TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page – – – – – – – – – i
Certification page – – – – – – – – ii
Approval page – – – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgements – – – – – – v
Table of Contents – – – – – – vii
List of tables – – – – – – – ix
Abstract – – – – – – – x
Chapter One: Introduction
Background to the Study – – – – – – 1
Statement of the Problem – – – – – 14
Purpose of the Study – – – – – – 17
Research questions – – – – – – 18
Hypotheses – – – – – – – 18
Significance of the Study – – – – – 19
Scope of the Study – – – – – – 20
Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature
Conceptual Framework – – – – 22
Concept of Polytechnic Libraries – – – – 22
Concept of Library Users’ Satisfaction – – – 23
Concept of Library Collections – – – – 25
Concept of Collection Evaluation – – – 27
Evaluation Processes for Academic Library Collections – 28
Criteria for Evaluation of Academic Library Collections – 31
Availability of Engineering Collections – – – 40
Adequacy of Engineering Collections – – – 42
Currency of Engineering Collections – – – – – 44
Frequency of Use of Engineering Collections – – 45
Relevance of Engineering Collections – – – 49
Concept of Engineering – – – – – – 51
Problems Associated with the Evaluation of Engineering Collections 56
Strategies for Evaluating Engineering Collections – – 63
Theoretical Framework – – – – – 65
McGrath’s Unified Library Theory – – – 66
Wick’s Theory of
Academic Library Collections – – – 67
Review of Related Empirical Studies – – – 68
Summary of the Literature Review – – – – 81
Chapter
Three: Research Method – – – – 85
Design of the Study – – – – – – 85
Area of the Study – – – – – – 85
Population of the Study – – – – – 86
Sample and Sampling Technique – – – – 86
Instrument for Data Collection – – – – – 88
Validation of the Instrument – – – – 89
Reliability of the Instrument – – – – – – 90
Method of Data Collection – – – – – 91
Method of Data Analysis – – – – – 92
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
Presentation of Analysis Results – – – – 94
Results of Hypothesis – – – – – – 105
Summary of the Major Findings – – – – 105
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Discussion of Findings – – – – – 110
Implications of the Study – – – – – 115
Recommendations – – – – – – 117
Limitations of the Study – – – – – 119
Suggestions for Future Research – – – – 119
Conclusion – – – – – – – 120
REFERENCES – – – – – – 121
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Instruments for Data Collection – – 127
Appendix B: List of Federal and State Polytechnics in North Central Nigeria – – – – – – – – 136
Appendix C: Population of the Study – – 137
Appendix D: Population Sample of the Study – – 138
Appendix E: List of Engineering Programmes offered in the Federal and State Polytechnics in North Central Nigeria – – – – 139
Appendix F: Results of Reliability Test – – – 142
Appendix G Result of Analysis – – – 156
Appendix H: Validates’ Comments – – – 161
LIST OF TABLES
Table Pages
- Availability of Engineering Collections in the Library. – 95
- Adequacy of Engineering Collections in the Library. – 96
- Currency of Engineering Collections in the Library – – 98
- Frequency of Use of Engineering Collections in the Library. – 100
- Relevance of Engineering Collections in the Library. – 101
- Challenges Facing Building of Engineering Collections in the Library- – – – – 102
- Strategies for Developing Comprehensive Engineering Collections
- in the Library. – – – – – – 104
- T-test of Independent Variables – – – – – – 105
Abstract
The study was an evaluation of
engineering collections in polytechnic libraries in north central Nigeria. It
was guided by research questions designed in line with the broad purpose of the
study which is to identify the criteria applied by both library users and
library staff to evaluate engineering collections in the polytechnic libraries
based on the collection-centred approach to evaluation. The study adopted the
evaluative survey design. The population of the study consisted of 893
registered library users, and 32 library staff selected from the eight
polytechnics studied. A sample population size of 210 respondents made up of
178 library users (engineering students), and 32 library staff were used for
the study. The instruments used for data collection were the questionnaire and
observation checklist. The result of the data analysis was presented in mean
and standard deviation mode. The T-test analysis of independent variables was
used to test the hypothesis of the study, the result of which indicated there
is a significant difference between the engineering collections of federal and
state polytechnic libraries in north central Nigeria. The findings among others
revealed the types of engineering collections evaluated were available in each
of the polytechnic libraries except that they are inadequate in terms of
quantity of the printed resources only. Furthermore, there is no doubt that
these libraries are faced with certain challenges in building their engineering
collections which include insufficient budgetary allocations, lack of
sufficient foreign exchange, and high cost of the publications. Some of the
recommendations made are for the libraries to ensure the regular availability
and accessibility of a variety of engineering collections for improved users’
satisfaction. Again, a strategy for achieving this desire is through adequate
budgetary allocations to the libraries by their proprietors and polytechnic
managements as such an effort would provide the opportunity for developing
comprehensive engineering collections for improved users’ satisfaction.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Polytechnic libraries are academic in nature just like those
of the universities and colleges of education. They are established by either
the federal or state government, or private organizations or individuals in
Nigeria, to support the mission of their individual institutions in line with
the academic programmes offered. For effective teaching and learning in
academic institutions, and for successful accreditation of programmes, the
library as one of the most important facilities for verification must ensure
the provision of relevant collections and services. Emphasizing on this, Ifidon cited in
Olanlokun and Adekanye (2005), states that excellent library and information
services cannot be given without an active collection. The assemblage of book
and non – book information resources in the required quantity and quality
depends on collection development activities which comprise of specific library
operations like selection, acquisition, receiving, bibliographic checking,
record keeping, evaluation, and so on. This is therefore a clear indication
that for academic libraries in particular, there is a responsibility to
preserve scholarly communications as well as the primary resources upon which
scholarship often depends.
