ABSTRACT
Library information services are library processes and activities aimed at disseminating desirable information to the library users. For researchers to effectively conduct researches using the libraries, there is need for the libraries to provide adequate information services in terms of availability and utilization of these services. This study, therefore, investigated the availability and utilization of library information services by researchers in the social sciences in the federal university libraries in the South- South Zone of Nigeria. Seven research questions relating to availability and utilization of these services were formulated to guide the study. The study employed descriptive research design. The population of the study consisted of five hundred and forty-six researchers who were lecturers and postgraduate students. Census method was used to include the entire population which was considered manageable. Three experts validated the instrument which was found reliable with an overall average reliability coefficient of 0.88. Four federal universities in South South zone were studied, namely the Universities of Benin, Calabar, Port-Harcourt and Uyo. Eight library information services were studied: lending, reference, inter-library loan, current awareness, selective dissemination of information, photocopying, information communication technology (ICT), and literature search services. Data collection was by means of questionnaire, observation checklist and consultation of documents. The questionnaire was self designed questionnaire titled “Availability and Utilization of Library Services Questionnaire AULSQ”. The mean was used to answer the research questions, whereas the hypotheses were tested using regression analysis at the probability level of 0.05. Some findings were made which include: that the most available services were the photocopying, lending, reference and ICT based services. The most utilized library and information services by the social sciences researchers in the universities in South South Nigeria were photocopying, lending, ICT and reference services. Researchers in the social sciences in the universities depend much on photocopying, lending, ICT and reference services. ICT service was non existent in university of Port-Harcourt but had high utilization and dependence on the other universities. Literature search and inter library lending services were non existent at the University of Benin. Also, there was a significant relationship between availability and utilization of library services. There was also a significant relationship between the demographic variables of the researchers and their utilization of library services. The study also revealed that there is no significant difference between the utilization of library services between the universities that have ICT based library services and those that do not. Arising from the findings the researcher recommended the following: The government should make funds
available to universities to procure facilities for their libraries. The researchers including academic and non-teaching staff of the universities should avail themselves of the opportunity to utilize the services in their libraries. University authorities should sponsor library staff for in-service training locally and overseas to up-date their professional knowledge. Inter library lending services should be encouraged among the universities. Regular workshops should be organized for library users on the services available in the university libraries. There should be application of ICTs in library services in the universities to encourage researchers to accomplish their research endeavours.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The library is a unique repository of recorded knowledge which educates, informs and entertains. Libraries are also information centres for the dissemination of information through services. Similarly, they are institutions responsible for the collection, processing and storage of recorded knowledge for the purpose of reading, study and consultations. Information, on the other hand, can be seen as news, facts, data and knowledge which involve transmission from a source, for example, the library, to recipients which are users like the researchers. Services can be described as a system or organization that provides for a basic public need.
Library information services can be described as services which are provided to users who either visit or refer to the library to meet their information needs. Libraries provide unique information services that should be accessible to everybody (Aguolu and Aguolu, 2002, Ahmed,
2007, Obaro, 2008). Some of these services include lending, reference, current awareness, selective dissemination of information, inter library lending, information communication technology, literature search and photocopying services.
The library is the main source of information for teaching, learning and research. These libraries provide such services in the school
especially in the universities where knowledge is sought for by researchers in different fields of human endeavour. According to Jones (2010), university libraries refer to “Institutions that manage the intellectual products of society and process them in such a manner that the individual can gain access to them readily”. University libraries provide resources for knowledge acquisition, recreation, personal interests and interpersonal relationships of users academic staff non- academic staff and students and library personnel (Robertson, 2005).
