Monday, June 16, 1980

Practices and Problems of Saint Louis University Students in the Use of the Library

Mendoza, Marivic L. (1980). Practices and Problems of Saint Louis University Students in the Use of the Library. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Saint Louis University, Baguio City.

Introduction

The library under girds the instructional program in the college. It is an important tool in improving college instruction. It cannot be separated from the professors or the curriculum. While the faculty stimulates intellectual curiosity and critical thinking, the library through its resources, can provide the intellectual sustenance which can be found only in books and other forms of literature

The Problem

The study aimed to determine the status of the library practices of undergraduate students in Saint Louis University during the first semester of the school year 1978-1979. More specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1) What are the purposes of students in using the libraries? Are there differences in these purposes according to their sex, colleges to which they belong, academic year and level of academic achievement?

2) According to these same variables, how do the students differ in the following library practices: a) locating the materials which may provide the information they need; b) determining what facts and which generalizations are important and should be remembered from the materials they collected; and c) utilizing the materials which they read in areas where these are deemed needed for school or community use.

3) Do the variables sex, college academic year and level of academic achievement affect the acceptability or unacceptability of the students’ library practices?

4) What are the difficulties of students in the use of the library?

Methodology

In determining the sample, the researcher used the formula of Mildred B. Parten for each college population. The researcher made an open-ended survey on library practices and problems to help her structure her questionnaire items, after which, a pre-test had been administered to validate her questionnaire. After an item analysis on the questionnaire items, the final questions were framed to fit the purposes for which the research was intended.

Discussion

The variable sex is not an operant variable on the purposes of students on the use of the library but the variables, college, academic year and level of academic achievement appear to influence students’ library purposes.

A great number of students use the library only when required. This is a sad fact because it means that very few use the library for their personal growth which is in consonance with the finding that the smallest number and percentage of students go to the library for personal development. This may be due to lack of information on the value and use of the library facilities.

The variables such as sex, college, academic year and level of achievement are not significant determinants of the students’ library practices: a) in determining what facts and which generalizations are important and should be remembered from the materials they collected; c) in utilizing the materials which they read in areas which are deemed needed for school and community use.

Findings on hypothesis three showed that sex does not affect the quality of students’ library practices. However, the variables college, academic year and level of academic achievement account for the difference in the quality of students’ library practices.

Difficulties of students in the use of the library range from locating to utilizing information which are: a) the use of the indexes to periodical literature; b) use of the card catalo; c) use of the textbooks’ learning aids; d) use of the encyclopedia; e) use of the dictionary; f) determining the important points from what is read; and g) relying the important information read.

Sunday, June 1, 1980

An Evaluation of the Current Bibliographic Awareness of the Population Center Foundation

Researcher: FE PERALTA SEGUNDO


Course: Master of Arts in Library Science


School: Philippine Women’s University


Subject Area: Current Awareness Services


Year of Graduation: 1980


Statement of the Problem

This study seek to evaluate the adequacy of the current awareness program of the Population Center Foundation Library (PCFL) through SDI approach as based on the objectives, functions and projects of the Population Center Foundation.


Methodology

The method of research used was descriptive evaluative with questionnaires as the data processing and statistical instrument for evaluation.


Findings

The highly trained PCFL ranked their standard library services “very adequate.” They did the same on the first three current specific awareness services, namely: distribution of list of new publications, routing of new periodicals received and distribution of content pages. They also believed that the rest of their specific current awareness services as well as the SDI services offered are all rated “adequate.”


Conclusions

Although the PCFL staff understandably considers the extent of the current awareness services of the PCFL adequate, the user’s “barely adequate” rating indicates some inadequacies which may be attributed to unequal emphasis on individual processes.

Reader notification/routing and content pages received a “fairly adequate” rating to prove that the institution has not put up a complete dossier of user personal profiles.

Special newsletter columns also received a “fairly adequate” profile presumably due to little attention accorded in this area.

The Working collection of the PCFL reflects considerable inadequacy in supporting the current awareness program and the SDI services.

The adequacy of the information dissemination program of the PCFL varies in the degree between the staff perception and the user perception.

The PCFL continues to cater a distinct clientele composed mainly of a policy making level group, an implementing level group, researchers of population related disciplines, students and others in order of their importance.


Recommendations

The Population Information center and Library needs an immediate re-assessment of its program of information gathering, processing transformation and dissemination in the light of the growing urgency of meeting the population problem.

To render the current awareness services of the PCFL adequate in all aspects, consideration must be made of the different neglected processes.

a) Staff expertise on the current awareness processes has to be up-dated.

b) Experimentation on the extent of use, needs of the different processes it recommended.

c) User-profiles on interests and needs require periodical chech-up

Library holdings have to be expanded two ways:

a) subject area coverage

b) volume count

The improvement of the overall dissemination program of the PCFL starts with perfecting the facilities for SDI.

The expansion of the SDI services should include users of other instruments. This would require the extension of the interview-questionnaire method to occasional users to provide the center with the necessary “user” profile to be kept for alerting services.