Similarly, Anyanwu (2013) highlights that the services of
university libraries are geared towards adequate support of the undergraduate,
graduate, and research programmes of the universities through the provision of
conducive environment, adequate reading materials, and facilities. These
requirements are applicable to all
types
of academic libraries, the only difference being in the nomenclature of the
students, like HND and ND in the case of Polytechnics.
As cited by Fadinu and Abdulazeez (2010), the specific functions
of academic libraries are:
- To provide comprehensive and balanced information resources from all formats relevant to the activities of their parent organizations.
- To organize the knowledge acquired for easy storage and retrieval.
- To store and preserve knowledge for use of posterity.
- To retrieve and disseminate information on demand to those that need it and at the correct time.
To meet up with the challenge of producing graduates with
relevant skills required to function in the age of globalization, an
educational system like the polytechnic should strive to provide increased
access to information resources beyond the print information sources of the
traditional library. Expatiating on this, Ojedokun (2007), posits that
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has enabled tertiary education
in Africa to break the jinx of confining the students to purely classroom
teaching, laboratory and workshop practices, by providing access to information
through the Internet which has no barrier of time, distance, and location.
Furthermore, the learning process is now increasingly based on the capacity to
find and access knowledge as well as
apply it in problem solving. Learning to learn, learning to transform
information into new knowledge, and new knowledge into applications has become
more important today than memorizing specific information. The new paradigm
gives priority to information literacy skills, that is, the ability to seek and
find information, crystallize issues, formulate testable hypotheses, evaluate
evidence, and solve problems. As a key professional function of academic
libraries, evaluation and analysis of collections in order to determine their
worth: relevance, currency, availability, adequacy, and extent of use among
others, by the various users based on individual discipline is critical.
Libraries are established to satisfy the information needs of
their target audience hence the concern by librarians about their satisfaction
with the services rendered to them. Libraries therefore are repositories and
storehouses of knowledge and information with the basic function of information
dissemination and retrieval for the benefit of the library users both current
and potential. In other words, all types of library including those of polytechnics
are concerned with regular availability of relevant information resources
through acquisition, and their accessibility with ease by the target audience.
Definitions abound that describe what a library is. To Ogunsheye (1987) cited,
in Adefarati (2004), the library is an institution that manages the
intellectual products of man and organizes them in such a way that the
individual can gain access to them readily. Olanlekan and Salisu (1993) also
cited in Adefarai (2004) espoused the concept of the library being a place where books and non-book
materials are properly acquired, organized, presented, and stored for easy
retrieval and use by library users.
Similarly, Fabunmi (2010), defines the library as the most
dependable source of information on any subject whatsoever, as it stocks
resources contained in form of written documents, printed materials, and
digitized materials purposefully selected, systematically organized, and
preserved by qualified library personnel for use by either the public or target
group. Wilson’s (2013) opinion which is more from the public or national point
of view is that, libraries are uniquely suited to making information available
to all citizens as they provide access to them without regard to social,
cultural, racial, political or economic status. Furthermore, that the library
as an institution in the United States of America for example, fulfills roles
in the preparation of students to perform and succeed in the literate society,
the delivery of continuing education to adults through self-study or organized
events, and the possibility to freely access information to support the
development of an informed electorate to maintain their Republican government.
In summary, libraries exist to collect
the record of human experience and to provide intellectual and physical access
to them by interested users.
Information explosion today has led to
people wanting to locate relevant information in the quickest means and as
specific as possible. This expectation of library users from time past
including the 21st century has formed the bane of Librarianship
rightly espoused by Ranganathan (1931) cited in Foster and McMenemry (2012), as
the Five Laws of Library Science thus:
- Books are for use.
- Every reader, his or her book.
- Every book, its reader.
- Save the time of the reader.
- A library is a growing organism.
