr. Trishanjit Kaur said that in the results obtained from this research, it was revealed that the library facilities of the medical college located in Chandigarh are better than the facilities in the other three medical colleges in Punjab. These facilities include collection of electronic resources, journals, budget allocation and required funds and professionally trained library staff. Most students of government medical colleges in Amritsar and Patiala complained that their libraries lacked ICT, lack basic infrastructure and up-to-date electronic information resources. The students of these two colleges were not satisfied with the library services and facilities. The research revealed that the library staff should be trained to conduct information literacy workshops, seminars and other programs. Most of the users prefer internet-based resources such as e-journals, medical databases, medical websites, web portals etc. All respondents from the four medical colleges were using the databases Medline, PubMed, Medical Matrix and Medscape.
Library facilities of Govt Medical College, Chandigarh better than Govt Medical Facilities of Punjab: Research of Punjabi University. Appreciating this research work,Punjabi University Vice Chancellor Prof. Arvind congratulated the supervisor and researcher. He said that the data obtained from this research can prove important to change the library policy of government medical colleges as per the demand of time. Hence such research needs to be encouraged.
(royalpatiala.in News)
