Philippine Normal University

The National Center for Teacher Education

Institute of Knowledge Management
School of Information and Knowledge Management
Taft Avenue, Manila

RESEARCH CAPSULE

Author/s Surname First Name Middle Initial

Falogme Lourane A.
Gualvez Carlo Zebedee R.
Sempio Christianne Georgette V.
Degree/Specialization Master of Library and Information Science
Date April 1, 2018
Research Title Assessing the economic conditions of Gideon Academy in terms of library usage and
available resources
Research The research design used in this research is descriptive
Method/Design design. It attempts to describe the current economic
(Descriptive, etc.) conditions of Gideon Academy Library and their
relationship to each other that might affect the delivery
Research Attributes of services when establishing a digital library.
Research Instrument The research instrument utilized in this research is a
(Survey Questionnaire, survey-questionnaire for students conducted through
Interview, etc.) random sampling method.

The questionnaire is consists of close-ended set of

questions that are organized into four parts. The first
part contains the profile of the students followed by the
second part; the frequency and purpose of library visit.
The purpose on using electronic resources is given in the
third part. Other particular purpose can be openly
indicated in the instrument. The fourth part measures
the students’ perceived usefulness of print and electronic
resources through a five-point Likert Scale in the order
of 5 - Everytime, 4 - Almost everytime, 3- Occasionally/
sometimes, 2- Almost Never and 1 - Never.

Significance of the Study For the school administrators; the result of this study will
enhance their knowledge regarding the advantages of
creating a digital library or repository. Furthermore, this
will also serve as a basis for the preparation of financial
resources in the creation of a digital library.
For the teachers; the result of the study can enhance the
delivery of instruction by providing additional resources
from the digital repository.
For the librarians; the result of this study can further
 enhance the library collection by providing additional
multimedia resources beneficial to all potential library
patrons. It will increase the usage and value of the library
unto the community.
For the students; the result of this study will give
opportunities on having additional resources responsive
to their needs and interests.
Key Concepts (Keywords) Electronic Resources, Print Resources, Economic
Conditions, Students’ Perception.
Introduction Economics is defined by the American Economic Association (2018) as the study of
how people use the scarce resources and how these people respond to incentives. On
the other hand, Digital Library is defined by the IFLA (2014) as an online collection of
digital objects, of assured quality, that are created or collected and managed
according to internationally accepted principles for collection development and made
accessible in a coherent and sustainable manner, supported by services necessary to
allow users to retrieve and exploit the resources.

It is imperative that there are economic factors involve when developing and
maintaining a digital library given with the costs and maintenance of the equipment
involve. Furthermore, given with the human, IT infrastructure, and monetary
resources involved in the process, these are the elements involved in the basic
economic questions what to produce? How to produce? and for whom to produce?

As the information age continuous to evolve and the access to information became
faster, it is directly proportional to the increase of information demands of the library
clients. Digital library, with its capabilities, will somehow address the situation and
many libraries are adapting to these changes by acquiring and creating it even with its
high cost.

Therefore, it is important to assess the economic conditions of an institution which

sole purpose is to determine the feasibility of creating and constructing a digital
library as a complementary to the collections of the institution.

Statement of the 1. What is the monthly average usage statistics of the library?
Problem 2. What is the usual purpose of students in using the following:
a. Library
b. Electronic Resources
3. What is the perception of students, in terms of usefulness, regarding electronic
resources?
4. Based from the data above, what actions can be recommended in the process of
creating the school’s digital repository?
Delimitation of the This study only assesses the economic conditions of the library in terms of usage
Study statistics and projected value of the proposed digital library to the school.
Respondents are only limited to 100 students who are regular library patrons and
randomly selected from Grade 4 to Grade 12 on school year 2017-2018. Students that
are not using the library regularly are not covered in this study neither the faculty and
staff of the school.
 Theoretical Investopedia (2018) defined economics as that something to do with the consumer
Framework who is making choices to satisfy their limitless needs and wants given with the scarcity
of the resources.

They also defined microeconomics as branch of economics that focuses on smaller

units that has something to do with consumers, buyers, and individuals who produces
goods.

As a branch of microeconomics, the law of supply and demand is also in the picture of
this research.

The Law of supply states that as a price of good increases, the quantity of that good
supplied will be increase and vice versa. On the other hand, the law of demand states
that when a price of a good increases, the quantity of that good demanded will
increase, and vice versa (Investopedia, 2018)

Another law or theory that is the bases of this research is cost-benefit analysis in
which according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, that it main purpose is to check the
actual benefits of the product versus its costs. This will serve as a basis for proposing a
digital library.

The basis for selecting or creating the digital library uses the Interaction Triptych
Model which states that a digital library must be evaluated in content, system and the
user.

Conceptual
Framework

Review of Related Brody (2001) said that many organization leaders are ready for the transition of hybrid
Literature (Synoptic libraries whereas library organizations are making use of digital and electronic
and Argumentative) resources to complement their collection. With these, inclusion of electronic
resources such as databases, books, journals, and other information sources in
electronic format (Adams and Bonk, 1995) are currently being adapted in some
libraries and he also added that this type of resource is one of the most useful
materials in the library.

Libraries need to understand the information seeking strategies of the students across
different platform because of study of Premdasa (2016) in Sri Lanka, students prefer
 to use electronic media specifically, the internet rather than the print media. Study of
Ye et al., (2016) also gives support to the idea that majority of the online users today
are the younger generation. As digital literate professionals, librarians must
understand the information seeking pattern of students to help them on their
researches.

Hussain and Abalkhail (2013) stated that these are the following reasons why students
are going to the library: to borrow and return books, to read journals/periodicals, to
consult reference books, to read general books, to read subject books, to complete
assignments, to prepare for next class, to chat with friends, to consult research
materials, and others.

