Abstract

The library as a service oriented organization is expected to provide the bibliographic resources and services channeled towards the fulfillment of its parent institution’s goals and objectives. The library ensures that the resources so provided are well organized to allow easy access by the library users. The library users are expected to access the library resources with ease and use same maximally while at university. This study examines the Extent of adoption and use of library catalogues by student users in polytechnic in Kogi state. Two hundred and fifty-one (251) students who used the library during the period of the study formed the sample for the study. A questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument for the study. The study revealed that a majority of the students do not use the library catalogue even though they are aware of the existence of the library catalogue. The researcher recommended therefore that a periodic user education pro- gramme be organized for the students to enable them to acquire the necessary skills of using the catalogue.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The library as being defined is an institution that acquires, organizes, preserves and makes available the recorded knowledge of man to the users. It can as well be seen as a collection of books and non book materials kept for reading and consultation. The missions of the library parent institution give an idea of the purpose for which that institution exists. The library plays an important role in the fulfillment of these missions. To play this role adequately, the library must be focused. The library as a service oriented organization must provide the bibliographic resources and services channeled towards the fulfillment of its parent institution’s goals and objectives. The library ensures that the resources so acquired are well organized to allow easy access by the library users.

A University is as good as its Library; no wonder, then that the Library is always referred to as the “nerve centre”, the “pivot”, the “heart”, or the “core” of the academic life of a university. All academic/non- academic activities revolve around the resources that are stocked and exploited by the University community for all academic and administrative endeavours within the academia. A library is of good quality if it has a good collection and provides effective services for finding the collection it offers. Without any reservation the “library” is a challenging and exciting place, if its resources are properly organized and made accessible to users.

A university library is a part of a university organization which aims at the advancement of the functions of its parent body. The major objectives and functions of these libraries are to help her parent organization to fulfill her primary objectives which are teaching, learning, research documentations and publishing. Therefore their primary goals are to meet the information needs of the staffs and students of the institutional community they are attached to first, then their host community, state, nation and the larger global community. Kumar (2006) asserts that a university is supposed to perform the following functions: Teaching, Research, Publications, and Conservation of knowledge and ideas and Extension services. The information materials of academic libraries are acquired to support academic programme offered in the institution.

Due to the emphasis on research and documentation, academic libraries concentrate on the development of material on current information. This accounts for why they have large consignments of journals, books and other current materials. As such, they are as varied and distinctive as the institutions which they serve. That is to say that an academic library reflects the development of the colleges and universities of which they are part. As integral parts of the institution that they serve, these libraries often design their collection and services to meet the instructional programme of the particular institution. It houses various resources that cover all courses being offered in the institution.

The University library exists in component. That is, it is made up of several divisions, departments and units that function inter-related to achieve its primary objectives. There is no universal system of grouping the departments and units in the library, as every library is based on the realities of its environment, management style and library system may decide to organize her library in such a way and manner that enable it render efficient service to its users. Thus, various tasks and operations in the ‘library, the grouping of similar activities form the basis for departmentalization of the library. The technical service department is the most important department in the library. It is the heart of the entire library system and it is regarded as the fundamental process in the library management. Effective library services depend on the outcome of the activities in this department.(Ishola,2014). Ifidon, (2004) opined that technical services form the backbone of all library processes, and ensures a systematic organization of all library materials for effective use.

A building filled with books is not necessarily a library unless the books have been organized for access and made available for use. The cataloguing unit’s functions are to organize the total library resources with suitable bibliographic controls to facilitate access to the resources by clientele. The traditional means for accomplishing this goal are descriptive cataloguing, subject cataloguing and classification. This assignment requires effective records prepared with a reasonable economy, (Nwalor 2003).

Cataloguing can be defined as the process of writing down all the bibliographic information of all library materials. While descriptive cataloguing is the process whereby the physical description of a document is done on a given form such as card, book, shelf and even on computer. The Subject cataloguing on the other hand is the determination of the actual subject of a document, since document titles do not actually present the subjects of the document. Someone once referred to this as the “subject aboutness” of a document. While classification is a major accompaniment of subject cataloguing. Whereas in subject cataloguing the determination of the subject/subjects of a document is done, classification helps to put these subjects into a systematic order or sequence which aids the arrangement of documents through-the use of a notation on the shelves. Thus, through the help of classification all documents on for Chemistry for example can be placed together, followed by other branches of Chemistry and so on. The mark to assign to a particular document is lettered on the spine of the book. (Ifidon, 2004). Extent of adoption and use of library catalogues by student users in polytechnic in Kogi state, is the crux of this study.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

As important as a library is, if its resources are not properly organized, users will have difficulties in locating and retrieving materials. When users cannot locate needed materials, they feel frustrated.  The study also seeks to find out what problem students encounter when they use the catalogue. It has been observed that most Nigerian students do not make use of the library Catalogue (OPAC and traditional card catalogue) provided in the library. This may be as a result of lack of orientation on library usage. It is against this backdrop that this research work intends to study the extent of adoption and use of library catalogues by student users in polytechnic in Kogi state.

1.3 Objective of the study

The main objective of the study is to examine the extent of adoption and use of library catalogues by student users in polytechnic in kogi state. specifically, the study aims;

1. To determine the undergraduate students’ level of awareness of the library catalogue.
2. To ascertain the extent of use of the catalogue by undergraduate students to locate and retrieve books in the Kogi State Polytechnic Library.
3. To identify the purpose for which undergraduate students use the catalogue.
4. To determine the method employ by undergraduate students in searching the catalogue.
5. To identify the constraints associated with the use of the library catalogue.

1.4 Research Question

The study will provide answers to the following research questions;

1. What is the undergraduate students’ level of awareness of the library catalogue ?
2. What is the extent of use of the catalogue by undergraduate students to locate and retrieve books in the Kogi State Polytechnic Library ?
3. What is the purpose for which undergraduate students use the catalogue ?
4. What is the method employed by undergraduate students in searching the catalogue ?
5. What are the constraints associated with the use of the library catalogue ?

1.5 Significance of the Study

It is of no doubt that every research work must have something new to contribute to the knowledge and people that will benefit from the outcome of the research findings. Therefore, this research work will be of great benefit to students, researchers, lecturers and non-teaching staff that do make use of the library’s information resources and it will also serve as an instrument for updating the library users on the use of library catalogue.

The Implication of study to LIS professionals and University Libraries cannot be overemphasized has it will help Library and information professionals and University library managers plan on how to adequately manage their library open catalogues toward maximum utilization by users.

1.6 Scope of the study

This study is focused on the Extent of adoption and use of library catalogues by student users in polytechnic in Kogi state. The study will be carried out in Kogi State Polytechnic. The undergraduate students of  Kogi State Polytechnic will be will used as the sample population.

1.7 Limitation Of The Study

In the course of carrying out this study, the researcher experienced some constraints, which included time constraints, financial constraints, language barriers, and the attitude of the respondents. However, the researcher were able to manage these just to ensure the success of this study.

1.8   Definition Of Terms

Motivation: this the process through which individual are charged to increase their action or performance either by internal or external factors.

 Academic Performance: this is used in the study to refers to students’ attitude to competition for excellent in their attitude toward participating in classroom activities and home work. It also used to students’ interest in learning.

1.9 Organization Of The Study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows. Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.

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