INFORMATION SERVICES PROVISION IN LIBRARIES AS A FACTOR FOR MALARIA REDUCTION AMONG UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

Objectives: The main objective was to study information services provision in libraries as a factor for malaria reduction in federal university of technology Minna, with undergraduate students in view. The specific objectives were 1. To find out the information provision in FUT Minna library as regards to malaria 2. To find out the library information resources on malaria 3. To find out user-educational programmes on malaria information awareness by the library 4. To find out the students’ perception of the library malaria information ser vices. Methods: Using students as respondents, four research questions which were in consonance with the objectives were posed for the study. Three hundred and seventy-six (376) students were used as the as the sample size of the population. The entire number of FUT Minna Undergraduate student as at 2018/2019 academic session was Nineteen thousand, four Hundred and twenty-one (19,421) however, the researchers cited Onwukanjo (2017) who cited Krejcie and Morgan (1970) which states that for a population of (150,000 to 200,000) a sample size of three hundred and seventy-six (376) should be used. The researchers used a sampling fraction of 2.2% to select 376 undergraduates from the total population using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire was the only data collection instrument. The Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliability coefficients of the instruments. The values obtained were 0.85 for Malaria Reduction Questionnaire (MRQ), 0.91 for Information Services Provision Questionnaire (ISPQ). The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation.

Results: The finding of the study revealed that there are malaria information services being provided. These services range from compilation of malaria bibliography, inter-library cooperation with medical libraries for accessibility to malaria information, malaria health awareness, ask a librarian on malaria, malaria enquiry services, current awareness services on malaria, selection dissemination of information on malaria, indexing and abstracting though not super satisfactorily .In addition, the study also revealed that there are different library material and resources available to students for malaria information provision, more so, various health awareness initiatives are also put in place by the library to its target users.

Conclusion: The study recommends that the University Authorities and relevant stakeholders in the education sectors should do all that is possible in ensuring proper funding of academic libraries so as to enable them function as a veritable medium in malaria awareness campaign, sensitization, and lastly have robust information materials on malaria reduction and prevention.