Electronic information resources awareness, attitude and use by academic staff members of university of Lagos, Nigeria.
Okiki, Olatokunbo Christopher
Introduction
Roberson (2005) defined a library as an institution that manages
the intellectual products of society and processes them in such a manner
that the individual can readily gain access to them. Access to
information through Internet has changed the role of libraries.
Libraries now have both printed document as well as electronic
information resources in their collection. The electronic documents can
be stored, accessed, and delivered as and when required; therefore the
services of libraries are not confined within the four walls but are
integrated into local, regional, national, and international networks.
It is common knowledge that virtually all scholarly and academic
journals, electronic databases, online library catalogues, grey
literature and other relevant scholarly materials in all fields of
knowledge are now accessible on the internet.
Information explosion via Internet connectivity has greatly
increased the amount of electronic information resources available on
the web. E-information resources have enhanced accessibility, increased
usability, effectiveness and established new ways for information users
in using information for more productivity in their endeavors. The value
and use of information resources, particularly e-resources, have
increased with the time. Therefore, the use of e-resources by users,
especially by the Academic staff members of Academic institutions
generally depends on skills of each user to locate discrete knowledge
elements. According to the Final Report of the American Library
Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, the
information literate user skill is being able to recognize when
information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
information resources effectively (ALAPCIL, 2001).
In Nigeria, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has
subscribed to a number of international and local journals and made them
accessible in Nigerian Universities through its URL link
@www.nigerianvirtuallibrary.com on the internet. In addition, NUC
(National Universities Commission), NULIB (Nigerian University Libraries
Consortium) and EIFL.NET (Electronic Information for Libraries Network)
are partnering to provide electronic resources on the internet towards
qualitative teaching/research in Nigerian Universities.
To date, almost all the Library functional areas and services have
a touch of IT; however, the depth of application varies. The University
of Lagos Library is 75% networked with a total of 211 nodes within the
Main Library, 124 nodes at the MTN Foundation Universities Connect
Project and 68 nodes recently put in place at Education Library. In
order to expand access to reading materials, the Library has adopted
distributed access to information resources which include: Integrated
Library Systems (ILS), Online Databases, Web-Based Resources, Digital
Library Collections, e-Books and e-Journals.
The Library currently subscribes to about forty databases which
included some open sources and some fee-based sources. The databases
currently available include: AGORA, EBSCOHost, Oxford Journal Online,
JSTOR, OARES, Law Pavilion, Legalpedia, Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria (LFN) MetaPress, Ebrary and HINARI. The databases can be
accessed on computer systems in the Libraries and on the Library
website. The Library has a database room at the old Media Room for the
purpose of searching subscribed databases. In addition to 14 networked
computers and a dedicated printer, students are allowed to bring in
their personal laptops into the room. The service here is provided free
except for printing which attracts a token fee.
However, no survey has been undertaken to know the level of
awareness and use of these e-resources. Thus, the study is an attempt to
evaluate e-resources awareness, attitude and usability by the academic
staff members of University of Lagos and to find out problems
encountered by the users in accessing the e-resources.
Literature Review
Several studies on use of electronic information resources (EIS)
have been carried out by students, research scholars, and teachers of
various institutions all over the world. Maunissamy and Swaroop (2005)
in their study, 'Evaluation of usage and usability of electronic
journals' identified the usage and usability of e-journals by the
users of the NIT, Tiruchirapall. Appleton (2006) in his study,
perceptions on electronic library resources in further education,
expressed personal experiences on the use of e-resources and their
impact on teaching and learning activity.
According to Bar-Ilan, Peritz, and Wolman (2003) the most active
users of electronic journals are the younger members of the teaching and
research staff. In a related study, Bush (2004) showed that age was not
an influential factor in whether the respondents read articles on paper
or in electronic format. Brennan et al (2002) in studies that centered
on how the adoption of electronic information resources has affected
academics' information behaviour revealed that academics make fewer
visits to the library and read more e-journals than the print era.
