Use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) by the LIS professionals in Academic Institutions: A Study

The present paper emphasises the use of Open Educational Resources by the LIS professionals working in the academic institutions of the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. A survey method was adopted, with a questionnaire used to collect data from LIS professionals. The structured questionnaire was distributed to 53 LIS professionals working in degree colleges affiliated to Karnatak University, Dharwad. Eight colleges were excluded because no qualified professionals were working in them. Hence, only 45 colleges were considered for the study. Out of 45 questionnaires distributed, only 40 were returned, yielding a response rate of 88.88%. The outcomes of the study reveal that the majority of the LIS professionals are aware and familiar with Open Educational Resources (OER) (more than 60%), 67.5% of the respondents agreed that OER makes quality education available to everyone; connection with formal learning programmes (23, 57.50%) was the most mentioned motivational factor to use OER; and 32 (80.00%) respondents opine that collecting and organizing good quality OER materials should be the prime objective of the LIS professionals.