Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
The study empirically and comparatively examined academic staff perception of electronic information resources (EIRs) use on research productivity in six universities in Lagos and Ogun states of South west Nigeria. By ownership type, the universities include: federal (University of Lagos, Akoka and Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta); state (Lagos State University, Ojo and Tai-Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode) as well as private (Pan-African University, Ajah; Covenant University, Ota). The survey design of correlational type was adopted alongside multi-stage random sampling technique to select 334 academic staff based on 10% sample frame. The questionnaire method was employed to elicit data from the respondents. Of the 334 copies of the questionnaires administered, 298(89.2%) were completed and returned. The instrument was structured based on 4-point Likert scale. Inferential statistics was used to analyze the three research questions that guided the study. The study revealed among other things that EIRs guarantees up to-datedness of information thus, becoming the greatest motivation for which Academic staff use them for research. However, awareness of available EIRs and requisite skills for usage is poor. As a result, the study recommended that management of federal and state universities subscribe to online databases centered on the subject needs of their institutions and thereafter, make concerted effort towards educating academic staff for maximum exploitation of them.