Information Usage Patterns of Postgraduate Students at Nishter Medical College, Multan, Pakistan

Abstract

This study identifies the information usage pattern of postgraduate students at Nishter Medical College in Multan, Pakistan. It explores the purpose of students’ information seeking, preferred sources of information, level of satisfaction with library resources, library staff, and the problems faced in searching information on the Internet. A questionnaire-based survey method was used. The questionnaire was developed after comprehensive literature review and distributed among 210 postgraduate students. The response rate was 85%. The findings show that the majority of postgraduate students always use general books and were strongly satisfied with this resource. They also frequently use the Internet and most of the respondents use the Internet for educational purposes. Students were also satisfied with the library's reference books collection. Respondents were somewhat satisfied with the periodical collection, and abstract and index services. Knowledge of the different databases supplied by the library and the usage of these databases was unsatisfactory. Students viewed the library as a convenient study place. Respondents pointed out that the slow speed of the Internet and constant electric power failures impeding access to authentic information are the problems they faced while using the Internet.

Keywords:

• information needs
• information seeking
• information usage
• library services
• user satisfaction