A Comparative Analysis of IIT Libraries and Major Southeast Asian Technical Libraries: Evaluating Digital Resources, User Accessibility, and Technological Integration

Abstract

        Functions of academic libraries have changed over the period with increasing use of ICT in the institutions of higher learning most especially in technical universities where updated information is of essence in academic and research endeavours. This paper is a comparative study of the libraries of IITs and other leading technical libraries in South East Asia by comparing them on the basis of collection of digital resources, ease of access for the users and technological infrastructure. The purpose of the study is to assess the density and quality of the digital collections, users’ ability to access these materials and the level of technology in these libraries. The findings from the study are gathered from both quantitative research involving survey of users and qualitative research involving interviews of library staff. The sampled users include 500 users out of 5 IIT libraries of India that include IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Kharagpur and 50 staff members and 500 users out of 5 major technical libraries of South East Asia that include National University of Singapore, University of Malaya, Nanyang Technological University, Chulalongkorn University, and In order to measure performance in terms of digital resources’ availability, user satisfaction and technology adoption the statistical analysis was conducted. Overall the findings suggest that on average the IIT libraries have larger and sophisticated digital libraries than the SE Asian libraries with more number of e-books, online journals and databases.