ATTITUDE OF STUDENTS TOWARDS THE USE OF LIBRARY FACILITIES: A CASE STUDY OF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

ATTITUDE OF STUDENTS TOWARDS THE USE OF LIBRARY FACILITIES: A CASE STUDY OF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The academic libraries have been described as the “heart” of the learning community providing a place for students and faculty to conduct their
research and advance their knowledge. In the education system, an academic library is the centre of academic life. A university library or any library attached
to an institution of higher education exists to support the goal of its parent organization, since university libraries are an integral part of the higher education
system, they should provide support services for the formal educational programs as well as for facilities for research and for generation of new knowledge. It is important of any information professional working in an academic or any other library to know the real needs of the user community. Understanding the needs of the target group will help to develop the diverse strategies that are appropriate to obtain effective
results. Since the university library is committed to provide excellent resources and services, it has to develop an ongoing dialog with its user community. On the other hand
academic libraries have to improve the quality of their service to survive in this volatile competitive environment. Therefore it is crucial to evaluate the library
service from customer’s point of view at the same time order to set up user-centered service, the library needs to know the user and user needs. One of the
main tools that can be used to evaluate and assess the library services is the user survey. It is impossible to assess the changing needs of the clientele unless
user surveys are conducted to determine user needs and their reading interests.
A library, strives to play a leading role in the teaching, learning and research activities of its parents institution, it should be aggressively dynamics in the provision of its services and manned by personnel of the highest quality, who possess adequate background, appropriate professional training and experience and the proper orientation to meet the challenges of modern university academic, use expectation from any information system is to make available directly or remotely and in real time the needed information, formal notwithstanding, in the university environment the library a major information
providing system support’s teaching learning and research with information materials of various types (Anunobi and Edoka 2010).

ATTITUDE OF STUDENTS TOWARDS THE USE OF LIBRARY FACILITIES: A CASE STUDY OF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION