Availability, Accessibility, and Use of Electronic Information Resources among Undergraduate Students in Fountain University Library, Osogbo

Abstract

This study investigated the availability, accessibility, and use of electronic information resources among undergraduate students in Fountain University Library, Osogbo. Survey research design was deployed, while quantitative research method was adopted using questionnaire for data gathering. The population of the study was nine hundred and fourteen (914), where a sample size of two hundred and seventy-eight (278) was determined using Research Advisors Table. Questionnaire was administered on the sample size and the data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings discovered that eLibrary is available with functional twenty (20) All-in-One Computer Workstations. It was revealed that OPAC, EbiscoHost, Research4Life, ScienceDirect, and e-resources (textbooks and journals) on Nursing, Law, Medical Laboratory Science, and Public Health are available. Few e-resources for all other twelve programmes in the university are also available in the eLibrary. Findings discovered that, e-references, CD-ROM, e-bibliography and e-archives were not available. It was also discovered that the available electronic information resources, though, accessible, but were not sufficientfor adequate use by the respondents. Considerably, majority of the respondents have a positive perception of electronic information resources and services. The study recommended that there should be acquisition of more data bases in addition to those in use, as well as, subscription to more e-resources, especially books and journals, which will cut across all the twelve programmes in the university. This will improve patronage and satisfaction of the patrons in order to justify the huge amount invested in the project. Electronic information resources pave a new dimension to teaching and learning, and have affected education activities, information availability, accessibility and use in many ways (Bajpai et al. 2016). The evolution of digital libraries has ensured the emergence of a globally networked environment that has dramatically transformed the face of libraries, their functions, services as well as their storage and delivery systems. With the invasion of the information communication technology (ICT), the world has been reduced to a global village. Hence, ICT in library operation had transformed the way information is packaged, organized and make available for use by the library patrons. Electronic information resources (EIRs) are the product of ICT which is gradually eroding the traditional method of operating the library services. At inception, electronic information resources were simply pointers to print-based materials (books & journals) and provided only bibliographic information to the users. Gradually, electronic resources started to also provide students with full-text information (through electronic articles and web pages via the Internet). Libraries then, depended on the computer for all their operations (acquisition, cataloguing, circulation routines, etc.). Thus, electronic information sources became essential for the academic libraries. Within the last few years, a number of changes in the higher institution were observed, which have exerted pressure upon the traditional role of the academic library such as rapid growth in student number, growing in the number of academic publications, rapid flow of information through internet, growth in distance