Abstract Public Libraries playing a major role to accomplish the information needs of the agriculturists in Mysore Region. This study examined the various channels used to access information by the agriculturists in Mysore Region. A survey method is employed and the questionnaires for agriculturists prepared in English and later converted into the regional language Kannada. Totally 719 questionnaires were distributed among agriculturists who use the public Libraries in the Region. The collected data from the agriculturists were analyzed using Jeffreys’s Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) software. The tables and figures were prepared using the MS Excel software wherever found necessary. The paper explains about the socio-economic background of the agriculturists. It highlights the about the various channels used by the agriculturists to access information. As a result, always-used channels of information are fellow agriculturists and friends followed by the newspaper, television, library, and mobile phone-based agri-information services. Keywords: Public libraries, Information Channels, Agriculturists, Mysore Region 1. Introduction: Today, Information is considered to be one of the fundamental requirements and it plays an important role in human development. Everyone needs the right information to make the right decision (Reddy, 2010). Public Libraries play an important role in providing Library and Information Services to each and every community in society including agriculturists (Dunne, 2002). Agriculture is the main occupation of most Indians; over 70% of rural households depend on agriculture (Arjun, 2013).” According to UNESCO “The Public Library is the local gateway to knowledge and provides a basic condition for lifelong learning, independent decision-making and cultural development of the individual and social groups. The Public Library is the local centre of Information making all kinds of knowledge and Information readily available to its users” (Gattegno, 1994). 2. Objectives of the Study: The following are the main objectives of the study; To know the socio-economic background of the Agriculturists in the Mysore Region To examine the various Information channels used for collecting required Information by Agriculturists To ascertain the frequency of use of Information Resources by Agriculturists To Suggests for Public Library to improvement of Information Resources and Services 3. Literature Review: Kumar and Devi (2020) conducted a study to find out farmers’ perspectives on agricultural information literacy in Jind district of Haryana state in India. The random sampling survey method used self-structured questionnaires to collect data from 52 farmers living in two selected villages. The demographic profiles show the dominance of men in agriculture with the majority of farmers finding their knowledge to be adequate. Their main sources of income are agriculture (86.54%)of which 84.62% own land less than four hectares. Rice wheat corn cotton and pearl millet are the main crops grown by farmers in their fields. Agriculture education and health are the most important areas in which all farmers need information while television and newspapers are the most important sources of information they need. Low prices (4.87) rural electricity shortages (4.85) and low levels of literacy (4.73) are major problems facing farmers in information searches. However, it is necessary to inform farmers about the importance and use of public libraries and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and their utility. Barik and Jena (2017) in their survey attempted to identify the sources and areas of information needed by the farmer’s community in rural areas of Deogaon block of Balangir district and their approaches towards setting up Village Community Information Centres (VCIC). The data was collected through a questionnaire of 380 farmers. The study showed the age groups of farmers and their educational qualifications, and the sources of their preferred information, the main areas of information needed for recommendations on the establishment of village community information centres. Etc. According to the study, farmers receive daily agricultural information through discussions with their fellow farmers and Information about outbreaks of diseases was identified as the top information needed followed by training on new varieties, breeds/farming techniques, crop husbandry and inputs availability i.e. fertilizer and seed.” 4. Scope of the Study The scope of this study is Mysore Region of Karnataka State i.e. Mysore, Hassan, Chamarajanagara, Mandya, Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, Dhakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts.The study concentrates on forty-four taluk Branch Libraries in the Mysore Region. The respondents were randomly selected from the branch libraries of Mysore Region. 