Utilization of E-Books among Undergraduate Medical Students at Lahor

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to report on a survey that was carried out to access the perception of the academic users, and their awareness about the use of e-books at existing level. The survey also seeks to find out the preferences of the users regarding the format for using books. A quantitative approach which employs a survey technique was used to collect information on e-books utilization habit among medical students. Statistical analyses were carried out on the data using Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). This study found that most of the undergraduate students have common habits as they read e-books for academic purpose and still preferred to read text books in print format. The factors; such as easy and round the clock access, non-consumption of energy through physical visit to the library and users friendly features offer a comfortable platform for the students to use the reference e-books. However, unreliable service, eye fatigue, requirement of username and password cause to feel uncomfortable with the service. Moreover, the role of librarian is perceived to be an important remedy for all the inconvenience incurred. Only 119 medical undergraduates participated in the study. Furthermore, these students are enrolled in 5th year MBBS in the oldest government sector medical colleges of Lahore. This study is important in terms of obtaining a better understanding of e-books utilization and to provide a rich insight from academic professional to enhance the e-books collection. This is believed to be the first published study about the utilization of e-books by the medical undergraduate students'.

Keywords

• e-books, utilization,undergraduate students, medical college.