Abstract

A library catalogue is accessible through an electronic device for the convenience of library patrons is known as an Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). It provides a number of access points to get a desired document. ICT revolutionizes daily life by improving connectivity, knowledge sharing, and digital access. It drives innovation, streamlines services, and empowers communities through enhanced information flow. The aim of this study was to know awareness, usage, purposes, frequency of OPAC usage, problems encountered during its use, level of satisfaction and different approach applied in accessing required documents by research scholars in Ranganathan Library at Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Descriptive survey technique and simple random sampling method was adopted in the study. A well structured questionnaire was prepared and distributed online among 200 research scholars out of total, 182 completed questionnaires were received with 91% response rate. Collected data were analysed using percentage and frequency counts. Finding shows that 82.4% of the respondents are aware about OPAC and more than half number of research scholars uses it occasionally. Checking the availability of the required documents (70.3%) in the library was found as the main purpose of using OPAC. The study observed the slow speed of searching was one of the major problems. Keywords (70.9%) and title (67.6%) were most frequent access points used in searching documents. The result of the study pointed that majority of the respondents were satisfied with OPAC service being offered by the library. The study suggests increasing the numbers of computer in library so that maximum users can use the system at the same time.

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