AN EVALUATION OF LIBRARY RESOURCES AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY LIBRARIES SPECIALIZING IN INDIGENOUS MEDICINE IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

The field of medical science has witnessed unprecedented growth level all over the world, as a result of various research and developments done in all directions. As a result it has created undoubtedly many challenges for librarians Sri Lanka as well. The study has been undertaken primarily in indigenous medicinal libraries in Sri Lanka as there is no in-depth study has been done so far in this regard. The aim of this study was to evaluate the available information resources and services of the three indigenous medicinal libraries. The major research tools employed for data gathering were questionnaires, interviews and observation methods. Students and academic staff of Institute of Indigenous Medicine and Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurvedic Institute as well as Professionals / Para Professionals of Bandaranayaike Momorial Ayurvedic Research Institute were deemed as the study population. The SPSS software was utilized in analyzing the data collected for this study. The study revealed that the existing resources and services provided from these libraries are almost inadequate to meet the demands of target user groups. Collection development, lending and reference services, improvement of infrastructure facilities such as library buildings, information networks for resources sharing, current awareness services, user education, photocopy service and use of new technologies for the library etc. were identified as areas that needed improvement. In this context it is of paramount importance to appraise the collection, provide more facilities for further training of the staff and to cope with the modem technology.