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This study aims to explore the SCImago Institutional Ranking (SIR) 2022 to gain insight into the profile of Sri Lankan universities. Additionally, the study aims to investigate whether there was consistency between Scopus profiles and SIR. Furthermore, the research delves into various factors that impact the research ranking of an academic institution as defined by SCImago, which goes beyond just the number of publications. The data for the study were retrieved from SIR (2022) and Scopus database (2022) and were systematically analyzed. The author chose the following options to extract the data for overall ranking, Universities as a sector, Sri Lanka as the country and 2022 as the year based on all subject areas. The study found that the number of Sri Lankan universities eligible for the SCImago ranking has gradually increased from 2013 to 2022. According to SIR, the University of Colombo is the top-ranked academic institution in Sri Lanka, followed by Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and the University of Jaffna. Out of the fourteen universities in Sri Lanka, eight were ranked by SIR, with six being in the Q1 (first cluster) and two in the Q2 (second cluster). Interestingly, the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was ranked 1st in SIR 2022 for its research performance among Sri Lankan universities with their 105 publications indexed in Scopus. Analysis of data shows that there is no relationship between the Scopus profile and the SIR. It is also suggesting that having a high number of articles in the Scopus database does not necessarily guarantee a high rank in SIR. The SIR not only depends on the number of publications but also on other factors related to the quality of the publications. Therefore, universities cannot assume their SIR position by considering only the quantity of Scopus indexed publications. SIR mainly considers the quality of the publications to measure the institutional research performance. The SCImago ranking evaluates the institutional whole performance through three of its indicators, and research performance is measured only through Scopus indexed publication. Sri Lankan publications in local and international journals which are not indexed in Scopus and conference papers were not counted for research performance. The findings of this study will facilitate the institutions to compare their position with other institutions, standardize their research practices, improve the international collaboration to uphold the academic benchmark, regulate their research publications and promote their visibility and finally support government bodies and policymakers regarding fund allocations and strategic planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries are institutions that provide access to a comprehensive collection of information and resources for educational, research, and recreational purposes. They serve as repositories of knowledge and offer numerous services to their communities. In this process, libraries play a paramount role in preserving and conserving library materials for future generations. The objectives of this paper were to investigate the significant Preservation and Conservation (PAC) initiatives of library materials from the ancient periods (3rd Century BC to 5th Century AD), the colonial period (1505 to 1948), and the post-independence period (1948 to date), to identify the gaps related to the current practices of PAC in Sri Lanka and to identify the issues related to PAC in Sri Lanka. This study focused on a qualitative research method. Relevant literature was found through secondary sources such as books, journal articles, conference papers, organizational reports and websites based on subject-related keywords. The Department of National Museums (DNM), Department of National Archives (DNA) and National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB) and Sri Lankan University Libraries (ULs), were purposively selected. The published year was not considered during the process, and priority was given to Sri Lankan and foreign-authored publications on PAC of library materials in Sri Lanka. Literature was analyzed based on above mentioned three time frames selected for the study. The study identified growing trends in PAC practices from ancient to post-independence periods. Even though some evidence goes back to King Vijaya's period (483 BC), official writing was started in 103-77 BC. Some writing materials, such as inscriptions, palm leaves, and golden plates, were used during this period. Later, in the colonial period, the Portuguese, Dutch and British developed writing materials and established positions such as Record keepers and Archivists. Then, in the post-independence period, the DNM, DNA, NLDSB and ULs were identified as pioneering organizations that led the task of preserving. It was identified gaps between the literatures and existing literature only identified palm leaves as a main library material to be conserved and preserved. The main issues derived from the analysis were a lack of financial allocations, policies, laws and regulations, training, and research related to the field. The study pointed out the need for a separate PAC unit to handle the preservation activities of library materials in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate the faculty research performance on the basis of publication output, citations and h- index of professors working in Sri Lankan universities. Six hundred fifty professors from different universities of Sri Lanka served as respondents. Using scientometrics, publications of professors spanning 1980-2014 are analyzed. It found that based on the mean h-index used in this study, faculty of science is the best performer with the mean h-index of 5.55, followed by medicine (5.24), engineering (3.81), agriculture (3.76), management (2.74) and arts (2.62). This study further revealed that, the faculty of agriculture has the highest percentage (97.37 %.) of professors with published output; they have at least one research paper. Study also measured the universities' position in the each disciplines on the basis of the mean h-index. The results showed that out of six faculties, which are grouped in this study, University of Peradeniya (PDN) is found to be the most predominant in agriculture, arts, science and engineering). In medicine, University of Kelaniya is the best on the basis of the mean h-index with 6.85. In the case of the faculty of management, University of Jaffna had the highest mean h-index of 7.75. On the other hand result indicates that the performance of arts among almost all of the universities except University of Colombo and PDN were very poor and similar. It is recommended that research output on arts, social sciences and management across the university faculty must be strengthened and mechanism should be introduced by the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the prevailing competitive environment, libraries seem difficult to survive with traditional information services. Many of business organizations seem to practice multidimensional