Undergraduates' perception towards the Library of the Faculty of Nursing, University of Colombo

Abstract

The university libraries play an important role in the educational progress, and every library attempts to provide a quality service to meet the information needs of its users. A descriptive survey study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing premises with the purpose of providing a more subjective picture of undergraduates' perceptions towards the Library, Faculty of Nursing. The nursing undergraduates, who are currently enrolled in the faculty, were recruited purposively to this study. A self-administered google questionnaire was used to collect data. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. The response rate was 87.7%. Majority of the participants were females (n=159, 74.3%). Most of the students were in their 2nd year of study (n=75, 35%) and slightly more than 75% of the total participants (n=166, 77.6%) stay at the university hostels. The study findings revealed that the nursing undergraduates hold a positive perception (M= 3.7, SD=0.75) towards the Nursing Library staff. For the areas of physical/working condition (M=3.45, SD=0.86), locating materials/information (M= 3.41, SD=0.80), and the book collection (M=2.85, SD=0.71) of the library, they hold a moderate perception. Based on these study findings, it is suggested that the areas in which undergraduates showed a moderate perception have to be further improved to provide more efficient services in the future. Accordingly, it is recommended that the physical/working condition to be arranged in a place with adequate space to sit & read along with adequate lighting and ventilation. In addition, the Nursing Library should pay more attention when placing materials/information in the library, as well as the library book collection should be improved with more copies of lending and reference books of the latest editions.