Information Gathering Pattern of Users of a Public Library : A Survey

This study has made an attempt at examining the present day trends of users’ perception of library services and availability of resources in public libraries in one of the western states of Tamil Nadu, the District Central Public Library at Erode. This study highlighted numerous elements, which include the sex-wise distribution of respondents; marital status; education; profession; library resources; frequency of visit; and satisfaction status regarding library offerings and assets. A total number of 200 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents who visit the Erode district public library. Out of the 200 samples, we received only 177 duly filled questionnaires. Further, all the valued data were tabulated and interpreted; the testing of hypothesis with relevant statistical tools, such as chi-square test using the current version of SPSS was carried out for better results. The major findings are the huge proportion of users (62.71%) was male and the largest numbers of respondents (64, 36.16%) were graduates, It is noted that more number of users (61, 34.47%) were employed participating in this research and it is also found that a large number of users (119, 67.23%) were from the rural area.