Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

Date of this Version

12-21-2022

Comments

LIBRARY DEPARTMENT RUFUS GIWA POLYTECHNIC

P.M.B. 1019, OWO, ONDO STATE

Abstract

Abstract

Libraries play a critical role in promoting reading habits. If postgraduate students cultivate the habits of reading, their perception and use of reference sources will be enhanced. The main objective is to determine the influence of reading habits on the perception and use of reference sources by postgraduates in the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and the study population consisted of 2503 postgraduate students of the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 337 and tie questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data was analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics consisting of tables of frequency and percentage counts and Chi-Square statistical tools was used for the hypotheses formulated for the study. Findings revealed that most of the postgraduate students has very good reading habit as they indicated that they were good readers of reference sources. Majority of respondents 235 (64.9%) indicated that because of their reading habit they used a lot of reference sources. Results also showed that the reference services available to postgraduate students as noted by most of the respondents included consultancy services 209 (57.7%), answering of user' queries 167 (46.1%) and abstracting and indexing 166 (45.9%). It was established that there was significant positive and strong influence (r = .900**; df = 361; P<0.01) between reading habit and perception of postgraduate students on the use of reference sources. Results also showed that perception of postgraduate students on the use of reference sources has the highest correlation coefficient (r = 0.553**; P< 0.01) It was concluded that our society has improved to a reading society and students especially postgraduates tend to read in other to achieve academic excellence. The study therefore recommended that university libraries have to build strong collections of information resources in physical and digital format to cater for knowledge requirements of their uses. University libraries in Nigeria need to be revitalized to and inundate it with recent information resources, and other academic materials will help to stimulate reading in the library.

Share

COinS