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.
