AWARENESS AND USE OF OPEN ACCESS SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS AMONG THEOLOGICAL FACULTY MEMBERS IN KARNATAKA: A STUDY

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1 International Journal of Library & Information Science (IJLIS) Volume 6, Issue 5, September October 07, pp , Article ID: IJLIS_06_05_009 Available online at Journal Impact Factor (06): 8.65 (Calculated by GISI) ISSN Print: 77-5 and ISSN Online: IAEME Publication AWARENESS AND USE OF OPEN ACCESS SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS AMONG THEOLOGICAL FACULTY MEMBERS IN KARNATAKA: A STUDY Yesan Sellan Research Scholar, Bharathidasan University, Trichy Chief Librarian, South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) Bangalore, India Dr. S. Ally Sornam Associate Professor and Head, Post Graduate Department of Library and Information Science, Bishop Heber College, Trichy, India ABSTRACT This study assesses the level of awareness and attempts to understand faculty members awareness and use of open access scholarly publications among 85 theological faculty members in Karnataka. It also identifies challenges faced by faculty members while accessing such open access resources as well as sources faculty members found helpful in discovering and learning to use such resources. This study has found that theological faculty members are partially aware of open access resources; Biblical Studies.org.uk and Google CSE are well known to them but the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) are less known to them. With regards to their use of Open Access Resources, Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) for theological journals and Biblical Studies ( are most used while INFLIBNET UGC Theses is not used. Participants identified the lack of relevant articles, scattered information and too many results as some of the problems faced while accessing Open Access Resources. Key words: Awareness, Open Access, Scholarly Publications, Theological Education. Cite this Article: Yesan Sellan and Dr. S. Ally Sornam, Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study. International Journal of Library & Information Science, 6(5), 07, pp editor@iaeme.com

2 Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study. INTRODUCTION The advent of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) has had an enormous impact on the availability and accessibility of scholarly publications. Access to scholarly information over the internet is ever growing. Open Access (OA) resources, according to the Budapest Open Access Initiatives (BOAI) are defined as its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself (BOAI, 00) [] The widely accepted Bethesda Statement (Bethesda, 00) [] and Berlin Declaration, likewise clearly define Open Access as the ability to copy, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship (Berlin, 00) [].. NEED FOR THE STUDY A study on the awareness and use of open access scholarly publications among theological faculty members in Karnataka is needed to assist theological librarians to understand these resources better and take appropriate steps such as alerts and library orientation to reach out to members of the faculty who may be unfamiliar with them. Theological faculty members are an under-investigated group when it comes to the use of Open Access resources.. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Numerous studies have been carried out (listed below) to assess the awareness, perceptions and use of electronic resources by faculty members in other disciplines, but no study has been undertaken to investigate theological faculty members perceptions, awareness and use of open access resources. A study by Thanuskodi and Ravi found that 67.4% of faculty members at Manonmaniyam Sundranar University are aware of digital resources and use them regularly (Thanuskodi & Ravi, 0, p. 9) [4]. A study by Obuh et.al study noted a high level of Open Access resources use among Library and Information Science (LIS) lecturers in South Nigeria (Obuh, Bozimo, Obuh, & Bozimo, 0) [5]. An other study conducted by Jerold Nelson on the awareness and use of electronic journals among faculty members has shown that faculty members are willing to use electronic resources provided, they are made aware of such resources and taught how to use them (Nelson, 04, p. 9) [6]. A study by Adeyoyin, Idowu and Sowole on awareness, access and use of electronic information resources among theological faculty members in Nigeria notes that more than 84% of respondents indicated that they are fully aware of electronic information resources and also that they are familiar with the use of such resources (Adeyoyin, Idowu, & Sowole, 06, p. 4) [7].. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The following six objectives were identified to guide the study: To analyze whether theological faculty members in Karnataka are aware of important open access scholarly publications To identify problems faced by theological faculty members while accessing open access scholarly publications To identify which format of resources is preferred by faculty members 9 editor@iaeme.com

