ABSTRACT

 This study investigated the availability and accessibility ofinformation / esoui ces by students in Akwa Ibom State University. Five (5) research objectives were formulated to guide the study. Literature was reviewed under conceptual framework, review of empirical studies and summary of literature review. Furthermore, critical review ofliterature show that a lot have been done in hying to discover the availability and accessibility ofinformation resources to students, the relevance of information resources as well as the challenges of information resources, but none of these studies have tried to reveal the availability and accessibility of information resources by students in Akwa Ibom State University. This is the identified gap in literature which the study filled. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of 200 respondents. A purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of 105 respondents from the entire population. A Questionnaire on Availability and Accessibility ofInformation Resources by Students in Akwa Ibom State University, (QAAIRSASU) and an observation checklist were used for data collection. 105 copies ofthe questionnaire were distributed. Data generatedfrom the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean scores and standard deviation. A criterion mean of2.50 was chosenfor the study. Findingsfrom the study show the availability of some information resources such as textbooks, journals, dictionaries, newspapers, computers, etc. Furthermore, the findings reported that the information resources available are used for assignment, used for research, usedfor learning, among others. On the other hand, lack ofsufficientfunds, lack of basic infrastructure lack of user education, among others are the factors affecting availability and accessibility ofinformation resources in AKSU library. Strategies that could be used to improve to the availability and accessibility of information resources include: provision ofsufficientfunds by government, provision of basic infrastructure by school management, library education for users by library management and proper regulation on use of library resources. Based on the findings it was recommended that there should be improvements in the cataloguing syste