AVAILABILITY AND UTILISATION OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES AND SERVICES BY LIBRARIANS IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study surveyed the availability and utilisation of electronic resources and services by librarians in university libraries in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study reported that electronic resources and services constitute a major source of information for librarians in their job/research productivity. Availability of electronic resources and services denotes the assurance that electronic resources and services are acquired, processed and managed by libraries in order to facilitate their accessibility and utilisation, while utilisation entails the practical and deliberate effort to maximize the use of library electronic resources and services. The research design adopted for the study is descriptive survey and the population is 36 librarians from Bingham University, AutaBalifi, Federal University, Lafia and Nasarawa State University, Keffi. A structured questionnaire, observation checklist and interview schedule were used to collect relevant data regarding the study. The study revealed that various electronic resources and services are available across the three universities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, except Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), multimedia services, electronic reference services, electronic Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) and electronic document delivery services that behaved differently. Furthermore, there were variances in the utilisation and satisfaction rate with the use of electronic resources and services by librarians in the three university libraries under study. Where the utilisation/satisfaction is low, it was attributed to epileptic power supply, low bandwidth/ network fluctuation, lack of renewal /updates to subscription of online databases among others. The literature review showed that the job/research productivity of librarians depends on the level of availability and utilisation of electronic resources at their disposal, it was recommended that deliberate efforts by the university management should be made to ensure adequate funding of the university libraries in order to acquire and make electronic resources and services abundantly available in university libraries in Nasarawa State.