3 Yesan Sellan and Dr. S. Ally Sornam To understand the level of satisfaction among faculty members with various collections, services, and library staff To identify which sources of information are most helpful in learning about open access resources To identify which sources are most helpful in learning to access open access scholarly resources 4. METHODOLOGY This study mainly followed quantitative method by using a structured questionnaire. Printed questionnaires were distributed to 50 faculty members in Karnataka from 5 theological colleges, those who are teaching at the graduate level and above in Bachelor of Divinity (BD) and Master of Divinity programmes. Eighty-five questionnaires were filled in and returned to us, an 56.6 % rate of response. Faculty members were not asked to give their names in the questionnaire in order to make them comfortable and provide factual answers. 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Below, Table shows the demography of respondents. Nearly 9% respondents were male and only 8% were female. The reason for this discrepancy is not known, though it could be assumed either that fewer numbers of female faculty members are involved in theological education or that they were not interested in participating in this survey. Hence, one should infer, that the results of this study pertain primarily to male respondents. Table Demography of respondents Gender No of respondents % Male % Female 7 8.4% Total 85 Table shows the age group of respondents. A majority of respondents belong to the age group between -40 years and nearly 5% of respondents are below 0years of age. Table Respondents Age Age No of respondents % Below 0yrs 4 4.7% -40yrs 8.8% 4-50yrs 5 9.4% 5yrs and above 7.06% Total 85 00% The Table reveals, the highest degree qualification attained by the respondents. 49% percent of respondents have a Master s degree while 47% respondents have a Doctoral degree. Table Highest Degree Qualification Highest Educational Qualification No of respondents % Masters % Doctorate % Others.5% Total 85 00% Table 4 shows that 9% of respondents have the rank of Professor, while only 7% of respondents are Associate Professors, and 7% identify themselves as Assistant Professor as well as Others. 9 editor@iaeme.com

4 Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study Table 4 Academic Rank of participants Academic Rank No of respondents % Professor 8.8% Associate Professor % Assistant Professor 7.06% Other 7.06% Total % Tables 5 shows that the largest number of respondents are from Theological and Ethics departments (%) and Biblical Studies New Testament departments (0%), while the lowest number are from History of Christianity and Philosophy departments (% each). Table 5 Area of Specialization Area of specialization No of Respondents % Biblical Studies Old Testament % Biblical Studies New Testament % Theology and Ethics 8.8% History of Christianity.5% Pastoral Theology % Missions 5.9% Religions 7 8.4% Philosophy.5% other % Total 85 Table 6 shows the level of awareness of Open Access Scholarly publications among theological faculty members. This study, found that Biblical Studies.org.uk ( is the most widely known resources scoring.04. The second most widely known resources are the Society for Biblical Studies and Google Search for Theological Journals at.89. This is a clear indication that these open access resources are widely known among theological faculty members. However, Table 8 shows that Google CSE for Theological Journals is the highly used open access resource among the faculty members. Table 7 Level of Awareness of Open Access Scholarly Publications Sources Count Score Not Aware Partially Aware Fully Aware Biblical Studies ( Christian Classic Ethereal Library CCEL ( Directory of Open Access books ( Directory of open Access journals ( GlobeTheoLib ( Google Search Engine for theological journals Internet Archive ( NT Gateway ( Open Access Theses ( OT Gateway ( Princeton Theological Seminary Digital Library editor@iaeme.com

5 Yesan Sellan and Dr. S. Ally Sornam Sources Count Score Not Aware Partially Aware Fully Aware Religion Online ( Society for Biblical Studies ( Tyndale House online resources( UGC Theses ( Average.7 Table 8 shows the level of use of Open Access Scholarly publications among theological faculty members in Karnataka. Table 8 Level of Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications Sources Count Score Never Sometimes Always Biblical Studies.org ( Christian Classic Ethereal Library CCEL ( Directory of Open Access books ( Directory of open Access journals ( GlobeTheoLib ( Google Search Engine for theological journals: Internet Archive ( NT Gateway ( Open Access Theses ( OT Gateway ( Princeton Theological Seminary Digital Library Religion Online ( Society for Biblical Studies ( Tyndale House online resources( UGC Theses ( Average.5 A study by Sudhier and others, found that among faculty members the Google search engine is highly helpful in knowing about electronic resources (Sudhier & others, 0, p.,) [8]. Similarly, a study by Groote, Sultz and Blecic among health sciences faculty found that most faculty members depend on Google Search for locating electronic resources (De Groote, Shultz, & Blecic, 04) [9]. Griffith s study among students noted that more than 45% of students prefer using a Google Search to locate information (Griffiths & Brophy, 005, p. 55) [0]. This present study has found the Google Search to be most helpful for theological faculty members wanting to know about open access scholarly resources, followed by colleagues and library staff as other helpful sources for knowing about various 94 editor@iaeme.com

