Information seeking behavior of postgraduate research students engaged in Buddhist Studies in Universities of Sri Lanka.

Abstract

This research explores the results of the study of how postgraduate research students seek information to write their theses. One hundred one (101) postgraduate students in Buddhist Studies who were registered for M.A. (by research), M. Phil, and Ph.D. in universities of Sri Lanka took part in the study as empirical research pillars. The method involved a questionnaire to collect data both qualitative and quantitative and the students behavior is explored thorough the different angles. The overall response rate of the study was around 77 percent. The results provided an insight into: students' information seeking behavior; the use of information resources to write the theses; their awareness of library services available to them; the usage of library and information services and the problems they encounter while seeking information for writing the thesis component. In this study the information was collected on subject categories of postgraduate students' theses to identify the information seeking behavior. It was revealed that the highest a number of respondents were doing research related to Buddhist Philosophy and many students were unaware of the several services provided by the library and information centers for them. Especially CD- ROM searches, Internet access, and the inter-library loan facility were not known to them. A Number of postgraduates have commented on having a standard classification scheme for all universities for organizing Buddhist literature as very important.