Role of departmental library in satisfying the information needs of students: A survey of two departments of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the role and importance of departmental library in satisfying information needs of students. Perceptions of the students of the Department of Management & Business Administration (MBA) (having departmental library) and the students of the Department of Library & Information Science (LIS) (who did not have a departmental library) were comparatively analyzed. The study assesses the satisfaction level of the respondents from the MBA department with services of their departmental library. It also explores the LIS students' opinion about the need of departmental library. A questionnaire was distributed among 150 students of both the departments. The results show that most of the respondents from MBA department were satisfied with nearly all of the departmental library services. It was also found that most of the respondents from both the departments recommended the provision of online databases and Internet service for their departmental library. They also demanded more computers, digital collection and magazines/newspapers. The respondents from MBA department were found more interested in scholarly journals, multimedia services and audiovisual material than the respondents from LIS department. All of the respondents agreed that departmental library should be provided in all academic departments of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur.

Keywords

• departmental library
• university libraries
• library services
• user satisfaction
• islamia university of bahawalpur