Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

Abstract

As the life cycle of information products has become increasingly digital from “cradle to grave,” the nature of electronic information management has dramatically changed. These changes have brought new strategies and methods as well as new issues and challenges. At the bottom line the services are increasingly delivered to a desktop from distributed publishers or information providers. Information organizations act either as primary information providers or as brokers between the user and the primary service provider. Hence, the study examines the collection management and utilization of e-resources by postgraduate students in University of Ibadan. Descriptive survey design was employed for this study and the study population consisted of 312 postgraduate students in University of Ibadan. Also, the study adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample of the study from 3 faculties (Arts, Education and Science) using a sampling fraction of 10%. Questionnaire was the instruments used for data collection from respondents. The questionnaire was analysed using simple frequency for research questions while content analysis was used for analyzing the In-depth interview conducted. The result of the findings revealed that 100% of the respondent indicated that on monthly basis acquisition of e-resources was done through subscription, 85.3% stated that quarterly the University of Ibadan purchase e-resources while 56.1% of the respondents believe that on yearly basis the acquisition could be done through consortia while some of the respondents believe that on monthly basis, acquisition of e-resources is done through open internet sources. On the accessibility of e-resources, 56.1% stated that they accessed e-resources through the library dedicated computers while 70.5% strong agreed that they accessed e-resources in their library through their personal computers, on the same note, 64.1% stated that the university ICT centre has been their source of accessibility to e-resources in the university. On the frequency of acquiring e-resources, showed that majority 56.1% of the respondents of this study revealed that e-journal on weekly interval, while on the daily basis, 85.6% revealed that they use e-portal. In addition, 70.5% revealed that Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) is acquired monthly, Maps was acquired quarterly in the university library. In conclusion, the purpose for using e-resources in the university revealed that 56.1% agreed that e-resources were used for assignment, while 70.5% agreed that it was used for classwork, it was all agreed that e-resources is used as supplement for study notes, on the same note 70.8% strongly agreed that e-resources were used for project consultation, On the same vein, 80.8% strongly agreed that e-resources is used during Theses writing. It is however concluded that The University Library should increase bandwidth and online journal subscriptions, seeking more funds to do so. More bandwidth will also improve access time as the systems will work faster. Subscriptions to print journals should be maintained. University of Ibadan should improve on the libraries budget in order to attain to the cost of electronic resources and for the training of staff that will handle the electronic collection development.

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