The university library is a key component of a university system. It plays enviable roles to researchers in all subject areas including the social sciences. Its primary responsibility is to satisfy the instructional and research needs of the students and the faculties. They serve as agencies for scholarship and research (Aguolu 1989). This, they do by providing materials to support the teaching and research objectives of their parent bodies which is the different universities. Clarke (2002) states that the university library is regarded as the nerve centre of any university. This is because lecturers and researchers depend on the information sources and services of the library to prepare their lecture notes, write seminar papers and conduct researches while students rely on its resources and services to augment their lecture notes and obtain other needed information. They also provide materials and services to assist library users, including lecturers and researchers in their quest for personal self development. The university libraries also relate with other
libraries so as to increase the amount of resources and services available to the user community. (Clarke, 2002, Obaro, 2008). These in turn bring about the realization of the university library objectives of supporting teaching, learning and research.
The library acquires various types of human communication records published and unpublished, written or oral in recorded form and stores them for later use for researchers. Daya (2008) asserts that one of the objectives of a university is to encourage acquisition of knowledge. This is necessary to encourage and promote scholarship and research in all fields of learning and human endeavour. Libraries generally are information centres where information services are provided to people who need them.
Teaching is an attempt on the part of someone to impact knowledge to others. (Edekarabor, 2006). It is also a partnership activity, the partners being teachers and students. Teaching is the work everyone does as long as they spend part of their lives in influencing the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of others. In a formal sense, teaching can be seen as helping undergraduate and graduate students to acquire the problem solving skills and the ability to think for themselves because the main aim of the university is to teach and conduct researches, the university libraries pool the ideas and thought control of others together for the maximum accessibility and the usability of their users including lecturers and researchers.
Research is the process of inquiring into the unknown. Peretomode and Ibeh (2005) assert that research refers to “a systematic investigation of the solution to a particular problem”. Research is a studious enquiry undertaken to discover new facts for the purpose of solving problems of our modern society. Onojete, Oghuvbu and Money (2007) see research as an essential activity of the library because the library has the necessary resources and services for meeting the demands made upon them which serve as necessary inputs to the research process. They are also equipped with trained manpower that can provide direction and guidelines to lecturers and students on their researches in various disciplines including the social sciences. To carry out effective researches by lecturers and researchers in the social sciences, information on available services are needed.
Research in social science is geared towards the study of human beings interacting or acting in groups (Floyd, 2009). The social sciences include economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology and demography. This branch of knowledge aims primarily at understanding human social behaviour as well as the relationship between people and the social systems in which they participate. Social scientists in Nigerian universities, like other university academics, are expected to perform three main functions-teaching, research and community service (such as consultancy). These functions are mutually interdependent. Teaching and service are expected to be enriched by the
improved subject matter knowledge obtained through research, whilst research strategies and conclusion should be enriched by the feedback from students and society (Robert, 2005). The researchers here in the study are lecturers and doctoral degree students in the social sciences who carry out researches that help in the discovery of new knowledge in other to make mans environment a better place to live in. If these researchers must carry out researches in their areas, information must be available. Availability has been described by Edekarabor (2006) as being able to be obtained. Obi (2008) also regards availability of library information service as the degree to which library information service is available upon users’ demand.
Buckland (2010) defines information “as a process which occurs in the mind when a problem is united with data that can help solve it”. Information is part of a process of converting messages received into knowledge. Cresswell (2009) views information as something that reduces uncertainty in decision-making which can be simple data, discrete facts, figures such as names, characteristics and amounts which are transmitted from a source which may be library to a recipient, which is the user, such as the researcher. Therefore, information is data that has been organized and communicated through the library to academics through its services. Library information service, according to Aina, (2004) refers to services which draw attention to information possessed in the library in the anticipation of demand. Information services came
into being when personal assistance to library users began and was considered a basic function of the library and was provided into a form of deliberate programme. Early libraries were regarded as store houses and books were meant for preservation (Okiy, 2008). The librarian was supposed to be a custodian of books who did not encourage the borrowing of books. He was a care taker to a passive and archival institution.