businesses and expand their profit potentials through diversification. Getting experience from business sector organizations, university libraries need to strategize the service delivery and retain the users through diversification of the product/service. Diversification can be implemented through innovation of directly related library services, indirectly related services and additional services probably not related to the typical library service but would be possible to provide by the library (out of the box). This paper investigates the Sri Lankan university librarians' perspective towards the implementation of such services in their libraries. The study also examines the possible barriers for the diversification. The paper involved the conceptual analysis and sample survey with library practitioners. Findings indicate that university libraries in Sri Lanka are providing diversity of services and have made many attempts to diversify them through 'direct library services', 'indirect library services' and 'additional services'. Relatively higher potential is shown with regard to directly and indirectly related services but the diversification through additional services indicated very low. The librarians face challenges for diversification stretching out through administrative factors, knowledge deficiencies, organizational environment and attitudinal issues of library managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the research productivity of five state universities of Sri Lanka during 2015-2018, using scholarly output, citation impact and collaboration metrics of SciVal, and the contribution of the university libraries towards research excellence. Five multi-disciplinary state universities; University of Colombo (UoC), Kelaniya (UoK), Peradeniya (UoP), Ruhuna (UoR) and Sri Jayewardenepura (UoSJP) were selected as the sample. During the study period, 4723 publications and 3831 authors have been recorded, of which UoC and UoP records the highest numbers. UoR records the highest publications in top journal percentile and highest number of views (72) among the five universities. A total of 33104 citations are reported while UoP depicts the highest citation count (18322) as an individual university, while UoR records the highest h5-index (39). Highest Field Weighted Citation Impact (3.18) and the highest citations per publication (12.4) is recorded by UoP while the highest output in top citation percentile (32.5%) is recorded by UoR. UoR records the highest overall international collaboration (74.4) during the studied period and UoP records the highest academic/corporate collaboration (2.2). University libraries provide collections and conducive environments for researchers, training in searching for information, referencing styles and use of reference management software, plagiarism detection and they maintain Institutional Repositories. The study established that there is much scope for university libraries to expand the services to support research productivity and recommends that librarians should consider on more current support areas like research data management, measuring research impact, and digital curation in order to support their universities to achieve excellence in research productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries gradually integrate technology into library operations to provide an effective service. In this process, Open Source Software (OSS) is a great solution public libraries initiate with existing limited resources. This paper attempts to present an account on major open source initiatives of the public libraries of Sri Lanka, factors affecting the popularity of some OSS, and challenges faced in moving to and adopting OSS by public libraries of Sri Lanka. The study was based on the qualitative research method, and an expert sampling technique was employed. Five national level experts in library technology were identified based on a predefined set of criteria. The findings revealed that 10.7% of public libraries in Sri Lanka have currently automated their functions. Koha Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) is the main OSS used in public library automation during the last ten years from 2011-2021. The study identified factors motivating public libraries to adopt some OSS, mainly Koha ILMS, such as advanced features and functions of Koha, lower funding requirement, its compliance with many international standards, availability of subject experts, Unicode compatibility, high system quality, high user friendliness, and integrating Koha ILMS into the LIS courses. The main challenge faced by public libraries in adopting OSS was the lack of technical knowledge for installation and maintenance, which makes them depending on external sources in implementing open source initiatives. The study suggested the need for a proper national or regional level mechanism to provide continuous support for public libraries in Sri Lanka in technological developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visibility of online catalogues will contribute data for many aspects such as creating uniform catalogues in libraries and ranking of libraries, authors, publishers, and institutions. The Cataloguing in Publication is the description of cataloguing the record for a book, which is obtained by the publishers just prior to their book publication for printing the same on the verso of the book title page while making them available online. Library of Congress provides online access to its Cataloguing in Publication and other catalogue data. The paper identifies the online visibility for catalogue data for the national publications in the Library of Congress. The finding shows that the coverage of national publications in the Library of Congress database is not satisfactory. A critical decline of online catalogue data from the LC is identified after the year of 2007, and the expected values for online catalogue record numbers for the year from 2007 to 2016 were measured using a fitting curve. Another finding of this study reveals that publications in the social science discipline get more online catalogue data from the LC. Necessary discussion and interpretation for these trends have been made throughout the paper using Tables and Figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempted to examine the prior school library experiences of new entrants in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science and their pattern of information source usage. Data were gathered by performing a questionnaire-based survey among the study population (N=71) of all the new entrants to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science in 2020.The findings revealed that 93% of the students have been instructed by school teachers to refer additional reading material to complement classroom notes and almost all the students confirmed that they utilized the school library while studying for their GCE A/L exam. It was observed that 73% of the students had visited the school library once a week or few days a week. Regarding the availability of library facilities all the students stated that they had facilities to borrow books while 47% of them had facilities to borrow magazines too. Yet, only 32% of students reported that library catalogs were available in their school libraries. In addition, 90% of the respondents did not have computers as well as internet access in the school library. Findings further demonstrated that most of the students (98%) had borrowed books from the school library while only few students (13%) had used the catalog for information retrieval. It was interesting to note that 95% of the students perceived the need to refer additional material to complement their classroom notes. 