Reading Habits and Library Usage Pattern among College Students in Bhopal

Abstract

Higher education cannot function without academic libraries, yet in the digital era, student reading habits are changing quickly. This research uses a thorough descriptive survey approach with a structured self-administered questionnaire to examine the reading habits and library use patterns of 100 college students in Bhopal. Chi-square, Wilcoxon signed-rank, and Pearson correlation tests were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 26.0 at a significance level of 0.05. The findings show that library use is primarily motivated by exams, with daily visits increasing from 8% during normal sessions to 45% during exam times. This difference was determined to be statistically significant (χ²=58.42, p<0.001). Due to less eye strain and improved attention, print materials continue to be the preferred medium for 47% of respondents, greatly outperforming digital forms (Z=-4.82, p<0.001). Student happiness and the frequency of library visits are somewhat positively correlated (r=0.42, p<0.001). Outdated book collections (38%), inadequate seats (48%), and poor internet access (45%) are the main obstacles. According to the study's findings, college libraries in Bhopal are mostly used for exams. Institutions must immediately fix infrastructure shortcomings, improve the availability of digital resources, and aggressively encourage information literacy among the student body in order to promote long-term academic engagement and lifetime reading habits.