However, over time, the functions of the library started to assume new dimensions from the passive or archival institution to a services oriented institution. Its aim was to enable the user to make effective use of the resources and services of the library. This has made the modern library, unlike the early library to select, acquire, process and make available for users, resources of enduring value rather than preservation. These services are commonly known as information services. However, the origin of formalized information services could be traced to American academic and public libraries. Daya (2008) observed that the services were first developed in the public libraries as a means of justifying the expenditure of city funds.
It was also considered as a programme or personal assistance that could lead to a greater use of the library, making it possible to get support from authorities. This was considered as an important responsibility provided by the library, big or small and as such was heralded by scientists and technologists who knew the need for
information. By 1893, the idea of information service had been thoroughly and generally accepted by American libraries (Clarke, 2002). Thus the provision of information service is now a trend in librarianship.
The university libraries are expected to provide such services to the researchers in various fields in the form of information services. This will in no small measure help the libraries to cope with newly emerging information and research needs of the society especially in the university. Typical libraries in the universities are effective to provide a wide range of services to researchers especially in the area of social sciences. These library information services are reference, current awareness, selective dissemination of information, lending, literature search, photocopying, inter-library lending, and information communication technology services (Clarke, 2002, Aina, 2004, Aguolu and Aguolu, 2008, Obaro,
2008). These services are known as information services because they make accessible to users which including researchers in the quickest possible time all forms of information materials which they require. The reference service gives personal assistance to researchers in search of information. The lending service gives the researchers the privilege of borrowing library materials for their consultations outside the library at their leisure time. The photocopying services reproduce the information in the print form and make this possible for the researcher to have ownership of the copies. Current awareness services help researchers in keeping up to date with current literature in their particular subject
area, selective dissemination of information provides new alerts corresponding to researchers’ profiles of needed information.
In literature search services, various formal and informal publications are disseminated to the researchers relevant to their areas of interest. The inter library loan services allow the researchers to borrow materials needed for their researches from other libraries through their own libraries and the ICT provides an environment for the researchers in which computer and other information technology resources can be effective and efficient to support teaching and research activities especially in the South-South Nigeria.
The South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria comprises of Akwa- Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Edo States all within the Niger Delta. This zone consists of the old Bendel State, Rivers State and Cross River State. The literature review reveals that only a few researches have been conducted in the area of the social sciences with regard to library information services. This is despite the important role played by research in the social sciences to the social economic development of the oil rich region that has suffered several years of neglect and environmental degradation. The social scientists deal with determining the social relations that exist among individuals, groups in the larger society like the South-South zone of Nigeria (Obi, 2008). The Niger-Delta crises, incessant kidnappings and militancy are some of the vices that rock the South-South. To contribute in the curbing of these spate of
violence, researches by social scientists, through the library information services provided in the university libraries, making these services available to be utilized by social scientists can be of help. There was, therefore, the need to examine the availability and the utilization of library information services in the social sciences in federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria.
Statement of the Problem
Research for the betterment of society is a basic function of universities, and research in the social sciences is especially important in the South-South Zone because of the many social problems plaguing the region. For effective conduct of researches there is the need for university libraries to provide adequate information services such as lending, referencing and ICT. It is only when these services are available that they can be utilized by social science researchers. There is also the possibility of these services being available in university libraries and yet not utilized by social science researchers. There is also the need to adjust to changing times in the areas of these library information services by doing away with outdated materials, provision of current information resources for utilization by researchers.
Preliminary observation by the researcher shows that some of the libraries in federal universities in the South-South may not be offering the required services for instance some are not fully computerized.
Low availability can affect utilization of information resources by the social science researchers. It is, therefore, imperative for the researchers in the social sciences in the federal universities in South- South Nigeria to have adequate library information services, if they are to conduct research for the betterment of society, especially in the South- South Zone. In Nigerian federal universities and in particular those located in South-South Nigeria there is dearth of information about the status of the libraries in respect of the availability and utilization of library information services to social scientists. Therefore, the study is set to ascertain the availability and utilization of library information services by researchers in the social sciences in the federal universities in South-South Nigeria.
