Browsing by Author "Weerasooriya, W. A."

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Assessing the effectiveness of academic library services: A review on the formulation of a feasible conceptual framework
(Information Development, 2023) Ajith, J.; Ramanayaka, K.; Weerasooriya, W. A.
With the rapid development of internet technology and the gradually accelerating rate of information technology, library systems are progressively transforming into hybrid library systems that provide services from traditional and electronic means. For insightful planning toward a strong service to the community, there is a need to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of library services. Based on this requirement, the purpose of this study is to determine the criteria and their measuring indicators that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of modern academic library services by reviewing related studies found in the literature, and then build a conceptual framework. A comprehensive literature review related to library service effectiveness was conducted to identify, determine and suggest scientific evaluation criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of academic library services. The study revealed that User Satisfaction, Collection Development, Management and Staff Contributions, Service Efficiency, and Accessibility, were the top key evaluation criteria used or cited in the related works. Three or more indicator categories for each criterion have been identified, and the measurable indicators consisted of Likert-type questions on a five-point rating scale that can be used to measure indicator categories. Finally, the conceptual framework for assessing academic library service effectiveness has been developed based on these criteria and their measurement indicators. The study has presented a framework of service effectiveness, including assessment criteria and measurement indicators that can be used to evaluate modern hybrid academic libraries.
Behavioral intention to use electronic resources by distance learners: An extension of the technology acceptance model
(Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 2023) Marasinghe, I. K.; Weerasooriya, W. A.; Rathnabahu, N.
This study aimed to discover the factors affecting behavioral intention to use electronic resources by distance learners of the Open University of Sri Lanka, and to develop a model explaining behavioral intention to use such resources. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the theoretical basis, this study explored the effect of five external factors on the behavioral intention of distance learners toward using e-resources. A quantitative research approach was used, and data were collected from a survey of 379 active undergraduates of the Open University of Sri Lanka. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted to obtain the results of the study. The results of PLS-SEM reveal that the distance mode of learning and relevance of information are the two major external factors that affect behavioral intention to use e-resources. Computer self-efficacy and user satisfaction also have a significant influence on the dependent variable. Social influence, on the other hand, shows no significant impact. Of the TAM constructs, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user attitudes significantly affect e-resource utilization behavior.
Enhancing the Service Level of Library Staff: A Study of University of Moratuwa Library, Sri Lanka.
(Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Gunawardhana, D.N.T.; Weerasooriya, W. A.; Kodikara, R.C.
Service quality of library staff is one of the performance indicators of a library. The assessment of service quality provides an important feedback for libraries to assess and improve its services to its users. Enhancing the information resources and facilities are not enough to hold the users in the library with the rapid improvement of the technology. ‘Improving the Service Level of Library Staff’ has become a marketing tool in above situation. The objective of the research was to find out the ways to improve the Service Level of Library staff of University of Moratuwa Library. Students of the university were the population of this research and random sampling technique was used to select the sample. Survey was conducted to collect data from students and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data analysis. According to results of the survey, students were very satisfied with the service provided by library staff.However they have requested to resolve the background issues and build a conclusive learning environment. Increasing the library opening hours was a very important requirement for the users. Participants have suggested following when using library services; conducting training programs and workshops for library staff, having a session for staff in every month to introduce new concepts in the information field, improving the language ability of Tamil; writing, reading and speaking etc. Developing a ‘Performance Appreciation System’ to measure the service performance of library staffwould be helpful to motivate them to reach organizational goals.
Examining the relationship between competitive capability and perceived service quality in university libraries
(https://jula.sljol.info/static/images/upress.png, 2021) Arachchige, J. J. G.; Singh, Diljit; Weerasooriya, W. A.
As modern Information Technology has created a way to a variety of information service opportunities, many options other than the conventional library service are available for users. A stiff competition has emerged among information service providers and therefore university library professionals too have to think of their competitive advantage. Service quality has gained a high concern as a strategy for developing the competitive position of an organization and many studies in different fields have established a strong relationship between service quality and competitive advantage. Viewing inversely, some practitioners contemplate that the competitive position of resource capabilities can influence the improvement of service quality. In order to examine the relationship between competitive position and the service quality in a university library context, an exploratory survey was employed utilizing a VRIO based questionnaire and LibQUAL+ based instrument with 89 library professionals selected from 15 state university libraries in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that there is a moderate positive correlation between two variables (r = .286, n= 66, p = .020). As the relationship is moderate, further studies seem essential to support the hypothesis. The large percentage of residuals indicates that there are more factors contributing to the service quality in university libraries. This study
The Impact of the School Library for Information Seeking Behaviours of School Students: A Case Study based on the Academic Achievements of G.C.E Advanced Level (A/L) Students of Sri Lanka.
(Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2021) Ajith, J.A.; Weerasooriya, W. A.
As a learning resource, many researchers have confirmed the influence of the library makes a significant contribution to students’ academic achievements. Based on these findings, there is a need to study the behavior of G.C.E advanced level students in using school libraries. Furthermore, this paper engages in case studies to analyze the relationship between students' behavior and their academic achievements in the use of school libraries as a learning resource. The use of information sources by students in the school library was increasingly seen in the use of books, periodicals, and newspapers respectively. However, the use of sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, etc. was very low and reference services and electronic information services were found to be non-existent in many school libraries. According to the results of the correlation analysis of student library behavior, the library services used show a positive relationship between reading services and academic achievement. However, since there is no correlation between lending services and academic achievement, this highlights that lending service is not familiar to students. Therefore, it is recommended that, implementing library marketing and user awareness programs on both services to attract students. Furthermore, in the analysis of the correlation between students' results of G.C.E. (A/L) examination and school library use, a high positive correlation was found between library use for more academic purpose and academic achievements. Giving more priority to academic reading than leisure reading contributes to students' academic achievement. There is also a positive correlation between the subject and the result, which is given prominence in academic readings. The reliability of students' school library behavior results was confirmed by their university library behavior test. Students' school library behavior contributes to their academic achievements, leading to higher education opportunities and lifelong skills.
Influence of Age, Gender and Academic position in Scientific Productivity: A Large-Scale Analysis of Sri Lankan University Academics.
(Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Pratheepan, T.; Weerasooriya, W. A.
It is well known that there are large differences in the scientific production between academics. Relatively small proportion of academics or scientists contributes to the majority of the publications. There are factors influencing in scientific performance of researcher. Objective of this study is to investigatepublication rate of Sri Lankan academics in the university system by the gender, age and position. These factors are important variables when analyzing scientific productivity at the individual level. In the analysis, all academics were assigned to five major fields. The study was considered 4,300 academics in 14,550observations (i.e. publication numbers per years). Thus, there are on average almost three observations per person analyzed.Non-publishing personnel have not been included in the study as only people who have published article online or available in Google Scholar. This may be regarded as a limitation of this study as the inclusion of the non-publishing researchers could possiblyincrease the publication rate differences between genders, age groups and positions.Publication output has been measured as article equivalents per person per year. In this calculation, co-authored publications are fractionalized among the authors. Study identifies the relative importance of the different factors based on regression analyses (OLS) of each major academic field. Finding shows that academic position is more important than age and gender. In the fields analyzed, the regression model can explain 13.5–19 per cent of the variance in the publication output at the levels of individuals. This also means that most of the variance in publication rate is due to other factors.
Initiating the “Research Commons” in University Libraries in Sri Lanka: Exploratory Review
(3rd International Conference on Library and Information Management, Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Gunawardhana, D.N.T.; Weerasooriya, W. A.
Enhancing opportunities for research works is a premier objective in universities due to researches contribute in many ways for knowledge creation. Serve and meet the needs of researchers are considered as a foremost aim of university libraries. Newly introduced non-traditional resources and services create many openings for researchers. University libraries have being focusing more strongly on learner-centered and researcher-centered services today. Information commons, research commons, human library projects, counseling and consultation services, digital resource collections are new services in libraries. Research Commons is a very important concept among them and it has become “one-stop shopping” model for researchers in foreign universities. There is no Research Commons experience yet in Sri Lanka and it need to be developed in all libraries. Research Commons is a “knowledge-creation space” than “learning space”. Reviewed research articles, books, and web sites relevant to this concept were facilitated to conduct this study very much. Objective of this research work is to introduce the concept of “Research Commons” and discuss the approaches to initiate Research Commons in university libraries in Sri Lanka