Reading Practices by Biomedical Faculty Members and Research Scholars: A Comparative Analysis
Prabhat Kumar Ranjan, Surya Nath Singh · 2015
The present study is focussed on status of reading in electronic and print format inside and outside the wall of the library by biomedical faculty members and research scholars in the digital age in India. It points out how reading habits are decreasing, but online access has been increased multifold. The need arises due to unavailability of systematic study in India related to biomedicine or similar subjects. A simple random sample survey method has been applied in this study at 95% confidence interval applying online software SurveyMonkey. In the changing scenario, libraries are found not the first place of reading for three fourths (71.7%) of respondents but suitable for serious reading. Hyperlinks make reading easy. Equal numbers of respondents consider that reading has been increased and been decreased in the digital era. Electronic documents receive more times to be read in libraries and outside libraries than printed by biomedical faculty members and research scholars in India. Reading in printed is more supported by underlining and annotation whereas navigation and skipping is more common in electronic reading.