Impact of Awareness And Accessibility of Electronic Information Resources in University Libraries on Research by Postgraduate Students of Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi and Federal University of Technology Minna Nigeria
Publication Date: 30/08/2018
Author(s): Dr. Faga Asom, Dr. Musa Suleiman, Dogara Kudus.
Volume/Issue: Volume 1 , Issue 1 (2018)
Abstract:
The study on the impact of awareness and accessibility of electronic information resources in university libraries on research by postgraduate students of Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi (FUAM) and Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTM) dwells on the kinds of electronic information resources accessible to the postgraduate students as well as their level of awareness of the resources. The study equally found out the extent to which accessibility of electronic resources contribute to the quality of research of the postgraduate students and investigated the challenges militating against effective use of the electronic resources by postgraduate students of the universities under study. Descriptive survey designed was used for the study. The population of the study was 206 and 172 for FUAM and FUTM respectively. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire. Percentages, mean scores and standard deviation were used in analyzing the data. Findings revealed that most of the electronic information resources identified by the researcher, that is online databases, e-journal, e-books, CD-ROMs, e-newspapers, e-magazines, e-theses and multimedia products were the kinds of electronic information resources accessible to the postgraduate students except OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) that was not accessible to the postgraduates’ students of FUTM. In addition, the respondents were highly aware of all the nine (9) digital information resources listed therein. Findings further indicated that awareness and use of the electronic information resources have great impact on the quality of their research. However, challenges such as lack of formal training on Internet use, Server slowness among others were identified as inhibiting factors towards effective use of electronic resources. The study therefore recommended among others that the management of university libraries should improve on the provision of electronic resources such as OPAC and to create more awareness so as to enhance patronage of the library services.
