Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Spring 10-10-2021
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The study examined serials management as a correlate of serials utilization in federal university libraries in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It was guided by four (4) specific objectives, corresponding research questions were answered and four (4) hypotheses were formulated and tested. Furthermore, four (4) serials management variables, viz; acquisition, organization, location, and binding of cumulated serials were considered. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population of this study was 21,756. A sample of 1,088 respondents was adopted using the multi-stage sampling technique. Two researcher-made questionnaires titled were used for data collection. The researchers, through the help of four (4) research assistants, administered 1,088 copies of the questionnaires to respondents but 1,072 copies were retrieved, giving a retrieval rate of 98.53%. The data collected were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to answer research questions and linear regression to test the hypotheses at a .05 level of significance. It was found that there is a significant positive low relationship between acquisition of serials and their utilization in federal university libraries in South-East, Nigeria, the significant negative moderate relationship between the organization of serials and their utilization in federal university libraries in South-East, Nigeria, non-significant positive high relationship between the location of serials and their utilization in federal university libraries in South-East, Nigeria, and the non-significant positive very low relationship between the binding of cumulated serials and their utilization in federal university libraries in South-East, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended that university library management and administrators should see to the acquisition of relevant serials and the provision of adequate guides to the location and retrieval of the materials in order to enhance effective use by users, among other things.