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of the study is to determine the availability and utilization of library information services by researchers in the social sciences in federal universities in the South-South Nigeria. Specifically, the study aimed at:
1. identifying the library information services available to researchers in the social sciences in federal universities in South-South, Nigeria;
2. determining the extent to which the researchers in the social sciences in South-South Nigeria utilize the available library information services;
3. ascertaining the extent to which the researchers depend on their universities’ library services for their research;
4. finding out the usefulness of the available library information services to the research needs of researchers in the social sciences in federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria;
5. identifying the factors affecting the social science researchers’ utilization of the library information services in their university libraries; and
6. determining the measures that can enhance the availability of library information services by social science researchers’ in federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria.
7. determining how to enhance the utilization of library information services by social science researchers’ in federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria.
Research questions
The following research questions guided the study:
1. What are the library information services available to researchers in the social sciences in federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria?
2. To what extent do researchers in the social sciences in federal university libraries in the South-South Nigeria utilize the available library information services?
3. To what extent do researchers depend on their universities’ library services for their research?
4. To what extent do the library information services meet the needs of the social science researchers in the federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria?
5. What factors affect the social science researchers’ utilization of the library information services in the federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria?
6. What measures can enhance the availability of library information services by the social science researchers in the federal university libraries in South-South Nigeria?
7. How can the utilization of library information services by the social science researchers in the federal university libraries in South- South Nigeria be enhanced?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were tested in the study:
H01: There is no significant relationship between availability and utilization of library information services by researchers in the social sciences in federal universities in South-South Nigeria.
HO2: There is no significant relationship between the status of the researchers in the social sciences and their
utilization of library information services in federal universities in
South-South Nigeria.
HO3: There is no significant difference in the utilization of library information services by the researchers in the social sciences between the universities that have ICT based library services and those that do not.
Significance of the Study
The study is significant because the findings have provided an insight into the library information services available for researchers in the social sciences in the Nigerian federal university libraries in South- South Nigeria. It is hoped that the findings of this study will help the university administration, lecturers, library personnel and researchers in the field of social sciences and the curriculum planners in library information science.
The university management and administration of the Nigeria universities will benefit immensely from the findings of the study. The study, for example, will give a clue on how to provide those facilities that will enable users of the library information services to exploit and harness them fully. This will enable the researcher to meaningfully advance their knowledge in social science through research. This will be done by making the management and administration to periodically evaluate the library information services provided in the federal universities in South-South Nigeria.
The lecturers in social sciences are expected to benefit from the findings of the study. The findings of the study will encourage lecturers in the federal universities in Nigeria in South-South to develop positive approach towards the use of library. This will in no small way encourage the university lecturers in the social sciences to engage in a serious research especially as it affects the society in South-South Nigeria. The study will provide insight into the information services available to social science researchers in the university libraries thereby making it possible for their utilization.
The findings of this study will also be useful to curriculum planners and other stakeholders with particular regard to social science research in library services. The study will also contribute significantly to the growing number of literature in the field of social sciences and research.
The study will be a useful guide to librarians who can apply the ideas on how to improve library information services to meet the research needs of social science researchers.
Scope of the Study
This study covers the federal universities in South-South Nigeria. Federal universities in the South-South were chosen because they are all funded by the federal government and have relatively large collections and a large number of researchers in the social sciences. The disciplines
within the social sciences in these federal universities include sociology, geography, economics, psychology and political science. The interest in the social sciences is because of its importance to human and social- economic development of the nation. The study examined the availability and utilization of library information services by researchers in the social sciences in federal universities in the South-South.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF LIBRARY INFORMATION SERVICES BY RESEARCHERS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA
PROJECTOPICS.com Support Team Are Always (24/7) Online To Help You With Your Project
Chat Us on WhatsApp » 07035244445
DO YOU NEED CLARIFICATION? CALL OUR HELP DESK:
07035244445 (Country Code: +234)YOU CAN REACH OUR SUPPORT TEAM VIA MAIL: [email protected]