95% of the respondents confirmed that other than the school library they gained subject-related material from tuition classes. Inevitably, all the respondents verified that they had an email account and 97% of them stated that they used social media. Moreover, 93% of students ascertained that they preferred to communicate with the library via digital media. This paper renders insight into the adequacy of prior school library usage by university new entrants which can be used as a baseline indicator in designing and planning library instructional programs for students. Library instructional programs could be planned to have more focus on areas (eg. Online catalogs, e-resources) that were revealed to be less experienced by the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic information resources can be either credible or unreliable. Vast majority of information on the Internet is neither authenticated nor having any mechanism to validate its credibility. Thus, it has been a great challenge for any researcher who uses them for their problem-solving. Education and research institutions use and contribute to the development of academic journals that broadly fall under two categories, namely subscribed and open access. In this regard, this paper discusses about the views of academics of Eastern University, Sri Lanka depending on these resources for using and publishing their research work. Particularly, this study investigates about the perception of academics over subscription journals and open access resources in regard to their accessibility, visibility and credibility. Summary of results show that researchers hold high value for online subscribed journals in terms of their credibility, meanwhile accessibility to the same is quite a challenge. On the other hand, open access journals give rise to visibility and affordability. Therefore, authors shed light on the need of making open access resources more credible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), particularly internet, and the increasing development of user education forms and methods, such as new information literacy initiatives have resulted in significant changes in academic libraries. With these unprecedented changes, academic librarians in Sri Lanka have to deal with instructional processes more effectively and efficiently. The primary concern of this paper is to understand the concept 'user education' in the local context and its present practices in university libraries. Even more, this study intends to understand problems encountered, challenges being faced and potential new opportunities available on user education in university libraries in Sri Lanka. The total outcome of this paper is beneficial for researchers, policy makers, university authorities and academic librarians in Sri Lanka to understand the real situation which exists behind instructional activities of university libraries and to design, develop, implement policies and make strategies on pertinent subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A library website plays an enhanced role compared to its traditional physical library while providing a wide variety of library services to its users. Evaluation of library websites is a key to realize the extent of user acceptance of the website and to improve the overall quality of the website. Under such backdrop, this paper provides a framework for ranking university library websites in Sri Lanka based on two standard webometric methods. The proposed framework consists of quantitative web presence measuring attributes namely; size, visibility, rich files and scholars along with simple and comprehensible mathematical calculations. The library administrators can get awareness about whether their website has effectively represented itself on the internet with better performance from the ranking results. The findings of the study will guide to the librarians to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses accordingly with the performance of their library websites. In general, the effective presence of these library websites on the internet can be passed on as the top by having proper number of site pages in the website that impact their perceivability through web search tools and accordingly the quantity of received external links. Meanwhile, libraries having low rich files can publish more rich files on the web to improve their overall rank. The research approach, criteria and their relative impact provide useful information in monitoring the effectiveness of the current websites and provide strategic suggestions to develop enhanced websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web 2.0 is a popular technology that creates new paths in communication, networking, building partnerships and resource sharing. Though Web 2.0 technology helps the libraries to employ innovative web-based services, fewer studies have been conducted to identify the utilization of Web 2.0 tools by Sri Lankan libraries. The aim of this paper is, to explore the types of Web 2.0 applications employed and to identify the purposes of embracing Web 2.0 applications in Sri Lankan university libraries. The Sri Lankan government university libraries which are under the University Grant Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka were taken as the research population of this study and the total population was considered as the sample. Content analysis technique was adopted in this study for fifteen Sri Lankan government university libraries. The research instrument was a checklist consists of 60 checkpoints based on similar checklists found in the literature related to studies conducted on Web 2.0 applications and their usage. Data collection was conducted by accessing the web pages of these university library websites within a month period. Except for one university library, all the other fourteen university libraries introduced at least one Web 2.0 application with the primary features in their websites. Out of seven Web 2.0 tools considered in the study, Real Simple Syndication and Social Network Services are the most popular applications while Blogs, Vodcast and Podcast are less frequently used. Instant Messages and Wikis have not been implemented by any of them. Sri Lankan university libraries should be more focused on deploying Web 2.0 applications in their library websites to satisfy the needs of today's modernized user and also to be compatible with frequently changing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main library of the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University conducted a survey of the first and third-year undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities, to investigate the use and user satisfaction on library services and resources. The study employed the 455 structured questionnaires to the whole population of undergraduates as the main tool for collecting data. Further, various registers were used to count the number of users. