{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,24]],"date-time":"2025-11-24T09:50:57Z","timestamp":1763977857852,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2012,8,17]],"date-time":"2012-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1345161600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,8,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of the present study is to take an overview of the use of computers, internet, computer skills and information searching behaviour on the web as well as the OPAC in a university setting among students at the postgraduate level from rural and urban backgrounds in a comparative analogue.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>This survey\u2010based study utilized the questionnaire as its major data collection instrument. However, the interview method and general observations were also used, whenever required, to supplement the data and make the information more explicit. The data, thus collected, were analysed with the aid of SPSS statistical software. The Chi\u2010square test was also performed to identify significant comparability among urban and rural background students.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study revealed that most postgraduates (95.5 per cent) belonging to rural areas were computer literate. Further, most of them had accessed the web for communication purposes and for locating general and academic information. The results showed no significant differences between rural and urban students for the use of computer and internet, usage patterns of OPAC like search engines and the ease of OPAC use and their expectations from OPAC. The only significant differences found among both groups were for their reactions during unsuccessful searches. Thus, the background of users at the postgraduate level does not significantly affect the use of computer and internet, information searching behaviour patterns on the web and library systems, especially OPAC.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>This is a pioneering work to examine whether postgraduates from differing backgrounds searched for information required by them differently through varying information channels for academic purposes in a university library system in India.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/10650751211262137","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,1,24]],"date-time":"2014-01-24T12:02:16Z","timestamp":1390564936000},"page":"144-163","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Use of computer, internet, and library OPACs among rural and urban postgraduates in Indian universities"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Shiv","family":"Kumar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ansari, M.A. and Amita,  (2008), \u201cAwareness and use of OPACs in five Delhi libraries\u201d, The Electronic Library, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 111\u201029.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b1","DOI":"10.1108\/02640470810851789"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chowdhury, S. and Gibb, F. (2009), \u201cRelationship among activities and problems causing uncertainty in information seeking and retrieval\u201d, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 65 No. 3, pp. 470\u201099.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b3","DOI":"10.1108\/00220410910952438"},{"unstructured":"Forrester Research (2009), \u201cIndia to have 3rd largest number of internet users by 2013\u201d, The Times of India, available at: http:\/\/articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/2009\u201007\u201026\/india\u2010business\/28171189_1_Internet\u2010users\u2010online\u2010population\u2010asian\u2010markets (accessed June 26, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b4"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guha, T.K. and Saraf, V. (2005), \u201cOPAC usability: assessment through verbal protocol\u201d, The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 463\u201073.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b5","DOI":"10.1108\/02640470510611526"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Herman, E. (2001), \u201cEnd\u2010users in academia: meeting the information needs of university researchers in an electronic age\u201d, Part 1: Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 53 No. 9, pp. 387\u2010401.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b6","DOI":"10.1108\/EUM0000000007069"},{"unstructured":"ICube 2010 (2011), \u201cIAMAI: internet in rural India \u2013 2010\u201d, available at: www.iamai.in\/Upload\/Research\/Internet_Rural_India_2010_52.pdf (accessed July 26, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b7"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaur, A. and Manhas, R. (2008), \u201cUse of internet services and resources in the engineering colleges of Punjab and Haryana (India): a study\u201d, The International Information & Library Review, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 10\u201020.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b8","DOI":"10.1080\/10572317.2008.10762759"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kelly, K.B. and Orr, G.H. (2003), \u201cTrends in distant students' use of electronic resources: a survey\u201d, College and Research Libraries, Vol. 64 No. 3, pp. 176\u201091.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b9","DOI":"10.5860\/crl.64.3.176"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumar, B.T.S. and Kumar, G.T. (2010), \u201cPerception and usage of e\u2010resources and the internet by Indian academics\u201d, The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 137\u201056.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b10","DOI":"10.1108\/02640471011023432"},{"unstructured":"Kumar, R. and Kaur, A. (2005), \u201cInternet and its usage in engineering colleges of Punjab, India: a case study\u201d, Webology, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 1\u201022.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b11"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumar, S. (2011), \u201cEffect of web searching on the OPAC: a comparison of selected university libraries\u201d, Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 14\u201021.