INFLUENCE OF DIGITIZATION OF LOCAL CONTENT RESOURCES AND EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY TO POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN BENUE STATE – NIGERIA

Abstract

This research work studied the influence of Local Content Resources (LCR) and effective service delivery to postgraduate students in public universities in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. The study had three specific objectives with three corresponding research questions. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised of 1,503 library staff and postgraduate students from the two public universities – Benue State University and Joseph Tarka University, Makurdi. The sample size was 301 using simple random sampling technique. Observation checklist titled: “Local Content Research Observation Checklist (LCROC), a structured Questionnaire Titled: Delivery Questionnaire (DLCREISDQ) and Interview guide were used as instruments for data collection. Simple percentages, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. It also adopted chi-square (X2) to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed local content resources available in university libraries, facilities for digitization, benefits of digitization of local content resources and influence of local content resources on information service delivery. The study recommended that efforts be intensified by collection developers to make available local content resources that facilities such as computers and scanners which are commonly and frequently used for digitization should be made available among others.