Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Summer 11-6-2020
Abstract
The role of the library of agricultural extension workers in Osun State, Nigeria is very important. Structural questionnaires were used to collect data from 160 extension workers in the study area, out of which 149 (93.1%) responded and were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data using frequency, percentage table, and regression analysis to test the relationship between variables. Findings showed that all the respondents were educated beyond the O’ Level. The majority of extension workers do visit the public library to gather the information that is useful for farmers. Furthermore, extension workers have positive attitudes toward the usefulness of the library to increase their knowledge, working performance, and it also exposes the extension workers to new agricultural innovation. Also, the library plays a major role such as repackage agricultural information, presentation of agricultural documentaries (videos), access to existing databases (AGORA and TEEAL) and it bridges the gap between researchers and extension workers. The study discovered that improper information repackages, library personnel incompetency to provide farmer’s information needs, and low-level ICT skills by extension workers to access library resources were seen by extension workers as major problems in the study area. More so, the result of the hypothesis shows that there is a strong relationship between academic status and type of library use by agricultural extension workers, this implies that the academic qualification shows the types of library use. Also, there exist strong relationships between the role of the library and the types of library use. This means that the role of the library has a meaningful impact on the type of library use by extension workers.