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. The major findings of the study revealed that the respondents were satisfied with the library resources and services of the library as a whole. Also, the study found that many of the respondents visit the library for more than one reason, whereas the majority of the respondents visit the library for accessing past papers. Other findings show that the largest proportion of the respondents visit the library once a week. As for resources, the textbooks were ranked first, followed by the newspapers/magazine, and reference sources. The less frequently used resources are CD/DVD/VCD, online journals, databases, and library web links. To meet undergraduate information requirements and make them aware of the available resources and services, it is recommended to conduct information literacy programs as well as awareness programs at regular intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological applications have transformed the roles of academic libraries and they provide "higher-end-support" and play key role reforming education in academic institutions in the blooming information society. The paper will focus particularly on ICT based library service facilities and the usage of those facilities in the library. The objectives of this study were to identify the usage of the modern facilities of the main library, to find out the trend of users information seeking behavior in ICT based library facilities and to reveal the major reasons of using ICT based modem facility area of the main library, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (WUSL). The case study was carried out gathering data on the statistics of the usage or IC1 based modern library and information service facilities. Ihe data were collected for the period from 2010 to 2015 as the application of ICT into library service is still in primary stage. The study found that the usage of modem facility area has gone up significantly more than the latter part of the period. The undergraduate students' trend was to access the modern facilities in the library as the way of building bridges for fulfilling their information needs. The usage of the library has recognized the ICT as fast information generated source. So, the existing space should be expanded and increased number of access points with infrastructure facilities for activating expected targets. In addition to that the library must move and focus by creating good relationship with user community and adopt information management skills in order to provide sustainable library and information services to achieve academic mission of the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic books' (e-books) usage of the higher education community is exponentially expanding. There are a significant percentage of university students and staff who prefer e-books to printed books. This comprehensive study is done at Uva Wellassa University to analyze the percentage of undergraduates who are inclined to use e-books and to explore their preferences over e-book format, reading equipment, their purpose and obtaining method. The study also reveals the future preference and predictions of e-book usage in Sri Lankan context. It also discusses the comparative advantages and disadvantages of e-books according to the survey results gained through the open ended questions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this study. A survey was distributed among the undergraduates who represent first to fourth years in Management Faculty, Animal Science and Export Agriculture Faculty and Science Faculty in Uva Wellassa University. The sample size is 206. The paper concludes that there is a significant number of e-book uses in the university. The e-book usage is limited due to the limited number of freely available e- books. Most of the tested cohort predicts of increased number of e-book usage in Sri Lanka in the future. Data suggest that with the undergraduate year of the user the usage of e-books is increased. The e-book usage is independent from gender. Yet it is dependent upon the Faculty. Users are inclined to use personal computers and laptops than the e-readers. The main e-book obtaining method of the user is internet and they generally go for free titles. According to the statistics the main e-book reading purpose is education. The study suggests the need of establishing e-book facilities in Uva Wellassa University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A healthy life is a wealthy life. To be healthy, everyone has to understand the basic health information that is needed to make appropriate health decisions, which can aid them in avoiding illness and safeguarding their health. In this context, the necessity of health literacy which is a type of information literacy is being considered. Health literacy is the understanding and use of health information effectively to make appropriate decision making. The study aimed to evaluate the health literacy level of undergraduates of Eastern University, Sri Lanka, and the factors influencing health literacy. A cross-sectional study was carried out among undergraduates in selected faculties of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. A validated standard questionnaire called "Health Literacy Instrument for Adults (HELIA)" was adopted to collect online data from 1085 individuals. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The results revealed that the mean score of overall health literacy is 65.7±13.5% which ranges between somewhat inadequate to sufficient ranks. The analysis considered the five domains of health literacy. Accordingly, a significant proportion (p<0.05) of undergraduates had adequate literacy skills for understanding health information (67.4%), and access to health information (73.7%), while the majority had a limited level of literacy for domains of reading (53.7%) and appraisal (84.1%). However, there is no significant deviation (p>0.05) between adequate and limited levels in the domain of decisionmaking/ behavioural intention. The difference between the proportion of adequate (50.8%) and limited levels (49.2%) in overall literacy is not significant (p>0.05). The binary logistic regression proved that the health literacy of undergraduates is influenced by faculty, alcoholic habits and doctor's advice (p<0.05), while age, gender, family income, family members who work in the healthcare field, academic year, respondents' perceptions of their health, and smoking habits, do not influence on health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a tendency in reported documents pertaining to school education in Sri Lanka to have literally omitted school libraries and