Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
1-16-2024
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The study examined computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety and information retrieval skills as correlate of electronic library use among library and information science undergraduates in universities in Southern Nigeria. One research question guided the study while one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 10,345 library and information science (LIS) undergraduates from ten federal, seventeen state and eight private universities in Southern Nigeria. The study explores purposive and quota sampling technique to determine the sample size which arrived at 1, 006 used for the study. Four instruments: Undergraduates’ Computer Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (UCSQ), Undergraduates’ Computer Anxiety Questionnaire (UCAQ), Undergraduate Information Retrieval Skill Questionnaire (UIRSQ), and Undergraduates’ Electronic Library Use Questionnaire (UELUQ) were used for data collection. In other to establish the reliability of the instruments, Cronbach alpha was used to analyze data collected from twenty (20) LIS undergraduate students in one federal university (Federal University of Technology, Mina) in North-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The alpha coefficients of UCSQ is .88, UCAQ .90, UIRSQ .94 and UELUQ .89 respectively. The Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) was deplored to answer the research question while multiple regression was used to test the hypothesis. Findings revealed that computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety and information retrieval skills jointly had a significant relationship with LIS undergraduates’ electronic library use. The study recommends amongst others that all stakeholders in university education in Nigeria namely; Nigeria University Commission (NUC), Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) and Nigeria Library Association (NLA) should collaborate to redesign or tailor LIS curriculum to reflect information and communication technological courses with innovations prevalent in this 21st century like what is obtainable in developed world. Also, the new LIS curriculum advocated should ensure that the teaching of computer skills to LIS undergraduate in universities is promoted. This is to enable the moderate level of usage of electronic library information resources by LIS undergraduate changed to high and is sustained for adequate academic prowess.
Comments
The study examined computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety and information retrieval skills as correlate of electronic library use among library and information science undergraduates in universities in Southern Nigeria. However, the study recommends amongst others that all stakeholders in university education in Nigeria namely; Nigeria University Commission (NUC), Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) and Nigeria Library Association (NLA) should collaborate to redesign or tailor LIS curriculum to reflect information and communication technological courses with innovations prevalent in this 21st century like what is obtainable in developed world. Also, the new LIS curriculum advocated should ensure that the teaching of computer skills to LIS undergraduate in universities is promoted. This is to enable the moderate level of usage of electronic library information resources by LIS undergraduate changed to high and is sustained for adequate academic prowess.