Please find enclosed article on the introduction of E-Journals in the newly started engineering college at the time during 2010.

Plugging the cord on E-Journals at JEC: Report of a Survey

Ms.Sujatha Kannan

Librarian, Jawahar Engineering College. Chennai-93

 

Abstract:

Orientation Programme is very much essential to all libraries before implementing new services to its user community. This paper is about the study which aims to create awareness among the students and faculty members of Jawahar Engineering College on E-Journal access and its importance in their academic development. This study identifies their problem in accessing and downloading E-Journal & E-books.

Keywords:-Pro-Quest, E-Journals, Info-Trac Science and Engineering Collection, Orientation Programme, Jawahar Engineering College, DELNET, MALIBNET

Introduction

The role of e-books and e-readers in the libraries are increasing rapidly. This report identifies challenges and some successful approaches to innovative personalized services to the users of Jawahar Engineering College Library.

The main goal of the library is to make online journal collection development and maintenance as efficient as possible and to support faculty members to do their dynamic research in the present scenario and to update their subject knowledge by accessing the full text journal articles from their desktop

 

Jawahar Engineering College, Chennai

 

Jawahar Engineering College is centrally situated in saligramam, Chennai. It is approved by AICTE and affiliated to Anna University. The College was opened in 2010 with five UG Depts. The library has a collection of 12000 volumes of text books and reference books. Books are classified with DDC Scheme of classification. Library subscribes 62 print journals and Electronic access with Pro-Quest Science Journals& (Gale-Cengage) Info-Trac Science and Technology Collection. It has institutional membership with DELNET and MALIBNET. Library Collections are automated with In-House Software prepared by IT-Dept Staff.

 

 

Objective of the Study:

 

1. Create Awareness among users about the advantages and potentials of E-Journals.

2. To educate user community in exploiting the available resources.

3. To Create Promotional activities in making use of E-Journals in the areas like accessing,  

     downloading and taking print.

4. To create regular and continuous mechanism in the form user survey to enroll their feedback.

 

Methodology:-

       

                      Sampling Tool:Pro-Quest Science Journals Collection.

 

Total Titles	1597
Full Text Current	869
Full Text Archive	396
Abstracts	395

 

                      

                       User Community: Limited to Faculty members of Jawahar Engineering College.

                                                    

Professor	10
Associate Professor	9
Asst. Professor	94

 

1. A very simple survey of Questionnaire was prepared and circulated among faculty to know about their access pattern. Based on that consolidated report is prepared to analyse the seeking behavior of the user.

 

Dept.	Distributed (Nos.)	Responded (Nos.)	Aware (Nos.)	Not aware (Nos.)
The Principal	1	1	1
IT	18	18	12	6
EEE	12	12	7	5
ECE	23	23	15	8
IE	10	10	5	5
MECH	22	22	12	10
Maths	8	8	3	5
Physics	6	6	2	4
Chemistry	8	8	4	4
English	5	5	1	4
Total	113	113	63	50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of 63 aware individuals, nearly 25 are aware of operating the technically advanced gadgets

 

1. Orientation programme to the new users by circulating the content page of the E-Journal and training to access the database was given as follows:

 

• Read more in less time per reading.
• Rely less on browsing and more on searching
• Depend more on library provided articles than from other sources
• Readily adapt to new technologies that are convenient to their information-seeking, reading, and work patterns.

 

 

 

Content page of Pro-Quest database

 

 

Major findings of the orientation Programme:-

Description	Feed back
Preference level of using E-Journals	Both Electronic & Print
Frequency of Access to Internet	2 to 3 Hrs. (per week)
Frequency of using E-Journals	As and When required, sometimes once in a week
Purpose of using E-Journals	To Update subject knowledge & research work
Location for accessing E-Journals	Central Library & Computer Center
Use Pattern of E-Journals	On Computer screen & Download in storage devices
Difficulties of Accessing E-Journals	Lack of diversified subjects that employs E-journals as mode of transfer.
Satisfaction of Accessing E-Journals	Satisfied

1. Accessing a complete database which contains of full text current, full text archival and abstract within their ‘limited time schedule’ and also considering ‘limited access terminals’ is quite inconvenient to the users. So to locate their exact requirement, printed list of the full text and archives titles of a Pro-Quest database were segregated based on their branch and circulated among them and received the following details.

S.NO	Dept.	Total No. Journals requires to access          Current  (Nos)                 Archive (Nos.)
1	ECE	15	2
2.	EEE	31	4
3.	IT	33	7
4.	IE	21	4
5.	MECH	25	7
6.	Maths	25	0
7	Chemistry	4	1
8.	Physics	5	2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

1. Based on the users requirement the library staff members started downloading the particular

articles of a journal and make a list of downloaded articles titles in an excel sheet is prepared

as follows. This information is circulated to the HOD’s of each Dept on a continuous basis

through mail (every week). The faculty may also enquire the library on the particular article.

This service enables the researcher to locate their exact requirement as and when they need.

 

Result: Library Staff learned new responsibilities such as activating e-journals, maintaining accurate holdings of information in the online public access catalog and e-journals database troubleshooting.

Suggestion: Number of Journals available through consortia should be increased to access more journals in their relevant subject field and should update the current text in their databases at the regular intervals.

Conclusion: Since the huge amount is spent on subscribing E-Journal, it is prime duty of librarian to make use of available resources in to fruitful. So managing the e-journal is part of the library service besides managing all the regular services. However the library is taking advantage of new technologies such as an electronic resource management system, and library workflows and procedures will continue to evolve as technology changes.

 

               

References:

1. Pro-Quest Science Journals Databas

2. Information resources access pattern at alagappa University library, karaikudi, and Tamilnadu, india by  Dr. C. Baskaran- International Journal of Library and Information Studies.

3. Access pattern of online journals among library users in engineering college Central libraries, Chennai, Tamilnadu, india  - A Comparative study   Velmurugan & G. Ramasamy –International Journal of Digital Library services

4.  Awareness and use of scholarly Electronic Journals by Members of Academic Staff: Case

      study of Dar es Salaam University College of Education. (DUCE): Library Philosophy and

      Practice (E-Journal)

5.  A Study on Use Pattern E-Resources among Faculty Members in Art and Science Colleges in

      Chennai - K. Chandra -Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science

 

 

Regards

Sujatha

Librarian