Library Herald Year : 2022, Volume : 60, Issue : 2 First page : ( 140) Last page : ( 152) Print ISSN : 0024-2292. Online ISSN : 0976-2469. Article DOI : 10.5958/0976-2469.2022.00023.9
Web-OPAC and lending behaviour of library users during Covid 19: A study of University in Delhi
Choudhary Prabhat Kumar1 1Assistant Librarian, Central Library, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi Abstract The paper analyses the behaviour of 6631 library users during the pandemic years 2020 and 2021with the help of 8164 web-OPAC and 7778 lending records. The records have been collected using library management software for the Central Library of Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT), New Delhi. Web-OPAC is an example of remote library service whereas the lending service is that of on-site library service. The NSUT is a leading state University of the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCT) of Delhi in India. The statistical methods with the set theory have been used to analyse the behaviour of library users. The web-OPAC log records and the book lending log records are related to 1195 (18%) and 2174 (32.8%) library users respectively. The share of user successfully availed web-OPAC service, in any one year by login to softwareis 10.3%. This share in the year 2020 is 1.3% and that in 2021 is 9.9%. The share of successful users of web-OPAC service in both the years is 0.8%. The maximum 11.9% of undergraduate engineering students have successfully availed web-OPAC service during the two years. The share of users benefited either by the web-OPAC service or by the book lending service during the two years at the University is about 40.9%. Keywords Online Public Access Catalogue, Library services, Academic Library, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, State University, Pandemic years.