On the other hand, the research of Sharma and Indraprastha (2009) enumerated the
different elements of reasons why students use electronic resource as their research
reference and these are the following: Use of time, Level of difficulty of use,
Substance of Information, Cost of use, and usefulness of the source.

Bhatia, J. (2011) further expands the different purpose why students are using
electronic resources on their research and these are the following: for academic
assignments, for learning to prepare for competitions, to keep-up-to-date on subjects
of interest, and for career development and growth.

These research and studies justifies the reasons and elements for assessment and
evaluation in terms of assessing the demands and use of information sources of the
student that will serve as a basis for assessing the economic conditions of an
institution and feasibility of creating a digital library.

Review of Related
Study (Synoptic and
Argumentative)
Population and The respondents are comprising of 100 students who were randomly selected from
Sampling Procedures Grade 4 to Grade 12 on School Year 2017-2018 of the Gideon Academy.
Data Collection The 100 randomly chosen respondent are pulled-out from their classroom and made
them answer the survey questionnaire embedded in the Google Form. This method of
gathering respondents was facilitated over a week. While daily usage statistics of the
library that was empirically collected from SY 2017-2018 was also used.
Data Analysis The formula of weighted mean was used to analyze the data collected from the
survey. However, in terms of daily library usage, the formula used was overall
attendance over the number of months of the school year since the data collected
was from July 2017 to February 2018.
Analysis and Findings Based from the data collected, the following are the monthly and the over-all Average
of students’ library attendance and usage

G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 G11 G12 Overall

Total Sum 673 776 879 364 221 46 34 21 56 3070
of
Students
 (July-
February)
Average 84 97 110 46 28 6 4 3 7 384

The most number of students who are using the library are from the Grade School
Department comprising of 2,328 or an average of 291 students per month. On the
other hand, Senior High School Students got the lowest amount of daily attendance; a
total of 77 students or an average of 10 students per month. While the Junior High
School only got a total of 665 students or a monthly-average of 83 students.

In terms of the survey facilitated the following are the data gathered.

The top 3 purposes of students in using the library are the following: to complete
assignments, projects, or performance tasks (57% or 57 students), to borrow or return
books (54% or 54 students) and to chat with friends (45% or 45 students). Other
purposes of students going inside the library are to play board games and to relax
before classes.

On the other hand, the following are the top 3 purposes of students in using
electronic resources namely: for academic assignments (95% or 95 students), to keep
up to date on subject or interest (15% or 15 students) and for preparation for
competitions (8% or 8 students).

In terms of the students’ perception regarding electronic resources these are the
following results gathered:

For the Print Resources: a weighted mean of 3.32 or neutral is the result regarding the
students’ perception regarding the search efficiency of print resources; a weighted
mean of 3.36 or neutral is the student perception regarding the easiness of use of
printed resources; a weighted mean of 3.65 or agree that the information found in a
printed resources are comprehensive and detailed; 3.08 or neutral is the result of
students’ perception regarding the cost of use of printed resource; students agree on
the statement it is useful to use a print resource with a weighted mean of 4.08;
garnering an overall weighted mean of 3.49.

For the electronic resources: the students agree that they save more time searching in
an electronic resource or students’ perception regarding the search efficiency of
electronic resources with a weighted mean of 4.3; a weighted mean of 4.35 or agree
that it is easy to use web browsers when searching for information; a weighted mean
of 4 or agree that the information found in an electronic resource is comprehensive
and detailed; a weighted mean of 3.36 or neutral regarding the students’ perception
on the costly use of electronic resources; and finally, the students agree that it is
useful to use an electronic resource with the weighted mean of 4.44. The overall
weighted mean of the electronic resource is 4.09.

Conclusion/s Based from the data gathered the following can be concluded.
1. The students’ monthly average attendance in the Gideon library is 384 from July
2017 to February 2018.
 2. The following are the main reasons why the students go into the Gideon Academy
Library: to finish homework/projects and performance tasks, to borrow or return
books, and to chat with friends.
3. The following are the main reasons why the students use electronic resources: to
do academic requirements, to be updated in latest information regarding a
certain subject, and to prepare for competitions.
4. The students had generally had a neutral stand regarding print resources’ level of
difficulty of use, substance of Information, cost of use, and usefulness of the
source.
5. On the other hand, the students had a higher rating when it comes to electronic
resources’ level of difficulty of use, substance of Information, cost of use, and
usefulness of the source.
Recommendation/s From the results and data gathered the following are the recommendations by the
researchers:
 Do a follow-up research regarding the purposes of students regarding on the use
of electronic resources and print resources.
 Have an acceptable standard of daily/monthly attendance for the library.
 Integrate the Digital Citizenship topics in the Information Literacy Class of the
students to browse and use the internet ethically.
 Reinforce to the students the value of print resources by marketing it to them
through book exhibits and storytelling.
 Study the possibility of acquiring electronic resources to have an authoritative
information in electronic format for the students.
Bibliography Investopedia. Retrieved last: 27 March 2018
(APA Format) URL:https://www.investopedia.com/exam-guide/cfa-level-
1/microeconomics/default.asp

Investopedia .Retrieved last: 27 March 2018

URL:https://www.investopedia.com/exam-guide/cfa-level-
1/microeconomics/supply-demand.asp

American Economic Association. Retrieved last: 27 March 2018

URL:https://www.aeaweb.org/resources/students/what-is-economics

Sharma, Chetan. (2009). Use and Impact of E-Resources at Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University (India): A Case Study. Electronic Journal of
Academic and Special Librarianship. 10(1)Retrieved last: 27 March 2018.
URL:http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v10n01/sharma_c0
1.html