Determinants of library use, collections and services among the students of engineering: a case study of King Saud University

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of library use, collections and services among the students of engineering at King Saud University, Riyadh (KSA).

A survey was designed to collect needed information about the level of usage of library collections, services and satisfaction of users. A well‐structured questionnaire was circulated among the faculties, research scholars, postgraduates, undergraduates, and other categories to collect the necessary primary data, keeping in mind the objectives of the study.

The findings clearly reveal that the majority of users of the library used the circulation service. The study found that a majority of research scholars consult the reference books for research work followed by undergraduate students who used the library circulation service.

The present paper consists only of College of Engineering users and the geographical area is restricted to the central library at the King Saud University, Riyadh. The scope of the paper could be extended to additional private and government universities in KSA and abroad. A comparative study could also be made between one country and another's university libraries and information centers for usage of library collections and services.

There are a number of studies on usage of library collections and services, but this is the first of its kind within the King Saud University. As such, it should pave the way to fulfill the demand of users in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as foreign universities.