INFLUENCE OF INFORMATIONAND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS’ RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NORTH- CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigates the influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on Post Graduate students’ research activities in five selected Federal University Libraries in North Central, Nigeria. Objectives of the study were to find out the research activities of postgraduates’ student, availability of ICT facilities, influence of ICT on research activities and challenges in the utilisation of ICT facilities. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. Two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey design was employed for the study and sample size of 311 was drawn out of 6,855 postgraduate students, five (5) Heads of ICT unit in the university libraries were used, stratified proportionate sampling technique was used to select sample according to pragrammes (Masters and Ph.D.) and Simple random sampling technique was employed to select the representative sample from each stratum. The instruments used for data collection were structured questionnaire and observation checklist. A total of 311 copies of questionnaire were distributed to the respondents out of which 287 copies were dully filled and returned representing 93% response rate. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data, inferential statistics (Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient) was used to test the hypotheses at probability of 0.05. The findings revealed that ICT facilities are available for research at different levels in the federal university libraries under study. It also shows that ICT facilities influence research activities in finding and communicating information quickly and easily. The study identifies insufficient ICT facilities, irregular power supply, and poor Internet connectivity as the challenges for effective utilisation of ICT facilities for research. The study recommends provision of sufficient computers with Internet connectivity, improvement in ICT infrastructure in university libraries, provision of adequate electricity with alternative sources of power.