6 Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study open access resources. These findings concur with Gorman s study among theologians in Seven Adelaide Theological Colleges assessing the patterns of Information Seeking and Library Use, which notes that colleagues are helpful in exchanging information (Gorman, 990, p. 55) []. Library staff play an essential role in assisting users to know about electronic resources and their use. A recent study by Sellan and Sornam indicates that 4% of respondents found Library staff helpful in learning to use electronic resources (Sellan & Sornam, 0, p. 5) []. This present study has also found that Professional Forums and alerts from librarians are helpful for knowing about electronic resources. However, the study by Sellan and Sornam notes that 55% of theological students in Bangalore never received alerts from library (Sellan & Sornam, 0, p. 5). Table 9 Most helpful sources to know about Open Access Scholarly Publications Sources Count Score Not at all helpful Slightly Helpful Somewhat helpful Very Helpful 4 Extremely Helpful 5 Colleagues alerts from librarian 85.4 Google search engine Library Staff Library website 85. Posters printed notices 8.7 Professional forum 85.4 Social Media 84.9 Average.57 Table 0 reveals that a majority of the respondents found self-learning very helpful in learning to use open access resources, while they find colleagues and library orientation sessions only somewhat helpful (scoring.68 and.64 respectively). Table 0 Sources helpful in learning to use Open Access Resources Question Count Score Not at all helpful Slightly Helpful Somewhat helpful Very Helpful 4 Extremely Helpful 5 Library Orientation/Instruction Learned from colleagues Self learning Library Guides manual 85. Average.6 Table Print Journals Vs Electronic Journals Format Count Percent 95 editor@iaeme.com

7 Yesan Sellan and Dr. S. Ally Sornam Format Count Percent Print Journals 8.8% Electronic Journals 5 6.8% Total % Table shows that 6% of respondents prefer electronic journals with the ability to download articles. This indicates that electronic journals are convenient and easy to use and download articles for future use and thus are becoming more popular compared with print format. At the same time faculty members prefer printed books to ebooks (Table and Table ). Table ebook Vs Print Book Format Count Percent ebook 8.69% Print Book % Total 8 00 % Table Reference Book choice (Print Vs ebook) Answer Count Percent ebook 0.76% Print Reference book % Total % Table and Table indicate that nearly 80% of respondents prefer print books and print reference books over electronic reference books, and that ebooks are still not the preferred format among faculty members in theological institutions in Karnataka. Table 4 shows the various problems faced by faculty members while using Open Access Scholarly Publications. The non-availability of full-text articles ranks as the most frequently faced problem, followed by the non-availability of relevant articles, scattered information and too many results. These findings concur with a study by Krishnan, Arumuguam and Ragavan which found that lack of full-text articles were the major difficulties encountered by users while accessing information (Krishnan, Arumugam, & Raghavan, 0, p. 60) []. Database developers, meta-data cataloguers, and publishers should consider improving their services. Misspelling and unfamiliar subject terms are some of the other problems faculty members face. Table 4 Problems faced while accessing Open Access Scholarly Publications Problems Count Score Incomplete or poor abstracting of articles Scattered information 85.4 Lack of national scholarly publications Long time to download because of file size Never Sometimes Always Misspelling of title, author, subject headings, keywords etc editor@iaeme.com

8 Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study Problems Count Score Non-availability of full text articles 85.9 Non-availability of relevant articles 85.6 Not easy to download articles Slow internet connection / slow response by the content provider Too many results shown 85.4 Unfamiliar search options 85.9 Unfamiliar subject terms used in describing the documents/articles Average.06 Never Sometimes Always Table 5 Opinion on Collections, Services and Library staff Collection, services and Staff Count Score Very Poor Poor Acceptable Good 4 Very Good 5 Archival Collections (eg. rare books, manuscripts and etc) 85.8 Current Journals (print) Print Books, Reference books Online databases (eg. ebooks and or ejournals) Inter-Library Loan (books from other libraries) 85.7 Circulation of books (check in and checkout) User Education orientation/training by library staff Reference Services Printing, scanning and photocopying services 85.4 Library staff skills, efficiency and timely service Library staff behavior courteous, approachable, etc Library staff knowledge on library resources and services Library staff availability to help the users Infrastructure Reading space Library lighting, ventilation and ambience Average.6 According to Table 5, theological faculty members consider the following things to be good about their libraries; 97 editor@iaeme.com

