Library Herald Year : 2022, Volume : 60, Issue : 2 First page : ( 59) Last page : ( 74) Print ISSN : 0024-2292. Online ISSN : 0976-2469. Article DOI : 10.5958/0976-2469.2022.00018.5
Librarian's gender, age, qualifications and experience impact on choice of open-source software
Sharma Jitender1,3, Khan Salma2
1Sr. Librarian - Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida
3Research Scholar - IFTM UniversityMoradabad, jitender.sharma@jaipuria.ac.in
2Chief Librarian & HOD - Department of Library and Information Science, IFTM University, Moradabad, salmakhan@iftmuniversity.ac.in
Abstract
Choice of the software for different functions of the library is an important decision for the librarian. Various commercial and open-source software for different functions of the library is available in the market. Librarians often face issues in determining if they go for commercial software or open-source software or a hybrid model where both software are used. The current study aims to explore the various impacting factors that influence librarians’ decision and choice of the software for different functions of the library. The current study tests different hypotheses made by the researcher to validate if age, qualifications, experience and gender of the librarians have any impact on their decision in choosing software for their libraries. This is a quantitative study based on data collected through questionnaire among a target segment of librarians working in private sector management institutions in Noida and Ghaziabad areas of the Uttar Pradesh, India. Both descriptive and inferential data analyses conducted using SPSS software. The results of the data analysis revealed that age, qualifications, experience and gender of the librarians actually have direct impact on choice of the software among respondent libraries, however, gender and experience of the librarian had a significant impact on the choice of the software made by them. Women librarians showed higher level of trust on commercial software and more librarians from both genders having over 10 years plus experience were ready to experiment and trying open-source software than the librarians with lesser experience. The outcome of this study can become groundwork for a further detailed study encompassing all type of libraries in all geographical regions to determine if the results hold true among all librarians and for all types of libraries.
Keywords Librarian's Qualifications, Librarian's Experience, Librarian's Gender, Librarian's Age, Commercial Software, Open-Source Software, OSS, CS, Software Choice, Impact Factors.