Use of WhatsApp for Effective Delivery of Library and Information Services

Abstract

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Information communication technology playing a major role in transmitting idea, thought and information between one to another. Social networking websites are a good example of communication network and it is a social structure that lets the user interact and work collaboratively with other users. WhatsApp is a free instant </span><span>messenger application that allows users to send text messages and multimedia files. In this paper, an online survey </span><span>was conducted to measure usability of WhatsApp for service delivery in the libraries and information centres. A random sample was selected from social networking sites from all over India and an online questionnaire was used to gather information from respondents. Findings indicated that respondents showed a positive attitude toward getting services over WhatsApp. Most of the respondents believe that use of WhatsApp can improve alert services (CAS, </span><span>virtual reference, notifications) and libraries can utilise their potential for providing better user services. </span></p></div></div></div>