Library resources and services use for study by students of medical Sciences in Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, 2006-7

Background and purpose: Today with growth of information, information sources are also growing in number and diversity. The users should welcome these changes and learn the skills which help with optional use of information resources and prevents confusion. This study is an attempt to evaluate student use of information resources and library services in Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services.Methods: In this survey a questionnaire was used to collect the date. The questionnaire included question on demographic data such as the degree program of study, sex, living place and 15 items on study habits and library use. The last year students of 13 disciplines leading to Associate degree, Bachelors degree, and Professional doctoral degree (medicine) were included in this study. The association of variables was tested with chi-square and fisher exact tests and to examine the correlation of variables Spearman correlation coefficient was used. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significantResults: In this study 215 last year students participated. Of all participants 70.3% were female; 43.3% study for an associate degree, 47.4% studies for Bachelor’s degree and 9.3% studied for doctoral degree; 92.6% lived in dormitories. There is a significant association between use of library sources and the study program degree (r=0.191, P=0.005) and living place (P=0.026) Original English books are used scarcely. Use of English sources are associated with the degree the students studied for (r=0.137, P=0.045) and sex; using specialty journal is associated with program degree (r=0.160, P=0.013).Most students of doctoral degree (40%), bachelors degree (42.2%), and associate degree (32.3%) did not use library as an educational setting. Male students (28.2%) and students living in dormitories (24.6%) “always” used library as main study place.Conclusions: Most of our students always or often preferred transcripts of instructors’ lecture over other resources of library which might be due to the lack of information handling skills. Training students on the potentials of library in helping them with their education can help in this regard.