information resources. Teachers and students struggled to gain access to appropriate information resources. After performing a pilot survey to validate the reliability of the questionnaire, a sample of 209 subjects was randomly selected from 459 teachers in select National Schools in Batticaloa Education Zone. A semistructured questionnaire was administered across WhatsApp groups of those teachers and response rate was 77.5%. Data were analysed using One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank, Chi-Square, and thematic analysis since a mixed method was employed. In this survey, teachers have expressed that school libraries were essential in providing resources to support teaching-learning activities although they have not received sufficient support from school libraries. Study further found that the role of school librarians in educating teachers and students with respect to copyright was underrated. Therefore, as the study results revealed, there was a considerable gap between the need and the availability of resources, which needs to be bridged through school libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Budding literature across the world explores the antecedents of Information Professionals in historical societies while there is a paucity of knowledge on them in ancient Sri Lankan context. Therefore, the study attempts to explore the nature of history of Information Professionals in ancient Sri Lanka employing a qualitative approach through content analysis of primary sources such as inscriptions. The study brings to light a silhouette of professionals engaged in preserving information from the early historic period to the end of the Kandyan kingdom. These officials were mentioned as scribes, chief secretaries, registrars and record keepers such as Lapana, Kanapedika, Mahale, Muk-hi, Mukaveti, Sanhas Sivatta Nayinarun, and Sannissiwatte Kulaperumal. Most importantly, they were members of the Royal Council. Duties of these officers involved noting down the orders of the Kings, keeping copies in different formats for future reference, setting up inscriptions/manuscripts/charters, and being accountable for recording, attesting, publicizing and provision of access to the information. The research contributes to the literature on Information Science studies as well as historical literature, while it deepens existing knowledge by focusing on a new-fangled look at ancient primary sources. This novel information provides access to a new arena for further research on the history of Sri Lankan information preservation institutions such as lekamge and badageba etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slogan of 2030 Sustainable Development Goal is "Leave no one behind." Older adults, as a vulnerable population, require equal rights in order to achieve balanced sustainable development. However, compared to children and teens, this rising segment has been consistently overlooked in service provision. They deserve to have their later years spent wisely and effectively. A public library is one of the places where they can make good use of their free time. This study explores the services available to older persons through public libraries, as well as their perceptions of those services. This study focused on three public libraries (Colombo public library, Kotahena public library, and Susharitha public library) in Colombo Municipal Council and its older adult patrons. For this study, an exploratory research design was used. The American Library Association's "Guidelines for Library Services with 60+ Audience: Best Practices" were used to examine the four core service areas of collection, programs, facilities, and staff. Senior users believe that the collection and staff services suit their needs adequately, with few downsides when compared to the other two services - programs and facilities. According to the study, regular surveys on seniors, collaboration, awareness programs, voluntarism, and designated staff are suggested as ways to improve library services for senior adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of social media has increased in the recent era compared to the past. Social media is the collection of tools and, online spaces available for communication among individuals and groups. Easy access and accessible communication facilities, flexible languages, and ability to create free accounts are the main reasons for the popularity of Facebook (FB) among nations worldwide, including Sri Lankans. The library of the Buddhist and Pali University (BPU) of Sri Lanka wants to introduce online user groups to communicate and share library-related information through FB. Currently, Wi-Fi facilities are used to communicate with academic staff and higher-level administrative staff. Hence the problem affected was that the behaviour of the non-academic middle-level staff in an online environment is not understood. The primary objective of the study is to understand the behavior of the university non-academic middle-level staff in an online environment before introducing an online communication system for them. In addition, it is necessary to be aware of 'why and how' FB is used by the staff. The survey method was used to collect data using a questionnaire from the selected sample using a mixed method. An applied research type was adhered to conduct the study. Findings revealed that the primary purpose of the use of FB by BPU middle-level staff was to look forward 'for news'. The behavioral study proved that there are efficient users of FB and they are capable of sharing, delivering, liking, commenting, criticizing, and uploading the posts. However, they are not proficient in creating many exciting posts. The main problem that seems to affect them is 'unknown friend requests.' It was found that there is a significant association between gender and purpose, and gender and posting authentic personnel information. It was recommended to create online 'library user groups' for communication purposes and to hold IT training sessions for middle-level staff to improve their knowledge and skills in IT usage for library related activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author sought to understand the pattern of use of information resources by the university undergraduates in the Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences discipline. This study analyzed 6754 citations from 361 undergraduate dissertations from 2014-2018 submitted to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. According to the findings journals were appeared to be the most preferred source of citation among the Veterinary Medical students. Data sets conformed to the Leimkuhler model derived from Bradford’s law. In the ranked list of core journals in Veterinary science, Journal of dairy science took the first place with 108 citations. Further, results indicated that the students utilized current information mostly for their research. Further observation on authorship patterns of the journal citations indicated that the students of selected veterinary dissertations had mostly cited journal articles which have been authored in