In Nigeria, Ehikhamenor (2003a) conducted a study to investigate
the use and non-use of the internet facilities by Academic Scientists in
Ten Nigerian Universities. The findings of the study indicated that,
"the scientists are still heavily dependent on printed
sources", although about 50.4per cent of them "have access to,
and are using, the internet" in their teaching/research. The study
attributed non-use of the internet "to the problems of
accessibility, ease of use, analysis of internet use by academic staff
and cost". In furtherance of research on impact of internet
resources, Ehikhamenor (2003b) conducted a study on the impact of the
internet on scientific communication process and productivity of the
scientists in Nigerian Universities. He observed that very few of the
scientists agreed that the use of the internet had greatly facilitated
their research work.
In related study, Azubogu and Madu (2007) did a survey "on the
use of computer and internet technology among the teaching staff of Imo
State University", Nigeria and reported a high level of use of
information technology by the respondents. They gave reasons for the use
of internet by teaching staff to include: ease of use, convenience, free
access to the internet, access to free information on the internet among
others. In another study, Ojedokun and Owolabi (2003)explored and
"assessed the impact of internet competence on the use of the
internet for teaching/research activities among academic staff of the
University of Botswana". The findings of the survey had shown that
most academic staff in the University of Botswana are using the internet
in their research/teaching activities.
Bayugo and Agbeko (2007) reported on a survey of convenient access
to, and use of, electronic databases (CD-ROM and online) with full-text
journals and their effect on information seeking behavior of health
sciences academics at the College of Health Sciences of the University
of Ghana. The survey documented academics preferences of print and
electronic resource, and the specific databases and full-text journals.
The results showed that Academics were unaware of the two full-text
journal databases (HINARI and PERI) available at the Library. Hence they
resorted to PUBMED as their source of access to full-text articles. They
concluded that most academics now prefer using electronic access to
information (CD-ROM/online) to traditional print indexes and abstracts.
Herring (2002) studied the use of electronic information resources in 12
scholarly peer-reviewed electronic journals. The journals represented
areas of active interdisciplinary research available through the Web
without subscription or registration. A total of 175 articles published
from 1999 to 2000 were examined. The 175 articles had a total of 4289
unique references. Over 55% of the articles (97) cited electronic
resources. In addition 658 citations, or 16% of the total, were to
electronic resources. The 97 articles that referenced electronic
information resources had a total of 2584 unique citations, 26.5% of
which were to electronic information resources.
Oduwole and Akpati (2003) carried out a study on use of electronic
information resources at the University of Agriculture Library in
Abeokuta, Nigeria, his study also identified lack of ICT and power
supply outage as constraints to use of electronic resources. In the same
vein, Watts and Ibegbulam (2006) surveyed some of the barriers to the
use of electronic information resources available at the Medical Library
of College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Their findings
exposed that lack of an adequate ICT (information and communication
technology) infrastructure and affordable online access, absence of
in-depth ICT skills and information searching skills among library
staff, and cost of using the cybercafe are barriers to the use of
electronic resources.
Objectives of the Study
The Objectives of the study are:
1. To assess the current use of electronic information resources by
the academic staff members.
2. To find out the level of awareness of electronic information
resources among the academic staff.
3. To examine the attitude of the academic staff members towards
use of electronic information resources.
4. To find out the main reason(s) behind the use of electronic
information resources by the academic staff members.
5. To find out constrains encountered by academics on the use of
electronic information resources.
