ABSTRACT
The
study sought to ascertain the availability, accessibility and utilization of
electronic information resources (EIR) by postgraduate students in the
universities in Rivers State using survey research design. The study had five
specific purposes, five research questions and five null hypotheses tested at
0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 7,150 comprising
218 librarians and 6932 postgraduate students. The sample of the study is 358
librarians and postgraduate students, representing 5% of total the population.
The instrument for the study is a structured questionnaire developed by the
researcher and titled “Availability, Accessibility and Utilization of
Electronic Information Resources Questionnaire” (AAUEIRQ). The questionnaire
contains part A and B, with part A focused on respondents’ personal relevant
characteristics and part B dealing with actual answers to the research
questions made on 59 items. The instrument was structured using a four-point
scale. The instrument was validated by two lecturers from Department of Library
and Information Science and one expert in Measurement and Evaluation drawn from
the Department of Science Education, all in the College of Education of Michael
Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The reliability of the instrument
was tested using 20 postgraduate students from Imo State University and an
internal consistency of 0.71 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha. Two research
assistants were used to administer the 358 copies of questionnaire after which
350 were retrieved and analyzed using mean, standard deviation and z- test for
research questions and hypotheses respectively. It was found from the study
that the availability level of electronic information resources in those
libraries are high, but not very high, as they have some e-resources like
electronic journals, electronic books, e-reference materials etc. These
materials are made accessible to the registered postgraduates’ students in
those universities. Some of the postgraduate students access the e-resource
units of those libraries, with a greater percentage of them found to be
utilizing the e- resources in public universities libraries in River State. It
was also found that there are some challenges to availability, like finance,
management policies, human factor, etc. Accessibility is also faced with some
challenges like inadequate computers, password and user name issues, absence of
a good system analyst, etc. Utilization is also faced with some challenges that
include poor internet, limited subscription, information overload, unreliable
power supply, software issues, etc. Consequently, some strategies like
provision of enough funds, adoption of good policies that will allow for more
availability of e- resources, individual character adjustment, constant power
supply, availability of trained system analyst etc. were outlined for curbing
the identified challenges. Among the recommendations made, was that government
through her ministry of education should assist in equipping university
libraries with more e-information resources to increase their availability,
accessibility and utilization amongst students. This is in addition to the need
for university managements and the university librarians to ensure that they
make policies that will permit compulsory but regulated access to e-information
resources to a very high extent.
MICHAEL, U (2023). Availability, Accessibility And Utilization Of Electronic Information Resources By Postgraduate Students In Public University Libraries In Rivers State. Mouau.afribary.org: Retrieved Dec 23, 2024, from https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/availability-accessibility-and-utilization-of-electronic-information-resources-by-postgraduate-students-in-public-university-libraries-in-rivers-state-7-2
UNIVERSITY, MICHAEL. "Availability, Accessibility And Utilization Of Electronic Information Resources By Postgraduate Students In Public University Libraries In Rivers State" Mouau.afribary.org. Mouau.afribary.org, 30 Jun. 2023, https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/availability-accessibility-and-utilization-of-electronic-information-resources-by-postgraduate-students-in-public-university-libraries-in-rivers-state-7-2. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
UNIVERSITY, MICHAEL. "Availability, Accessibility And Utilization Of Electronic Information Resources By Postgraduate Students In Public University Libraries In Rivers State". Mouau.afribary.org, Mouau.afribary.org, 30 Jun. 2023. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. < https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/availability-accessibility-and-utilization-of-electronic-information-resources-by-postgraduate-students-in-public-university-libraries-in-rivers-state-7-2 >.
UNIVERSITY, MICHAEL. "Availability, Accessibility And Utilization Of Electronic Information Resources By Postgraduate Students In Public University Libraries In Rivers State" Mouau.afribary.org (2023). Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/availability-accessibility-and-utilization-of-electronic-information-resources-by-postgraduate-students-in-public-university-libraries-in-rivers-state-7-2