Use of E-Journals by the Faculty Members, Researchers, and Students in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University: A Survey

Review Of Literature

In Guruprasad and Nikam (2010), a research survey was undertaken amongst the 16 prestigious aerospace organisations in Bengaluru. The sampling boundary is restricted to these selected 16 organisations. Out of the 650 questionnaires distributed, 612 were received back, and finally 583 questionnaires suitable for the study were selected. The analysis is based on the responses from the aerospace scientists and engineers. The major observations include: (1) aerospace engineering e-Journals are extremely important to aerospace scientists or engineers and are a major source of scientific and technical information, (2) the use patterns of aerospace engineering e-Journals amongst the 16 aerospace organisations are not uniform and hence show a heterogeneous nature in their use patterns. Also, the most preferred aerospace engineering e-Journals in the order of priority and usage (from the responses received) by this ‘niche’ aerospace engineering community are: Aerospace Science and Technology; Progress in Aerospace Sciences; Journal of Aerospace Engineering; IEEE Transactions on Electronics and Aerospace Systems; Web of Science; Online Journals: Aerospace; Journal of Turbo and Jet Engines; The Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention (ASM International); European Space Bulletin–ESA; Informatics–J Gate; and International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking.

Kannappanavar and Rajanikanta’s (2008) paper highlights the use of e-learning resources in medical colleges. The study has found that Medical education popularized only after the independence of the country. It is found that majority of the colleges under the study area have e-information resources, e-databases. Almost all colleges under study are also becoming members of a consortium. As far as the infrastructure facilities are concerned, almost all colleges under study have provided very good infrastructure facilities to their libraries to serve their clients effectively.

Lohar and Roopashree (2006) have analyzed the collected data to cover the use of electronic resources and how the electronic resources have improved the academic career of the faculty and also the problems that are faced in using the electronic resources. They conclude that the main intention of the use of electronic resources has been the academic interest of the users.