Examining the usage of and access to online databases for academic purposes: A study at an engineering- and technology-based university in Malaysia

摘要

In higher learning processes, information and reference sources are considered significant to both students and staff of higher education institutions (HEIs) in gathering references and reviewing literatures. Currently, students and staff tend to obtain or access references from the online databases and electronic resources provided by their university’s libraries. In this study, we examine the number and titles of online databases that are most frequently searched, viewed and downloaded by students and staff for academic purposes. Data were obtained from the annual reports published by the university’s library between 2014 and 2017. Findings revealed a high percentage of usage and access per year, which clearly indicates that the students and staff of the university are aware of the online databases provided by the university’s library. It was also found that the five titles accessed most frequently by the university’s students and staff were: IEEE Xplore Digital Library, ScienceDirect, EdITLib, Datastream and Scopus. In light of these findings, it is recommended that librarians should continuously encourage active and efficient usage of online databases among the students and staff, especially for academic purposes.