Methodology
This study is based on Survey (questionnaire) Method. A structured
Questionnaire was designed to collect data from the Academic Staff
members of University of Lagos, Nigeria, keeping in mind the basic
objectives of the study. The researcher being a staff of the university
personally distributed and retrieved the Questionnaire from the academic
staff members. According to Nwana (1981) if a population is in many
hundreds, one needs a sample size of 20%. But if a population is in few
thousands, one needs a sample size of 10%. Based on the foregoing
recommendation, a sampling fraction of 10% is used to select a sample
size out of the one thousand two hundred (1,200) academic staff in the
University, a total of one hundred and twenty (120) representing 10% of
academics were randomly sampled, using the simple random technique
(SRT). 113 (90%) questionnaires were properly completed and returned.
To ensure the reliability of the instrument, it was administered on
twelve participants out of the envisaged population of the study. A
test-retest reliability method of two weeks interval was conducted,
response obtained were subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation
method and a reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained.
Analysis and Discussion of Data
Descriptive Statistics including Frequencies count and percentages
were used in reporting the findings.
Table 1 shows that there are more male respondents (65%) than
female respondents of (35%).This suggests that there are more male
academics than female across the surveyed faculties in the University.
The table also shows that out of 113 respondents, 48 (42%) respondents
were Master Degree holders while 65 (58%) were holders of PhD. With
regards to teaching experience of Academic Staff members, 46 (41%) were
having 1-5 years; 33 (29 %) 6-10 years; 10 (9%) 11-15 years, 17 (15%)
16-20 years; and 7 (6%) 21 years and above years of teaching experience.
Table 1: Profiles of Respondents
Gender Frequency Percentage (%)
Male 74 65%
Female 39 35%
Total 113 100%
Educational Qualification Frequency Percentage (%)
M.SC, MA etc. 48 42%
Ph.D 65 58%
Total 113 100%
Teaching Experience Frequency Percentage (%)
1-5 years 46 41%
6-10 years 33 29%
11-15 years 10 9%
16-20 years 17 15%
21 above 7 6%
Total 113 100%
The analysis of Table 2 shows that 30 respondents, representing 27%
of total respondents had 'excellent' computer skill. Further,
the computer skill of 45 respondents (40%) was 'good',
followed by 17 respondents (19%) with 'satisfactory' level
computer skill, and 16 respondents with (14%) were 'fair' in
their computer skill. The results show that University of Lagos Academic
Staff members to certain degree were computer literate as a result of
compulsory computer training program organized by the University Centre
for Information Technology and Systems (CITS).
Table 2: Level of Computer Skill
Level No. of respondents Percentage
Excellent 30 27%
Good 45 40%
Satisfactory 22 19%
fair 16 14%
Total 113 100%
The table above clearly reveals that most of the academic staff
members 82 (73%) use Internet information resources on daily basis.
Furthermore, 6% respondents were using it on weekly basis, 4% per cent
were using it on monthly basis, and 16% were using it occasionally.
Table 4 shows that out of 113 respondents, 61 (54%) indicated No
the level of awareness of e-resources when compared to 52 (46%) who
agreed with level of awareness of EIRs. This implies that the level of
awareness of subscribed to e-resources is quite low. This goes to show
that the University Library has not done enough in creating awareness to
the user's community.
Table 4: Level of Awareness on Electronic Information Resources
Response No. of responses Percentage
Yes 52 46%
No 61 54%
Total 113 100%
The major reasons of using electronic information resources by the
Academic staff members of University of Lagos are research activity,
Paper writing for publication, and teaching as shown from the table
above. The Respondents were asked to tick as many reasons that applied
to their using electronic information resources. From the table it shows
that all the respondent of 113 which represent 37% indicate research
activity followed by 104 response of (34%) for Paper writing for
publication, 46 (15%) for teaching, while 30 (10%) for presentation in
seminar/conference/workshops, and 14 (4%)is for Leisure.
Respondent were allowed to tick as many that applied. The analysis
of the data above shows that e-journals and e-databases were the most
used electronic information resources by the respondents as seen from
their responses which are 103 (28%) and 96 (27%), respectively. It is
followed by use of e-books (18%), E-articles/e-reprints (17%),
e-newsgroups/magazines (9%). Furthermore, 1% responses indicate the use
of all mentioned e-resources by the respondents.