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b12","DOI":"10.1108\/07419051111173883"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumar, S. and Vohra, R. (2011a), \u201cOnline public access catalogue usage at Panjab University Library, Chandigarh\u201d, DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 302\u201010.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b13","DOI":"10.14429\/djlit.31.4.1110"},{"unstructured":"Kumar, S. and Vohra, R. (2011b), \u201cUse of online public access catalogue in Guru Nanak Dev University Library, Amritsar\u201d, SRELS Journal of Information Management, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 519\u201028.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b14"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Madhusudhan, M. (2007), \u201cInternet use by research scholars in University of Delhi, India\u201d, Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 36\u201042.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b15","DOI":"10.1108\/07419050710836036"},{"unstructured":"Mahajan, P. (2006), \u201cInternet use by researchers: a study of Panjab University, Chandigarh\u201d, Library Philosophy and Practice, Vol. 8 No. 2, available at: www.Webpages.uidaho.edu\/\u223cmbolin\/mahajan2.pdf (accessed March 10, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b16"},{"unstructured":"Mishra, O.P., Yadava, N. and Bisht, K. (2005), \u201cInternet utilization pattern of undergraduate students\u201d, University News, Vol. 43 No. 13, pp. 8\u201012.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b17"},{"unstructured":"Mulla, K.R. and Chandrashekara, M. (2009), \u201cA study on the effective use of online public access catalogue at the libraries of engineering college in Karnataka (India)\u201d, International Journal of Library and Information Science, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 29\u201042.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b18"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nazim, M. (2008), \u201cInformation searching behaviour in the internet age: a user's study of Aligarh Muslim University\u201d, The International Information & Library Review, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 73\u201081.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b19","DOI":"10.1080\/10572317.2008.10762764"},{"unstructured":"Nirmal (2011), \u201cInternet users in India\u201d, available at: www.nirmaltv.com\/2011\/02\/26\/Internet\u2010users\u2010in\u2010india\u2010infograhic\/ (accessed June 22, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b20"},{"unstructured":"Patil, D.B. and Parameshwar, S. (2009), \u201cUse of electronic resources by the faculty members and research scholars in Gulbarga University, Gulbarga: a survey\u201d, SRELS Journal of Information Management, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 51\u201060.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b21"},{"unstructured":"Pew Internet and American Life Project (2002), \u201cThe internet goes to college: how students are living in the future with today's technology\u201d, available at: www.pewInternet.org (accessed July 16, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b22"},{"unstructured":"Poulter, A. (2003), \u201cWorld wide web\u201d, in Feather, J. and Sturges, P. (Eds), International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, Routledge, London.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b23"},{"unstructured":"Rajput, P.S., Naidu, G.H.S. and Jadon, G.S. (2008), \u201cUse of online public access catalogue in Devi Ahilya University Library, Indore\u201d, SRELS Journal of Information Management, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 55\u201062.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b24"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sheeja, N.K. (2010), \u201cSciences vs social science: a study of information\u2010seeking behaviour and user perception of academic researchers\u201d, Library Review, Vol. 59 No. 7, pp. 522\u201031.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b25","DOI":"10.1108\/00242531011065118"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sridhar, M.S. (2004a), \u201cOPAC vs card catalogue: a comparative study of user behaviour\u201d, The Electronic Library, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 175\u201083.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b26","DOI":"10.1108\/02640470410533443"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sridhar, M.S. (2004b), \u201cSubject searching in the OPAC of a special library: problems and issues\u201d, OCLC Systems and Services: International Digital Library Perspectives, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 183\u201091.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b27","DOI":"10.1108\/10650750410564691"},{"unstructured":"Trivedi, M. and Joshi, A. (2008), \u201cComputer and internet use by health care professionals in a rural medical college in India\u201d, Library Philosophy and Practice, available at: www.Webpages.uidaho.edu\/,mbolin\/trivedi\u2010joshi.pdf (accessed July 25, 2011).","key":"key2022012119445469900_b28"},{"unstructured":"Usha, M.M. (Ed.) (2002), Information Management in New Millennium, Allied, New Delhi.","key":"key2022012119445469900_b29"},{"unstructured":"Case, D.O. (2002), Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking Behavior, Needs, Academic Press, Amsterdam.","key":"key2022012119445469900_frg2"}],"container-title":["OCLC Systems &amp; Services: International digital library perspectives"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1108\/10650751211262137","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/10650751211262137\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/10650751211262137\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T23:39:20Z","timestamp":1753400360000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/dlp\/article\/28\/3\/144-163\/307316"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2012,8,17]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,8,17]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/10650751211262137"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/10650751211262137","relation":{},"ISSN":["1065-075X"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"1065-075X"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2012,8,17]]}}}