INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SKILLS OF UNDERGRADUATES ON THE USE OF ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGUE IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the Information Retrieval Skills of Undergraduates on the Use of Online Public Access Catalogue in University Libraries in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to identify the information retrieval skills strategies used on online public access catalogue by undergraduate students, level of undergraduate students' use of the online public access catalogue, find out if undergraduate students had access to online public access catalogue, and the factors influencing undergraduate students use of the online public access catalogue. The study adopted the use of quantitative methodology using a cross-sectional survey design. The targeted population comprised all the level 400 undergraduate students of the universities in Kaduna State (14,271). Research adviser table 2006 was used in selecting the sample size of 370 for the study, simple random sampling was used to sample the respondents. The questionnaire was the only instrument used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the relevant data for the study. The study revealed that more than half of the respondents indicated that they used the author's name in the search for library materials, the majority of them had access to and used the online public access catalogue in the university libraries, and less than half of them used online public access catalogue monthly. Finally, the study established that the major challenges encountered were a lack of a sufficient number of computers, poor Internet connectivity to access OPAC online, access was password protected and lack of guidance/orientation from the library staff on the use of the online public access catalogue.  Based on the findings, the study concluded that undergraduate students' access to and use of OPAC was high in the university libraries. The study recommended that the university library management should provide more computers in the OPAC workstations, reliable Internet connectivity to access OPAC online, open access to OPAC workstations and orientation on the use of an online public access catalogue and advanced search strategies, should be done at regular intervals.