Challenges for School Libraries in the digital age: A study on the knowledge seeking pattern among male and female students in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Current literature shows that very limited research has been done with respect to young school children and their usage of print and electronic media, which implies its timely importance of such research for the policy makers, educators, libraries, education reformists and the young school children of Sri Lanka. This paper discuss a comparative study that was carried out to investigate the knowledge seeking patterns among students are changing from print to electronic media. The survey was conducted among four schools in Sri Lanka, comprised of a total of 400 students ranging from 14 years (grade nine students) to 18 years (grade thirteen students). Our study showed, 66% of grade nine students, 77% of grade ten students, 72% of grade eleven students and 80% of the grade twelve students prefer electronic media over print media. Our study also showed a gender effect on the use of electronic media.