ASSESSMENT OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION RESOURCES AND UTILIZATION BY POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NORTH WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the utilization of electronic information resources by postgraduate students of federal university libraries in North West Nigerian. The purpose of investigation was to inquire about the respondents' appreciation of the types of resources, level of utilization based on availability as well as challenges encountered, as a result of usage. The descriptive design was adopted for the study. Samples of 214 of postgraduate students within five out 7 universities were purposively selected. Data were collected using questionnaire designed to elicit response from respondents and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics methods percentages, mean, and standard deviation. The study revealed that the available EIRs in their libraries are e-journals, e-books, OPACs, E-mail, DATAD (database of thesis and dissertation), online databases, Internet resources, CD-ROM databases and digitized resources among others; purposes for using electronic resources include: to source materials for research/writing project, use them to do class assignments, use the electronic information resources to augment my class works, use the e-resources to update my knowledge in subject areas of interest, a major barrier to usage was identified as lack of information technology (IT) knowledge to effectively utilize the available resources.