Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Summer 6-25-2022
Abstract
The study examined the awareness and use of self-archiving options among librarians in public university libraries in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified the level of awareness, means of becoming aware of, extent of use of self-archiving options and factors motivating the use of self-archiving options by the librarians. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of twenty-seven librarians of public university librarians in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. This figure comprised eleven librarians of Federal University Otuoke Library and sixteen librarians of Niger Delta University Library. An online questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by two experts in the Department of Library and Information Science in Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State. The researcher distributed twenty-seven soft copies of the draft of the validated questionnaire to the librarians via social media platforms such as Federal University Otuoke Library Whatsapp Group, Niger Delta University Library Whatsapp Group, Bayelsa State Chapter of the Nigerian Library Association Whatsapp Group and Personal Whatsapp Accounts. Out of the twenty-seven questionnaires distributed, twenty-five questionnaires were properly completed, returned and found usable for data analysis. This produced a response rate of 92.59%. The data collected was analyzed using weighted mean and standard deviation. Findings revealed that the level of awareness of self-archiving options by the librarians was low. It also showed that the librarians gained awareness of self-archiving options by doing personal research, conference/seminar/workshop attendance, interaction with professional colleagues and reading professional literature. Moreso, it indicated that the extent to which the librarians used self-archiving options was low. Lastly, it revealed that the desire to enjoy wider research visibility of research works and personal recognition were the factors that motivated the use of self-archiving options by the librarians. The study recommended that the librarians should make conscious efforts to participate in institutional repository affairs, attend conferences/seminars/workshops, make more use of online publishing to increase their awareness of self-archiving options; the librarians should cultivate the habit of exploring the use of self-archiving options like Kudos, Mendeley.com etc. to draw global attention to their research papers and increase their use of self-archiving options.