Mapping the Use of Internet Sources by Undergraduate Students of Select Colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi

摘要

Purpose: The present study is to explore the use of internet sources such as academic blog, document sharing sites, online catalogue, online databases, online encyclopaedias/dictionaries, portals, question-answering sites, social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, video sharing sites, Wikipedia, WhatsApp by undergraduate students of select colleges of the University of Delhi. Methodology : Undergraduate students of twelve colleges were surveyed using the structured print questionnaire. It consisted of close-ended questions pertaining to the internet sources. Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Coefficient was measured using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science, Version-25) along with the Weighted Mean. Findings: Results depict that majority of respondents were aware with Wikipedia (92.9 %) followed by WhatsApp (88.9 %), Social Networking Sites (83.6 %), Question-Answering Sites (75.7 %), Online ' Encyclopaedias/Dictionaries (71.9 %), Video Sharing Sites (69.2 %) and Portals (64.2 %). With regard to the usage of Internet sources, Wikipedia, WhatsApp, Social networking sites and Video sharing sites were used everytime by the respondents. Whereas, Question-answering sites, Online encyclopaedias/dictionaries, Document sharing sites, Academic blogs, Online databases and Online catalogue were occasionally used by them. Respondents make use of Wikipediaes for completing their assignments. Whereas, Academic Blogs followed by Wikipedia were used for preparing their exams. Originality: As the study showcased the use of internet sources among students for different purposes i.e. completing their assignments, projects, preparing for exams and job interview and for recreation and supplementing course material. Thus, the most used internet sources among the undergraduate students can be reshaped for offering the library services in a much better way and also to disseminate useful information among the user community.