collaboration. Recommendations were drawn towards improving the library collection in a user-centric manner and strengthening library instruction. The study contributes to the realm of library literature where research that focuses on citation analysis of Veterinary dissertations which is in scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries should explore the marketing strategies to be used to promote their services among users, to entice new users and retain existing users. The objectives of this study were to find out the marketing techniques used in Sri Lankan university libraries and identify the challenges that university librarians face when marketing their services. The study involved 130 academic staff members of the libraries in 15 state universities established under the purview of the University Grants Commission in Sri Lanka. The total population was considered as the sample and the data were collected through self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software package considering the mean and standard deviation. There were 105 valid questionnaires among returns, and the response rate was 80.8%. As per the results, library websites, user orientation seminars, notice boards, and e-mail notifications were most frequently used to promote library services. Mobile applications, blogs and podcasts were rarely used to promote library services in Sri Lankan universities. The mean ratings of perceived challenges in the marketing of library services by university librarians in Sri Lanka were considered. Lack of networking among librarians (3.54) was identified as a significant challenge faced by Sri Lankan university librarians when marketing their services. Other significant challenges were unawareness of library user requirements, insufficient funds for marketing, increased cost of marketing and lack of skills in marketing library services. This concludes that Sri Lankan university librarians market their library services using an array of techniques and come across various challenges while adopting marketing techniques to their services. To overcome these challenges libraries should consider appointing a marketing librarian for each university library and establish a collaboration between them, develop a unique marketing strategy for each library, and allocation of funds for marketing library services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees are one of the main assets in any organization. Public libraries are prominent social entities which provide information and services to local communities to enhance their knowledge and learning. In order to provide quality and commendable services to the public, employees serving in public libraries should be satisfied with their job. Therefore, the assessment of employee satisfaction with their job is essential for organizational development. The main purpose of this study was to examine whether Public Librarians working in the Kandy District of Sri Lanka were satisfied with their job in terms of five facets: job role, work supervision, promotion, salary and co-worker relationships. Further, this study explored problems militating against the Public Librarians' job satisfaction. A convenient sample of 27 librarians from public libraries in the Kandy District of Sri Lanka was selected for the study. Five focus group discussions using a semi structured interview guide were conducted. Interviews were analyzed using the thematic approach and content analysis. According to the findings, majority of the Public Librarians expressed satisfaction towards their job role and co-worker relationships where as most of them articulated negative opinions with regard to the facets of salary, promotion and work supervision. Based on the results, recommendations were exposed with a view to enhancing the level of job satisfaction among Public Librarians which will in turn contribute to the success of the public library sector in Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the level of undergraduates' satisfaction and their perceptions towards library resources and services provided by the Science Library, University of Peradeniya. The survey research method was adopted to achieve the above objectives. A questionnaire was administered to 442 undergraduates of the Faculty of Science. 371 duly filled questionnaires were returned, were then analyzed. The findings revealed that more than 60% of the undergraduates visited the library daily and weekly, while more than 80% of them visited the library for multiple purposes. Regarding the available resources, the majority of the undergraduates were satisfied with the library book collection, periodicals and available magazines. Yet, only 39% and 32% of students reported that they were satisfied with e-resources and audiovisual materials available in the library respectively. Considering the library services, the majority of respondents were satisfied with lending, reference, referral and photocopying services. However, 11% of them were not satisfied, where as 13% of the students were not even aware of online services provided by the library. Further, the findings demonstrated that limited number of computers, unavailability of Wi-Fi facilities, unawareness of the library website, difficulties of accessing the Internet and searching research articles were the main reasons for students' dissatisfaction. However, the majority of the undergraduates praised the library staff for offering an impressive service. The results proved that undergraduates have positive perceptions towards the library and its services. Based on the findings, some suggestions were made to increase user satisfaction and to enhance the library resources and service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users of Facebook has been increasing exponentially in the last two decades, allowing millions of people to expose their profiles to the public and with no or little privacy for individuals. Facebook, in today's context has created a concern regarding privacy of its users and the consequences of information disclosure. Based on current reports regarding negative consequences of disclosure of information on social network sites, students seem to be unconcerned about the potential negative impacts of the same. The objectives of the study are to analyze the pattern of information disclosure on Facebook, examine the relationship between information disclosure and gender, determine the methods used for making friends on Facebook and its association with gender and, measure the attitudes towards privacy on social networking sites. A quantitative research approach was employed using a self-administrated questionnaire to gather responses from undergraduates of the Eastern University, Sri Lanka. The results revealed that the majority of undergraduates disclose their real name (82.3%), hometown (63.2%), e-mail address (60.53%) and, education (62.13%), and rarely share the relationship status (32%). Education is the highest criteria which both gender use to select friends (Male-56.12% & Female-55.89%). Moreover, the results revealed that females seldom share this information than