Information Seeking Behaviour of Prospective Teachers in the College Library

The study aimed to examine the information-seeking behaviour of prospective teachers in college libraries.A structured questionnaire was administered to 150 student teachers from both Arts and Science streams.The findings revealed that the majority (57.33%) visited the library twice a week to fulfil their information needs, while 44.04% visited once a week, 12.87% once a month, and 3.89% only occasionally.A significant proportion of prospective teachers from the Arts (96.38%) and Science (89.55%) streams reported visiting the library primarily to refer to books for writing assignments.Additionally, 93.97% of Arts and 79.10% of Science students used the library to borrow books, while 87.95% and 91.04%, respectively, visited the library to prepare for examinations.Regarding satisfaction with available resources, 54.21% of Arts and 70.14% of Science stream students expressed satisfaction with study materials related to the B.Ed. curriculum.Similarly, 67.46% (Arts) and 67.16% (Science) were satisfied with the reference books, 61.44% and 64.17% with journals/periodicals, 69.87% and 73.30% with newspapers/magazines, and 73.49% and 83.58% with previous years' question papers, respectively.However, several challenges were noted.A majority of Arts students (73.49%) and 51.19% of Science students reported issues with the limited number of books issued.Additionally, 61.44% of Arts and 64.17% of Science students faced problems due to the non-availability of the latest books relevant to their courses.