Respondents were asked to select various methods used for
evaluation of electronic information resources. The Table shows the
various aspects on which academics of University of Lagos depend, while
selecting and using electronic information resources. From the table it
was revealed that majority of academics of 101 responses representing
(30%) depend on reliability criteria while selecting and using EIR.
followed by usability of the material (27%), currency (23%),
authenticity (13%) and objectivity (7%).
Table 8 shows constrain faced by Academics while using electronic
information resources. Slow internet access (29%), erratic power supply
(30%) and too much of information overload (23%) were major factors.
Other less constrain factors were dislike reading from computer screen
(13%) and non-availability of relevant electronic information resources
to my information needs (5%). Though, some respondents remarked that the
Library supposed to provide more Internet access ports as well as
wireless environment.
Table 8: Constrains To the Use of Electronic Information Resources
Variables YES Percentage NO Percentage
Frequency YES (%) Frequency NO (%)
I'm not computer 0 0% 113 33%
literate
Slow internet 98 29% 15 4%
connectivity
Too much of 76 23% 37 11%
information
overload
Erratic power 102 30% 11 3%
supply
Dislike reading 43 13% 70 21%
from computer
screen
Non-availability 17 5% 96 28%
of relevant
electronic
information
resources to my
information
needs
Conclusion and Recommendation
Electronic Information Resources have taken a firm root in the
collection policy of University of Lagos Library and this has
necessitated a remarkable shift of choice from print information
resources to electronic information resources have taken place by users
for information. The Library is investing heavily on e-resources. But
effective use of e-resources lies solely on awareness. The explosion of
electronic information resources in the Library has had a significant
impact on user's behavior in the way the Academic community uses,
stores, disseminate and preserves information. In the same vein,
scholars believe that the increased availability of high-quality
electronic content is dramatically changing user behavior. Academic
staff members' attitudes seem to be very positive towards
electronic information resources for their study and research and the
role of Libraries as gateway to provide assistance in term of awareness
and accessing these resources.
The findings show that a large number of users have started using
electronic information resources (EIR). The impact of EIR is visible and
has led to decrease in the collection of print journals. The users
access EIRs more from their offices as compared to the Library. The use
of Library has decreased because information is easily available to the
users through Internet and Intranet connectivity provided in the
institute. The decrease in the collection of print journals and increase
in the e -journals indicates that the University of Lagos Library is
making all its efforts to provide the benefits of EIR s and services to
its users.
This corroborates the finding of Brennan et al (2002) in studies
that centered on how the adoption of electronic information resources
has affected academics' information behavior. The finding revealed
that academics make fewer visits to the library and read more than in
the print era across a broader number of journals which are accessible
via internet. Only 29% of the respondents indicated slow internet and
30% indicates erratic power supply as factors that prevented them from
using the EIRs, while 5% indicated non availability of relevant
electronic information resources to their information needs. The
respondents remarked that the Library should provide more Internet
access ports as well as create a wireless enable environment.
It was observed that a large number of academic staff members
reported that level of awareness of the existence of electronic
information resources in the Library is relatively low. Hence the result
of its usage is not encouraging. However, it is important for the
library to improve the awareness of electronic information resources in
the library to the academic community so as to increase the use of this
service.
Awareness and orientation should be a continuous effort, since the
University recruits new staff on a regular basis. The University Library
should re-orientate the Academic staff members of the University on how
to access the electronic information resources subscribed to by the
University. The University Library should find an alternative way to
generate power supply such as a standby generator, inverter or solar
energy system. Finally, the Internet facilities of the University should
also be improved to facilitate easy access to the EIRs of the University
References
Azubogu, N and Madu, C (2007). Use of computer and Internet
technology among the teaching staff of Imo State University, Owerri.
H-JOLIS: Heartland Journal of Library and Information Science, 1 (2):
38-49.