males (p<0.05). Further, there was a tendency, to share different information with different groups of people which was statistically significant. The favourite, events, and location are associated with friends, while location and opinions are associated with the public. However, political views, and photos are appearing towards not sharing category. Relatively 41.1% of respondents were satisfied with the privacy setting of SNS. It gives evidence that privacy settings are still neglected, and it stresses the need for awareness programmes on privacy concerns on SNS for undergraduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As modern Information Technology has created a way to a variety of information service opportunities, many options other than the conventional library service are available for users. A stiff competition has emerged among information service providers and therefore university library professionals too have to think of their competitive advantage. Service quality has gained a high concern as a strategy for developing the competitive position of an organization and many studies in different fields have established a strong relationship between service quality and competitive advantage. Viewing inversely, some practitioners contemplate that the competitive position of resource capabilities can influence the improvement of service quality. In order to examine the relationship between competitive position and the service quality in a university library context, an exploratory survey was employed utilizing a VRIO based questionnaire and LibQUAL+ based instrument with 89 library professionals selected from 15 state university libraries in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that there is a moderate positive correlation between two variables (r = .286, n= 66, p = .020). As the relationship is moderate, further studies seem essential to support the hypothesis. The large percentage of residuals indicates that there are more factors contributing to the service quality in university libraries. This study deploys a robust process to develop a measuring instrument for a competitive position in university libraries and uncovers many research areas in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in emphasis on research productivity evaluation can be discerned commonly in higher educational institutions world over. As far as the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna is concerned such an in depth study had not been done. This bibliometric study analyzed the research publications produced by the academics of Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna. The objective of this study is to empirically measure the research output during the time period of 2003 to 2018 to find out the department wise output, year wise publication output, authorship pattern and degree of collaboration, media of research communication, relative growth rate, doubling time and to forecast future publication trend of academics. The year wise publication output shows an increasing pattern. But the output growth is not uniform. Findings revealed that Faculty of Science has produced 1359 publications with an annual average of 85 and with the maximum of 139 during the study period. The highest number of publications is from the Department of Zoology (22%). The Department of Botany shows second highest number with 21% of the publications. The lowest number is from the Department of Fisheries (4%). The research output from departments of Physics, Mathematics and Statistics, and Chemistry are more or less the same. Mean value of the degree of collaboration of authors during the overall sixteen years is found to be 0.84. Single author publications are less (15%) than collaborative effort (85%). Abstract form of publications is more in number 836 (61%). Journal article is 501 (37%) and Book form is 22 (2%). A uniform dropping pattern was observed in the mean relative growth rate (RGR) from 0.439 to 0.122 considering four year blocks from 2003 to 2018. The mean doubling time showed an increasing tendency through each consecutive block of four year period. It ranged from 0.89 in the first block to 5.80 in the last block of a total of sixteen year time span. The forecast for 2025 based on least square estimate the number of publications should be 186 if status remains unchanged. Thus Faculty of Science has to endeavor and orient their research efforts more towards publishing journal articles than short communications and giving priority towards interdisciplinary research to obtain greater impacts with the vision of establishing excellence of the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important measures used for evaluating the service quality of a library is a user satisfaction survey. The objectives of the study were to find out the purposes of using a library and to evaluate user satisfaction towards the library facilities, library staff, library services, library resources and library website of the Open University of Sri Lanka. The population of the study was the university staff and the students who registered in the library of the Colombo regional centre of the Open University of Sri Lanka. Total sample size was 357 inclusive of both university staff members and students. Purposive sampling technique was utilized to get a representative sample. Primary data were collected with the help of a survey using a structured questionnaire, designed specifically for the purpose. Analysis of primary data was done using frequency tables and basic descriptive statistics such as mean, median etc. To measure the validity and reliability of the statements that are used to measure the user satisfaction, Cronbach Alpha testing was used. User satisfaction was evaluated under 05 parameters, such as (a) Library facilities; (b) Library staff; (c) Library services; (d) Library resources and (e) Library Website and Information access. It was identified that the respondents used the library for different purposes. Study results indicated reading, searching library resources, using computers to access information, and borrowing and returning books as the major purposes of using the library. The results of the study also revealed that on average, the respondents were relatively most satisfied with the library staff and their performance and helpfulness, moderately satisfied with the available library services, satisfied with the library website and its facilities and generally satisfied with the library facilities and library resources as a whole. The results also indicated that overall library users are satisfied with the available library resources, services and facilities. But, the study could also identify that there were some areas that users were not much satisfied with, particularly, providing user awareness programs, training on information searching, dissemination of services or providing information through social network media like face book, twitter etc., improving Wi-Fi facilities, improving access to audio visual materials, increasing the availability of electronic databases and providing more online library services. Therefore