Electronic Resources Utilization by Undergraduate Students ofthe Department ofLibrary and Information Science in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike:- Ejim, Oyediya O

ABSTRACT ix This study investigated electronic resources utilization by the undergraduate students ofthe Department ofLibrary and Information Science in Michael Okpara University ofAgriculture, Umudike. The descriptive research design with a population of223 and a combination ofthe proportionate sampling and simple random sampling techniques was adopted. The instrument used in collecting data was the closed-ended questionnaire designed in line with thefour-point rating scale model. Meanwhile, out ofthe 223 copies ofthe questionnaire distributed, 185 copies representing 82.96% were successfully completed and returnedfor use in the analyses. In the analyses, mean score and standard deviation were computed using the Statistical Packagefor Social Sciences (SPSS) while the results were presented infrequency tables. The findings revealed that electronic resources for utilization by the undergraduate students include: online databases (e.g. OARE, TEEAL, HINARI, AGORA, etc.); CD-ROMs, Online PublicAccess Catalogue (OPAC); e-books; e-journal; e-newspapers/e-magazines; e-theses/edissertations; e-conference proceedings; and internet resources. It also showed that the level ofawareness andfrequency ofutilization ofthese resources by the students varies. The study revealed the benefits of electronic resources utilization by the undergraduate students as consisting of: convenient and time saving in accessing information and other relevant articles: understanding the usefulness ofinformation communication technology (ICT) in information search and retrieval; easy search ofmultiplefiles and documents at a time; ease ofcompleting assignments, term-papers, research projects and academic activities; ease of obtaining bibliographic information about information materials that are not available in the library; access to information that might be restricted to the user due to geographical location or finances; etc. Moreover, the studyfound the problems militating against electronic resources utilization to include: lack of and/or poor level of awareness and access to the electronic resources; lack ofcommitment ofgovernments to provide ICTpolicy in libraries to regulates theprovision ofnew technologies, including electronic resources; high cost ofusing electronic resourcesfor providing information due to high costs ofhardware and software equipment, including internet connectivity; inadequate funding to libraries for the acquisition and processing ofe-resources; lack ofstablepowersupply tofacilitates the utilization ofelectronic resources; etc. therefore, based on the identified and analyzed problems, the following solutions/measures were recommended: increasing awareness and accessibility to electronic resources to enhance utilization; serious commitment on the part ofgovernments toformulate implementable ICTpoliciesto aid informationprovidersprovides highly regulatedandreliable services; provision offree and/or reduced cost of Internet services, including high speed bandwidth to encourage the utilization ofelectronic resources; provision ofadequatefunding oflibraries in order to enable them provides requisite facilities to boost electronic resources utilization; provision ofinternetfacilities, including terminals to aid theprovision ofelectronic resources and services to users by libraries; provision ofadequately trained staffin libraries to manage electronic resourcesfor use by library users; andprovision ofstable and reliable power supply, includingprovision ofstand-bypower generatingplant, etc.