Library Electronic Information Resources and, Percieved Ease of Use for Academic Activities by Postgraduate Students in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

The study determined the types of library electronic information resources and perceived ease of use for academic activities by postgraduate students in North-central, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: identify the types of library electronic information resources utilised for academic activities by postgraduate students in North-central, Nigeria and determine the level of perceived ease of use of library electronic information resources for academic activities by postgraduate students in North-central, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 15,338 postgraduate students enrolled in the government owned universities in North-central, Nigeria as at 2015/2016 academic session. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used, first by using random sampling technique to select one university from each of the states in Northcentral, Nigeria and the second stage was using Browler's allocation formula to determine the sample size of each of the universities. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as, percentages, mean scores and standard deviation. The study revealed that postgraduate students highly consulted e-books for needed information, had a very high access to e-books, online and offline databases, high level of utilisation of e-books, online and offline databases and e-journals. Postgraduate students found it easy to navigate the library electronic information resources for academic activities, poor Internet connectivity and erratic power supply affected the ease with which they use the LEIR for academic activities. It was concluded that postgraduate students had access to e-books and e-journals among other relevant electronic information resources. It was recommended among others that university management should take it as a point of duty to provide other relevant electronic information resources which will serve not only postgraduate students but the entire category of library users.