The main objective of the present study is to investigate the user education practices in the backdrops of an academic library. A survey was conducted among the librarians of the Government First Grade Colleges (GFGC) of Karnataka State to fully comprehend the categories of user education programs offered at libraries and the concepts covered, as well as also the frequency of organizing the user education programs at GFGC of Karnataka. Out of the 430 GFGC libraries, 304 duly filled responses were received. The observations of the study indicate that 96.1% of libraries are conducting user education programs. User orientation, awareness sessions, and special lectures are the most popular techniques adopted in libraries. 136 (46.6%) of the libraries, and annually, 77 (26.4%) of them are conducting their user education programs as and when needed. Around 48 (16.4%) of the libraries offered the program in each semester, while 31 (10.6%) libraries preferred to conduct it once in a course time. About 246 (80.9%) of the libraries encompassed the concepts, such as introducing the library environment to its users, followed by services and facilities by 185 (60.9%) libraries, and training in e-resource use (54.3%). The instruction on the usage of OPAC systems (53%) and search methodologies (40.5%) also receives significant attention. However, the areas such as copyright and IPR (23%), digital rights management (21.7%), and digital privacy (22.7%) are notably less represented. In addition, there has been a limited focus on ICT tools in teaching and competitive exam training.
Sharadamma et al. (Thu,) studied this question.