Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
This study investigates the online behavior of professionals and students. This research applied the qualitative method to get the objectives. The sample consists of 50 respondents of Karachi. These are selected from various professions such as doctors, teachers, researchers, bankers, businessmen, journalists, librarians and regular students of the University of Karachi. The data was collected through face to face interviews that recorded on the smartphone. The recorded interviews were transcribed and then analyzed. The findings indicated that internet increases the reading habit. Availability and accessibility of material improve the reading amount whereas cross-references, hyperlinks, and link to link movement developed the reading interest. Multimedia type information i.e. animation, pictures, charts, and graphs increase the online reading interest. It fulfills the professional needs on workplace at any time. Internet improves the professional skills because it provides the current research articles, teaching methodology, surgical videos, hot issues and every type of information. Online lectures, tutorials, demos enhance the independent lifelong learning skills. Internet increases the knowledge of users because of the availability of information across the world. While translation service, online dictionaries, pronunciation, and vocabularies also enhance the language skills. The results revealed that they read online for recreational purpose and general information. Moreover, they prefer print reading for recreational purpose and online reading for professional need. For ready reference service, they read directly on the screen. Full-text reading now converted into skimming. Whereas, the experiences of online reading about comprehension, concentration, absorption, recall, and relaxation depend on the topic and their interest in reading.