5. Research Methodology A survey method was employed and a total of 800 questionnaires were distributed among the agriculturists who visited the 16 branch libraries. Totally 719 usable questionnaires were used from the agriculturists with an 89.87% response rate. 6. Analysis and Interpretation of Data: The data collected from the agriculturists were analyzed and presented in the following elements; 6.1 Sample respondents of agriculturists and Branch Libraries: Table 1 reveals that a total of 800 questionnaires were distributed among the agriculturists who use the 16 branch libraries. A total of 719 usable questionnaires were received from the agriculturists with an 89.87% response rate.” Table 1: Sample Respondents of agriculturists and Branch Libraries: Sl.No. Districts Name of Branch Library Questionnaires Distributed Responses Received % 1 Dakshina Kannada Branch Library, Putturu 50 49 98 2 Branch Library, Bantwala 50 46 92 3 Udupi Branch Library, Kundapura 50 49 98 4 Branch Library, Saligrama 50 44 88 5 Chikkamagalur Branch Library, Tarikere 50 40 80 6 Branch Library, Koppa 50 43 86 7 Kodagu Branch Library, Kushalanagar 50 47 94 8 Branch Library, Virajapete 50 43 86 9 Hassan Branch Library, Arasikere 50 41 82 10 Branch Library, Channarayapattana 50 45 90 11 Mysuru Branch Library, KR Nagara 50 44 88 12 Branch Library, T Narasipura 50 47 94 13 Mandya Branch Library, Madduru 50 46 92 14 Branch Library, Nagamangala 50 46 92 15 Chamarajanagar Branch Library, Yalanduru 50 44 88 16 Branch Library, Kollegala 50 45 90 Total 800 719 89.87 6.2 Gender-wise of Agriculturists Table 2 provides the details about the gender of the respondents in the study.” Table 2: Gender-wise distribution of respondents Gender No. of Respondents (N=719) Percent Male 453 63.01 Female 266 36.99 The majority of the respondents were male (63%) and only around 37% were female respondents. Similar kind of result was found in this study. Language Known by Agriculturists (Read and Write) “Language is a vehicle of communication. One should be able to read and write to take advantage of the Public Library. So the attempt is made in this study to know the languages known by the respondents.” Table 3: Language known by the respondents (Read and Write) Language (Read and Write) No. of Respondents (N=719) Percent Kannada 719 100 Kannada & English 465 64.67 Other 30 4.17 Table 3 provides the details about the languages known by the agriculturists under the study. All the respondents know the Kannada language and only 64.67% know Kannada as well as the English language and 4.17% indicated that they know other languages apart from Kannada and English.” Educational Qualification of the respondents An attempt is made in this study to know the educational qualification of the agriculturists under the study.” Table 4: Educational Qualification of the Respondents Education qualification No. of Respondents (N=719) Percent Primary school 65 9.0 High School 122 17.0 P.U.C. 207 28.8 Graduation 214 29.8 Post-Graduation 78 10.8 Technical degree 21 2.9 Ph.D. 12 1.7 “The analysis of the educational qualifications of the agriculturists is provided in table 4. Most of the agriculturists have attained pre-university and graduation (60%). only 10% were holding master’s degrees and 2.9% had technical degrees and 1.7% had Ph.D. degrees.” 6.5 Occupation of the respondents “An attempt is made in this study to know the occupations of the respondents.” Table 5 : Occupation of the respondents Occupation No. of Respondents (N=719) Percent Agriculture 256 35.61 Agriculture and Private Job 127 17.66 Agriculture and Government Job 139 19.33 Agriculture & Business 165 22.95 Other 32 4.45 Fig.1: Occupation of the respondents Table 5 and Figure 1 gives the details about the occupation of the respondents under the study. Only 35.61% of respondents solely depend on agriculture and 17.66% of respondents’ occupation is agriculture as well as private jobs. Around 20% of respondents’ occupation is agriculture and government Job. 165 (20%) respondents’ occupation is Agriculture and Business.” 6.6 Land Holding by Agriculturists Table 6: Land holding of the Agriculturists under the Study Land Holding No. of Respondents (N=719) Percent Marginal (>1 Acre) 148 20.58 Small (1-2 Acre) 223 31.02 Semi-Medium (2 -4 Acre) 191 26.57 Medium (4 -10 Acre) 129 17.94 Above 10 Acre 28 3.
P et al. (Sun,) studied this question.