The Correlation of Book Acquisition and Book Usage of Faculty of Pharmacy Library, Mahidol University, During Fiscal Years

Abstract

          The objectives of this survey research were to study the use of electronic databases by students and lecturers of Faculty of Pharmacy Library, Mahidol University. Data for this study were collected by questionnaires which 302 surveys were distributed, with 286 usable surveys returned (94.70%). Data were analyzed by using frequency distributions, percentage and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient.

          The research findings concluded that in the fiscal years 2006-2015 Faculty of Pharmacy Library, Mahidol University purchased more foreign language books than Thai books.  For both foreign language and Thai books, the most popular topic were QV (Pharmacology). The foreign language books that were purchased and used the least popular topic were QL (Zoology) and WO (Surgery).  The Thai books that  were purchased and used the least  popular topic were QY (Clinical Pathology), WM (Psychiatry) and WW (Ophthalmology). The books of QX (Parasitology), WN (Radiology. Diagnostic Imaging), WU (Dentistry. Oral Surgery) and WV (Otolaryngology) were not purchased at all. On average pharmacy and health sciences books as a whole were used 23.96 times per volume. For foreign language books, the books that were used the most were WQ (Obstetrics) on average 47.75 times per volume. For Thai language books, the books that were used the most were QT (Physiology) on average 25.13 times per volume. And the topic with the lowest times per volume were QL (Zoology) and WO (Surgery) on average 2.00 times per volume. It was found that in the above period there was a very strong relationship between the purchase and using of books, both foreign language and Thai. For general books, the library purchased more non-fiction books than fiction books. But the fiction books have found higher rates of used. It was found that in the above period there was a very strong relationship between the purchase and using of books. The results suggest that the library should studied in a similar manner to continually every 3-5 years to determine the rate of books in each category. In addition, the library should consider the purchase of a book following with the course syllabus, promote the introduction of new books to multiple channels and increased the interest, or promote the use of books that are non-use and books that printed in Thai language with a small amount. Librarians should encourage users to explore information from foreign languages in order to getting the most out of those books.