9 Yesan Sellan and Dr. S. Ally Sornam library infrastructure such as reading space, library lighting, ventilation, and ambience, library staff availability to help, library staff skills, efficiency, and timely service, print books available in the library They have also expressed their dissatisfaction over available online databases. This is a clear indication that institutions where they are working should attempt to procure more electronic resources. The following are major findings of this study: Theological faculty members are partially aware (scored.7) of Open Access Scholarly publications available for their use. The open access sources best known among theological faculty members include Biblical Studies.org.uk, and Google CSE for theological journals search, and the Society for Biblical Studies. The least known open access resources include Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Globe Ethics Theological Library, a global theological digital library. Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) for theological journals search and Biblical Studies.org.uk are more commonly used open access resources compared to all other resources. The least used Open Access resources are Open Access Theses, Princeton Theological Seminary Digital library, and Shodhganga INFLIBNET UGC Theses. Some of the major problems faced by the faculty members while accessing open access resources include non-availability of full-text journal articles, non-availability of relevant fulltext articles, scattered information, and too many results. Faculty members are of the opinion that the Google Search engine and their colleagues are very helpful sources for learning about various open access resources while self-learning and colleagues, and library staff are very helpful in learning to use such resources Sixty-one percent of respondents prefer electronic journals with the ability to download articles over print journals. At the same time, 78% of respondents prefer a print books over ebooks and 88% of respondents prefer printed reference books over ebooks. Faculty members have expressed their satisfaction over library infrastructure, and staff knowledge and their behavior and availability to help. 6. LIMITATIONS This study was limited to faculty members who are engaged in teaching graduate and above levels. There was a very limited participation by female respondents for this study (8%). Therefore, major findings of this study will reflect the opinion of male faculty members. This study indicates that fewer numbers of female faculty members are engaged in theological education. Theological education is a male dominated discipline. 7. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS This study clearly indicates that there is a need to create awareness about various open access resources that are freely available for use. Libraries need to offer frequent instruction and training to theological faculty members. Frequent alerts from librarians are important to maintain this teaching fraternity. Adequate funding should be allocated to procure more online databases to meet the needs of the faculty members. This study has attempted to fill the research gap on Open Access Scholarly publications use among theological faculty members. 8. FOR FURTHER STUDY 98 editor@iaeme.com

10 Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Theological Faculty Members in Karnataka: A Study This study has assessed the level of awareness and use of Open Access scholarly publications. A study on how Open Access resources are used for various tasks performed by faculty members could also be helpful. Extending this study beyond Karnataka would also provide a broader basis for assessing faculty members awareness. Faculty members can be influential in creating awareness among students. Thus, reaching faculty members will enhance the use of the library and its services and resources among students and future faculty members. REFERENCES [] BOAI. (00). Budapest Open Access Initiative. Retrieved from [] Bethesda. (00). Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing. Retrieved September, 07, from [] [] Berlin. (00). Berlin Declaration. Retrieved September, 07, from [4] Thanuskodi, S., & Ravi, S. (0). Use of digital resources by Faculty and research scholars of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, (). Retrieved from [5] Obuh, A. O., Bozimo, D. O., Obuh, A. O., & Bozimo, D. O. (0). Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications by LIS Lecturers in Southern Nigeria. International Journal of Library Science, (4), [6] Nelson, M. (04). Awareness and Use of Scholarly Electronic Journals by Members of Academic Staff: A Case Study of Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), (Paper 4). Retrieved from [7] Adeyoyin, S. O., Idowu, T. A., & Sowole, A. O. (06). Awareness, Access, and Use of Electronic Information Resources among the Seminarians in Nigeria. Journal of Religious & Theological Information, 5( ), 8. [8] Sudhier, K. G., & others. (0). Use of E-resources by the Students and Researchers of Faculty of Arts, University of Kerala. International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology, (), 0. [9] De Groote, S. L., Shultz, M., & Blecic, D. D. (04). Information-seeking behavior and the use of online resources: a snapshot of current health sciences faculty. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 0(), [0] Griffiths, J. R., & Brophy, P. (005). Student searching behavior and the web: use of academic resources and Google. Library Trends, 5(4), 59. [] Sellan, Y., & Sornam, S. A. (0). The Impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on Library Services in Select Theological Libraries in Bangalore: A Study. Journal of Contemporary Christian, 5(), [] Gorman, F. G. E. (990). Patterns of Information Seeking and Library Use by Theologians In Seven Adelaide Theological Colleges. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, (), [] Krishnan, N. G., Arumugam, R., & Raghavan, S. S. (0). Information Access Pattern of Users of Selected Engineering College Libraries in Chennai, Tamil Nadu A Study. Asian Journal of Information Science and Technology, (), editor@iaeme.com