Abstract:
The study aims to investigate perceptionsof accessing information byundergraduate
students of the Department of Islamic Studies of the University of Peradeniya and South
Eastern University of Sri Lanka.Cross sectional survey design was employed in the study.
Structured questionnaires were administered among all students of the Department of
Islamic Studies of the two departments.Four hundred and thirty nine duly completed
questionnaires wereselected and analyzed using descriptivestatistical tools. It is found that
the first year and second year students of the University of Peradeniya have experienced
major difficulties in language to access information.Among the first year undergraduates,
78% admitted that they could not access information properly due to communication
difficulties. Barriers in communication with the staff and technical issues are experienced
by 61% of the undergraduates.Apart from the above difficulties, cultural differences
appear to be a major barrier in accessing information.Undergraduates from South Eastern
University have experienced no difficulty in communication. Only 43% of the University of
Peradeniya and 41% of South Eastern University undergraduates are aware of Electronic
Resources available in the library. Among the total respondents, 82% of the total
population prefer to access information through printed materials.It can be concludedthat
majority of the selected students from the University of Peradeniya find difficulties in
accessing information due to language barriers, technical issues and cultural differences.
Also, the study leads to the conclusion that undergraduates from both universities show
less awareness of accessing information through Electronic Information Resources
available in the library. On the basis of the findings of the study,providing more training,
assisting in their library searches and employing more Tamil speaking employers to foster
maximum interaction with ethnically diverse undergraduates in the library is
recommended. Payingmore insight to requirements of ethnically diverse undergraduate
students in designing library orientation programmes is also strongly suggested.The study
provides direction to further research on the theme in qualitative manner to understand
the phenomenon in-depth and in detail.
