Workshops, Seminars, Symposiums & Conferences

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Browsing Workshops, Seminars, Symposiums & Conferences by Subject "Academic Libraries"

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    Evaluating outreach activities of the library, University of Moratuwa:perspectives of beneficiaries
    (2015-09-29) Kodithuwakku, U; Seneviratne, TM
    Promoting outreach activities by an academic library is something unique in Sri Lankan context. lt’s even special when such activities are consistently carried out by an academic library for a respectable period. Aiming to serve the underprivileged communities in the vicinity of University of Moratuwa, the Library launched a ”Child Development Programme” at Sumudu Preschool located in the University and ”Reading Camp” at Bodhiraja Vidyalaya - a primary school in Katubedda, Moratuwa. To review the outcome of these outreach activities, a survey was conducted with the teachers and parents of students in these institutions as the tnrpet population. Parents of first year students were omitted since these children did not participate in the programme. Data collection was done by semi structured questionnaire. Fifty four responses were received from parents and eight responses were received from teachers. Majority of the parents and all the teachers had positive attitude about the activities conducted by the Outreach Services Divlsion. They felt the need of continuing such programmes as they had a positive effect on the learning environment of their children. The survey showed that school children expressed their preference towards language learning backed by modern technology while preschoolers preferred aesthetic activities. According to the views of the teachers, these extracurricular activities were able to develop the knowledge and skills Of the students. By observing the behavior, the teachers found out that the students eagerly participated in these activities as were able to move away from the routine learning environment. The teachers and the parents of the pre-school have showed their enthusiasm towards the activities and feel that they contribute towards the progress of children. The results revealed the importance of continuing outreach activities targeting lower age groups of society by an academic library for their future endeavors.
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    Health Information Seeking and Information Encountering of Female Undergraduates: a Pilot Study at University of Moratuwa
    (2015-09-29) Seneviratne, TM; Perera, S; Seneviratne, SA
    Health literacy can be explained as one’s ability to obtain, process and understand health information and services to enable sound health decision making. A healthy population is an asset to any country and directly related to the economic growth and development. Health literacy is fundamentally important to maintain a population’s health. National survey on emerging issues among adolescents recognized health literacy as a life skill since adolescence has recently gained recognition as a critical phase of life. On the other hand health literacy as a life skill will have a greater impact on adult health. Undergraduates just passed adolescence will be future leaders of the society and female undergraduates will be future mothers in the community. This study was conducted as a part of a research on prevention and control of breast cancer and explored the health information seeking and information encountering of female undergraduates of University of Moratuwa. Adopting the survey method, a semi- structured questionnaire was developed as the research instrument and consisted of 4 parts namely socio demographic data, knowledge on breast cancer, knowledge on screening of breast cancer and information seeking behaviour, Questionnaire was randomly distributed among 245 female undergraduates of three faculties of University of Moratuwa who were willing to participate for the survey. Of 245 respondents, 95 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Architecture ; 71 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Engineering and 79 undergraduates belonged to Faculty of Information Technology. Though health literacy is not a novel concept majority of the respondents were not aware about it. Few participants were able to explain the concept of health literacy. Majority of the respondents understand health education is vital in the university as undergraduates and prefer the availability of health information in the university library. Most of the female undergraduates prefer to maintain a personal collocation on health related aspects. However, only 19 students have used university library to find out health-related information. Participants also believed that University library does not have items on health aspects as well as available collection is out-dated. of 245 respondents, 191 undergraduates believed that the Internet provides latest information on health aspects. Social media such as Facebook has been rated as best option to educate about health literacy. However, 98 students frequently get information from Medical Officers about health related aspects. On the other hand, health information seeking through television programmes is also common. Most of the participants also encounter health related information through television programmes, magazines and newspapers dedicated for women. Majority of the female undergraduates participated did not concern about their health at the younger age since there are many burning issues prevailing currently for undergraduates. In conclusion, female undergraduates accepted the fact that health education is vital in the university setup as undergraduates are future leaders. Regular awareness programmes to educate undergraduate about health aspects is recommended along with developing library collection related to health literacy.