Problems in Searching Online Databases: A Case Study of Select Central University Libraries in India.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and determine the different challenges faced by the searchers of online database in selected central university libraries in India. Eight central universities in India were chosen on the basis of the bandwidth utilisation (higher to lowest in each group). A total of 302 library users filled in the questionnaires (out of 320 approached) in the survey all eight central university libraries across India. It finds that easy and understandable content pages are the most desirable by the users; site feasibility is directly proportional to users interaction; and the retrieval techniques vary from subject to subject. This paper affirms that the databases should be selected on the basis of their retrieval aspects and the online features. The publisher of the online databases can not overlook the retrieval features in the databases. Easy and simple retrieval features can fetch more subscribers for the vendors and publishers. This is a comprehensive study that provides statistical data on searching/retrieval problem of online databases in different central universities in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]