AWARENESS, USE AND USERS’ SATISFACTION WITH LIBRARY E-RESOURCES BY UNDERGRADUATES OF NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, LAGOS STUDY CENTRE

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to ascertain awareness, use and users’ satisfaction of library electronic resources by undergraduates of National Open University of Nigeria, Lagos Study Centre. The objectives of the study include to find out the extent of users’ awareness of library electronic resources, determine the skills needed to use library electronic resources, determine the level of use of library electronic resources, find out the level of users satisfaction with library electronic resources, find out the level of awareness on use of library e-resources, find out the influence of use on users satisfaction of library e-resources, find out joint influence of awareness and use of library electronic resources  on users satisfaction, and to identify the challenges facing users in the use of library e-resources in NOUN.

The study adopted a survey design. A structured questionnaire, titled “Awareness, use and users’ satisfaction of library electronic resources by undergraduates of National Open University of Nigeria, Lagos Study Centre” (AUUSLER) was used to gather data among undergraduates in NOUN, Lagos Study Centre. Multistage sampling technique was used since the population was large. The instrument was validated through a pre-test among 50 undergraduates of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), McCarthy Study Centre, Lagos State to determine the Cronbach’s alpha value. The result indicated 0.88 for awareness of library e-resources, 0.92 for use of library e-resources and 0.74 for users’ satisfaction. Out of 966 copies of the questionnaires distributed, 722 copies representing 75.2% were retrieved and found valid for analysis, using frequency count, mean, standard deviation and linear regression analysis.

The findings revealed that awareness, use of library e-resources has significantly influence on users’ satisfaction (p<0.005). Thefindings revealed that 66 percent of the respondents were very aware, aware and somewhat aware of the e-resources while 34 percent were either not aware or not sure of the e- resources. Table 4.3 revealed that 64 percent of the respondents were highly and moderately skilled with the e-resources while 36% had low skills. This indicates that undergraduates of NOUN, Lagos study Centre have high level of computer and internet skills but with low level of OPAC, Navigation and queries skills. The result in Table 4.4 shows that 64 percent of the respondents Utilized electronic resources while 36 percent of the respondents do not utilize the library electronic resources. The result in Table 4.5 revealed that 81 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the e-resources while about 19 percent were not satisfied. Finally, the result in Table 4.6 shows that average of 54 percent of the respondents either Strongly Agree or Agree with the Eleven (11) items identified while about 46 percent of the respondents either disagree or strongly disagree with the eleven (11) items on Table 4.6. The study concluded that large percentages of Undergraduates are not aware of online Databases of the library, those that are aware don’t have the required skills or expertise to use the resources. This has affected their level of usage.

Keywords:     Awareness of e-resources, Academic Libraries, Skills to use of library e-resources, Use of library e-resources, Users’ satisfaction of library e-resources.