THE USE OF CD-ROM DATABASES BY MALAYSIAN POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN LEEDS

Abstract

A study was carried out with Malaysian postgraduate students in Leeds in 1995 to determine the extent and ease of use of CD‑ROM databases. This findings from this study  showed that only 58.3%  of the Malaysian postgraduate students used CD‑ROM databases. The users found CD‑ROM databases are useful information sources for thesis preparation, writing research papers, articles, books etc. They unanimously agreed that the CD‑ROM databases should be introduced to their organisations’ libraries and information centres in Malaysia as they allow for quick access to worldwide literature, are very comprehensive and speed up literature searching and prove to be an asset to research work. The remaining Malaysian postgraduate students (41.7%) did not use CD‑ROM databases for a variety of reasons such as ignorance about their existence or techniques of use, easily available facility for on-line search, non-availability of databases at the work place, etc. In some cases, searching CD-ROM databases was not found essential for their study or research. The percentage of non‑use was high and the study recommends that efforts should be made by  the university libraries to  promote their CD‑ROM services in a way that would also attract non‑users. Non‑users themselves should be made aware of the availability of  CD‑ROM databases and other information sources.