Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The 21st century is the millennium of information. It is also seen as the era of explosion of information output and information sources. It is known as the beginning of knowledge age. New patterns of work and new business practices have developed as a result; new kinds of work with new and different skills are required. In this century, the meaning of knowledge has changed. Information delivery to meet user needs is the goal of every college library. For effective information delivery, availability of information resources is very fundamental. The study, therefore, investigated the influence of information resources availability on information delivery in college libraries in Lagos and Oyo states, Nigeria in the 21st century.
The study adopted the survey research design with the questionnaire as instrument for data collection. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 469 registered users out of 4,689 and 73 library staff. The collected data was analysed using frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation for the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
Findings indicated that textbooks, electronic information resources and journals were available in the college libraries. The resources were mostly used on daily basis by students and staff in the college libraries. Study revealed that adequate provision of books, periodic user education and orientation, registration of library users, lending services, reference services, etc. were some of the information service delivery in the college libraries. Results further showed significant influence of information resources availability on information delivery (F (1;470) =40.706, P0.05). The availability of information resources in colleges enabled the college libraries to deliver effective information services to the user community in Emmanuel Alayande College of Education and Yaba College of Technology.
It recommends among others that there is need for college libraries to make adequate provisions for recent and up-to-date information resources in both print and non-print formats to meet the needs of their users. Adequate publicity through awareness programmes should be carried out for the resources and services to sensitise the users and promote usage.
Keywords: Information resources, Availability, Information service delivery, College libraries, 21st century education, National Development