Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
5-2-2023
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The study investigated the awareness, perceptions and reactions on the Science Hub (Sci-Hub) website use among the postgraduate students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The objectives of the study were to find out the postgraduate students’ level of awareness, perceptions and contributions of Science Hub website use for research and to ascertain their reactions and extent of satisfaction with it. The study adopted the survey research design. The population for the study comprised of postgraduate students of the university. Four faculties namely: Science, Health, Veterinary and Agriculture were purposively selected for the study. This is due to the fact that about 98.5% of the information resources in Science Hub are science, health and biomedical based. Simple random sampling was used to select one hundred and twenty (120) PG students that is thirty (30) each from the faculties under study. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed descriptively using tables, frequency and simple percentage statistic tool. The study found out that only few postgraduate students are aware of the existence of Science Hub website for research, majority of the postgraduate students who are aware of the Si-Hub website are making use of it because it provide free access to expensive online articles and books, majority of the respondents who are aware of the Sci-Hub website make use of it after few hours and majority of the respondents who are aware of the Sci-Hub website make use of it after few hours, among others. The study concluded that Science Hub website renders significant information services delivery to the users. Hence it provides free access to expensive online articles and books that ordinarily would have been out of reach of many students and researchers. The study recommended that based on the significance of this site to academia, the university library may communicate its value as well as its copyright status quo to the students especially during orientation programmes and the postgraduate students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto should take advantage of free access offered by Science Hub website and utilize it in addition to the proprietary databases provided by the university library, among others.