it is important to conduct information literacy programmes and user awareness progammes in order to make library users aware about new library resources and services and to enhance their information literacy skills. Further, it is recommended that understanding the user information needs, fulfilling those needs and measuring their level of satisfaction on regular basis is essential in order to provide a better service and to establish the sustainability of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information has becoming the most valuable asset in the emerging world. Hence, information has become one of the major driving forces that lead a country towards sustainable development. While the libraries and other information centers are closed around the world, it could be adversely affected on the economy and general livelihood of the society. Thus, continuing the information services uninterruptedly is a matter of significance. However, the continuum of library services during lock-down situations and post-pandemic scenarios should be practice with proper care and understanding, especially during the post-pandemic conditions when re-commencing work in an academic library after the lock-down situation. Prevailing COVID -19 pandemic has provided an eye-opening lesson for academic librarians to re-think the way they perform and in what ways they can prepare for the post-pandemic reopening of the library. With the knowledge of the COVID -19 pandemic and related pathological nature of the virus, the present approach attempts to formulate an input while reopening the academic libraries of Sri Lanka. The concept also is applicable while planning to provide library services in similar post-lockdown scenarios. Practical safety precautions were suggested after conducting a thorough literature search in relevant and reputed journal databases, magazines and official websites. It can be recommended that the library should formulate a dedicated body, with the leadership of one senior member of the library staff for the overall monitoring and assessment of the pandemic-safety in the reopening time. Awareness of the libraries' stakeholders via different mediums, develop policies for disinfection, meetings, and other official tasks can be suggested. Following a country-specific existing-strategy that developed for the libraries of Sri Lanka is highly recommended. As a summary, the academic library should formulate an integrated pandemic prevention protocol to serve the library patrons with a delightful post-pandemic reopening experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was carried out to examine the user satisfaction of library facilities, services, and resources of three regional center libraries; Kandy (KRC), Matara (MRC) and Anuradhapura (ARC) of the Open University of Sri Lanka, which functions as an open and distance learning (ODL) education institute. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire, from a sample of 350 library users dispersed among the three centers. The study found that the users were satisfied with the physical facilities in the libraries but they were unsatisfied with the library collection and computer facilities provided by the libraries. Findings of the study can be used to reinforce the services with which the users were satisfied, focus on services that need more improvement according to user concerns, and to take steps for resolution of identified problems to gain users' satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical Officers (MOs) need to update their knowledge with diagnosis of diseases, current treatment modalities, guidelines on management etc. in order to provide a better service to the intended communities. The present study attempts to identify the information needs, perceived barriers and challenges of MOs attached to "Divisional Hospital Type-C" (DH Type-C) (rural) hospitals in Sri Lanka. This research was a descriptive study. A Self Administered Questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The study population consists of MOs in DH Type-C Hospitals in Sri Lanka. Sample size was calculated using the Lwanga's and Lemeshow's formula. Accordingly, there were 400 MOs attached to the 192 DH Type-C. Study shows that information about diagnosis, drug, treatment and patient data were identified as highly important by rural MOs. Data suggested that a higher proportion of aged MOs needed medical information than did young MOs. Also, it can be seen that the main driving purposes of MOs? information needs were to be up to date; answering patients? and their families? questions, and to answer colleagues? questions and confirm opinion. Internet, medical blogs, medical devices and personal contacts with colleagues were most highly used as sources of information. Further, most MOs suggested that if the medical authority could develop a proper medical system to help MOs to continue with health education, that will be a fruitful activity for the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Library concept minimizes the negative effect on the natural environment and improves the quality of the library services by effective and sustainable use of resources. Concept of green library movement among the Sri Lankan library field is still at the grassroots level, whereas in the international scenario, it has already gained popularity. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the current situation of green library initiatives in public libraries in Central province and to find out the level of awareness on green library concept among the library professionals. Survey research design was applied by using questionnaires. There are 193 public libraries in Central province but only 83 libraries are functioning with the Librarians Grade I, II or III. Other libraries are functioning as a reading room or branch libraries without a librarian. Total of 83 public libraries were selected purposively where there are authorized persons to manage them. The Response rate was 83%. Other than that, library visits and observations are also used for the analysis. Selected public libraries are governed by the provincial local government authorities and there were different grades of librarians in each library. There are 62% adults and 38% of children are the registered user community. It was investigated that the selected libraries are fairly applying the green library concept in their libraries without knowing the green concept. They have applied this concept in the areas of waste disposal, cleaning, energy savings, gardening, natural ventilation methods and lightings in an environmental friendly way. The study found that the availability of limited land area, limited fund allocations, limited staff, administrative issues and limited resources are the barriers to create an environmental friendly library. Results concluded that the green library initiatives in public libraries of the central province are still not at in a satisfactory level. Therefore, well - planned policy is required to implement this timely important concept to Sri Lankan public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]