Abstract

study the investigated utilization of online access catalogue (OPAC) as a retrieval tool for information resources in some selected university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design using questionnaire as an instrument for data collection. The population of the study consists of 204 regular users which was randomly picked in the university libraries under study. A total of 204 questionnaires were distributed only 169 were retrieved. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics mean and percentage mean scores of 2.5 and above and a percentage score of 50% were considered. The study revealed the following as the purpose of using OPAC in the study under study: it allows users to search books on parameters such as title, author's name, volume, and keywords with mere clicks, it has made searching and retrieval of bibliographic records easier and faster, it allows multidimensional searches, it displays the query search results in an easy-to-understand format to enable patrons to find digital material quickly and its users friendly. The study also affirmed that library users made use of the library daily, weekly, monthly during exams and yearly. Challenges affecting the utilization of OPAC were also affirmed by the study as lack of OPAC knowledge and unfamiliarity with the OPAC system, poor/irregular power supply, lack of OPAC knowledge and unfamiliarity with the OPAC system, inadequate computer terminals and navigational frustrations. The study recommended that orientation and awareness of OPAC usage among library users should be a thing of continuous campaign, universities should have the supporting infrastructure, such as sufficient power supplies, reliable Internet access, etc., to promote the usage of OPAC, and university libraries should formulate policies that would encourage mandatory use of OPACs. Keywords: Utilization, OPAC, Retrieval tool, Information resources, University library, SouthSouth, Nigeria