Evaluation of Usage and User Satisfaction on Electronic Information Resources and Services: A Study at Postgraduate Institute of Medicine Library, University of Colombo

This study investigated the level of user satisfaction of electronic information resources and services available at library, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo. The objective was to determine the level of satisfaction on the use of electronic resources and services by medical postgraduate trainees at Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo. Total number of 427 registered postgraduate medical trainees during the years of 2014 and 2015 was the sample population.  Sample size of 100 trainees from 32 medical specialties were selected randomly. Self-administrated questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The study revealed that 95.5% of the respondents have their own computers and Internet connection to access electronic resources. Postgraduate medical trainees use electronic resources for multiple purposes. Among them 98.6 % of the respondents use the electronic resources for their studies and updating knowledge. Among them 70.5% of the respondents use electronic resources for gathering general information. Regarding the level of satisfaction on electronic resources and services 60.2 % of the respondents strongly agreed the satisfaction level on provision of Internet access at library, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine. The satisfaction level of subscribed e-journals was agreed by 56.8% of the respondents. Lack of time to access e-journals at library, lack of training, non-availability of remote access for subscribed resources were identified as significant issues.  Based on the research findings it can be recommended that the library should subscribe more electronic books and journals; more training programs should be arranged; remote access facility should be provided for subscribed electronic sources. Further, mobile alert services should be arranged to make aware about the latest issues and updates.