Bar-Ilan, J.,Peritz, B. C. and Wolman Y (2003). A Survey of the Use
of Electronic Databases and Electronic Journals Accessed through the Web
by the Academic Staff of Israeli Universities. Journal of Academic
Librarianship 29:346-361.
Bayugo, S. S., and Agbeko, K. S. (2007). Information seeking
behavior of health sciences faculty at the College of Health Sciences,
University of Ghana. Information Development 23(1): 63-70.
Brennan, M.J., Hurd, J.M., Blecic, D.D., and Weller, A. C. (2002).
A snapshot of early adopters of e-journals: challenges to the library.
College & Research Libraries, 63: 515-526.
Ehikhamenor, F.A. (2003a). Internet facilities: use and non-use by
Nigerian University Scientists, Journal of Information Science, 29 (1):
35-48, available at: http://jis.sagepub.com (accessed June 11, 2011).
Ehikhamenor, F.A. (2003b). Internet resources and productivity in
scientific research in Nigerian Universities, Journal of Information
Science, 29 (2): 107-16, available at: http://jis.sagepub.com (accessed
June 11, 2011).
Herring, S.D. 2002. Use of electronic resources in scholarly
electronic journals: a citation analysis. College and Research Libraries
63 (4): 334-340.
Mounissamy, P. andSwaroop Rani, B.S (2005). Evaluation of usage and
usability of electronic journals. SRELS Journal of Information
Management, 42 (2): 189-205.
Oduwole A.A. and Akpati, C.B. (2003). Accessibility and Retrieval
of Electronic Information at the University of Agriculture Library
Abeokuta, Nigeria Library Review, 52 (5): 228-233
Ojedokun, A.A. and Owolabi, E.O. (2003). Internet access competence
and use of the internet for teaching and research activities by
University of Botswana Academic staff. African Journal of Library,
Archive and Information Science, 13 (1): 43-53.
Swain, D.K. and Panda, K.C. (2009). Use of e-services by Faculty
members of business schools in a state of India: a study. Collection
Building, 28(3): 108-16. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed June
11, 2011).
Watts, C., and Ibegbulam, I. (2006). Access to electronic
healthcare information resources in developing countries: Experiences
from the Medical Library, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria.
IFLA Journal, 32 (54). Available at:
http://ifl.sagepub.com/content/32/1/54.full.pdf+html (accessed May,
2010).
Table 3: Frequency of Electronic Information Resources Use
Variables Frequency Percentage (%)
Daily 72 63%
Weekly 7 6%
Fortnightly 4 4%
Monthly 1 1%
Occasionally 29 26%
Total 113 100%
Table 5: Reason for Using Electronic Information Resources
Reasons No. of responses Percentage
Research activity 113 37%
Paper writing for publication 104 34%
Teaching 46 15%
Seminar/Workshop presentation 30 10%
Leisure 14 4%
Table 6: Type of Electronic Information Resources Frequently Used
Electronic Information Resources No. of responses Percentage
E-journals 103 28%
E-books 66 18%
E-data bases i.e. OP AC 96 27%
E-articles/e-reprints 64 17%
E-newsgroups/magazine 34 9%
All of the above 5 1%
Total 368 100%
Table 7: Criteria for Selecting and Using Electronic
Information Resources
Criteria No of responses Percentage
Authenticity 43 13%
Currency 78 23%
Objectivity 89 7%
Reliability 101 30%
Usability 22 27%
Olatokunbo Christopher Okiki
University of Lagos,
[email protected]
Okiki, Olatokunbo Christopher, "Electronic Information
Resources Awareness, Attitude and Use by Academic Staff Members of
University of Lagos, Nigeria" (2012). Library Philosophy and
Practice (e-journal). Paper 834.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/834
Olatokunbo Christopher Okiki
University of Lagos Library
Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria
Email:
[email protected] or
[email protected]