It is the collection of information resources
properly organized and kept in one place that translate a building into a
library. Library collection therefore, refers to the various information
resources acquired by a library based on subject disciplines and formats that
are suitable for the target audience or clientele. The ALA Glossary of Library
and Information Science (1983), cited in Fabunmi (2010) defines library collection
as the total accumulation of materials provided by a library for its target
group. It is synonymous with library holding and library resources which all
refer to a variety of information materials both prints and non-prints: books,
periodicals, pamphlets, audio-visuals and so on, that are used as background
and reference materials, all organized and processed according to acceptable
standards for convenient storage and retrieval. Similarly, Ezema (2004),
describes stock or collection as the size of materials in terms of volumes a
library has in its possession at a time, noting that the collection may include
books on various subjects and recreational readings, reference books,
periodicals, pamphlets, documents, manuscripts and archival materials. Ifidon (1997) cited in Olanlokun and Adekanye
(2005) categorized library collections into the following: quick reference or
core collection, open access collection, research collection including specific
collections, general reading materials, and documents. Libraries are manned by
professionals designated as librarians. They are the ones who usually develop
the collections through a combination of a number of strategies which Ifidon
(2006); Anyanwu, Zander and Amadi (2006) all describe as direct purchase, legal
deposit, exchange of publications, donations, bequeaths and photocopying. They
all emphasized these are the most popular strategies adopted by Nigerian
libraries to develop their collections. All the described library collections
are found among those of the engineering discipline. However, this study
focuses only on engineering collections of textbooks, journals, students
projects, reference materials, and on-line resources available in the libraries
of the polytechnics in north central Nigeria.
The engineering profession is the application of science in
the design, planning, construction, and maintenance of buildings, machines, and
other manufactured things. It is a profession involving designing and is
pursued as a career. The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
(2005), further explain the engineering profession as the art of directing the
great sources of power in nature, materials, and science, for the use and
convenience of people. It is differentiated from science because it is primarily
concerned with how to direct to useful and economical ends, the natural
phenomena which scientists discover and formulate into acceptable theories.
Engineering therefore requires above all, the creative imagination to innovate
useful application of natural phenomena. It seeks newer, better, cheaper means
of using natural sources of energy and materials. Furthermore, the typical
modern engineer goes through several phases of career activity like formal
education which must be broad and deep in the sciences and humanities, then
specialization in the intricacies of a particular discipline, also involving
continued post-scholastic education. Without the provision of relevant and adequate
quantity of information resources for engineering programmes in the polytechnic
libraries, those of north central Nigeria inclusive, it would be difficult for
the government and the society at large to meet up this indispensable
expectation of satisfying the country’s quest for technological growth and
development.
Evaluation is the act of examining something
in order to judge its value, quality, importance, extent, or condition, while
library collection evaluation is the assessment of the various information
resources acquired by a library in order to determine their usefulness to the
users. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science (1983), cited in
Fabunmi (2010) describes collection evaluation as filtering, which is a term
related to the development of the library collection including the
determination and coordination of selection policy, assessment of needs of
users and potential users, identification of collection needs, selection of
materials, planning for resource sharing, collection maintenance, and weeding,
Library collection evaluation has also been defined by some authors in various
ways thus: Credaro (2001), explain it as the process of assessing the
effectiveness of a collection to meet the identified needs of the school
community. It is also a continuous process which reflects changes in teaching/learning
programmes and user needs. Magrill and
Corbin (1989) quoted in Credaro (2001), defines it as an approach concerned
with how good a collection is in terms of the kind of materials in it, and the
value of each item in relation to items not found in the collection, to the
community being served, and to the library’s potential users. On the most
fundamental level, collection evaluation means assessing the intrinsic quality
of a library’s holdings, opined Nisonger (1992) cited in Lamb (2004) who further
expressed that on a broader level, the term includes determining how well the
collection is serving its purpose and meeting pattern information needs. To Arizona Department of Library, Archives
and Public Records (2004), an organized process of systematically analyzing and
describing library collection and thus assessing its quality, may be variously
referred to as collection evaluation, while Pernitt (1993) cited in Crawley-Low,
(2002) sees it as collection assessment, and Middle Tennessee State University
(2007), calls it collection analysis. In essence, collection evaluation is a
process of measuring collection effectiveness which involves both the library
managers and the users of the resources who usually have specific areas of
interest using certain guidelines for that assessment. In other words,
collection evaluation is a vital management tool in successful library
operations.
Library information resources are evaluated for several
reasons one of which is to maintain an active library collection of current
interest to the users in the process of which relevant information materials
may be added, and the physically deteriorated or obsolete ones replaced or
removed in accordance with the collection maintenance policy of a given
library. In line with this reason is Spiller’s (2001) assertion that collection
evaluation is the process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a
library’s resources, and attempting to correct existing weaknesses while
maintaining the strengths. In tertiary institutions of learning among which are
the polytechnics, the trend is for specialization in certain disciplines in the
course of academic pursuit where the library user’s expectation is getting the
right information at the right time, in the right way or format, and also at
the quickest time possible. In order to ensure that the library is carrying out
this mandate satisfactorily, it is necessary for it to conduct collection
evaluation exercises from time to time which Gilbert (1995) quoted in Spiller
(2001), states is intrinsically related to technological advancement of
knowledge. He further describes this scenario as “a mountain of research” that
has grown into a chain of mountains with ever-increasing academic
specialization. Similarly, Campbell (1990), quoted in Diagneault (2004) points
out that there is a real need in research on collection evaluation, and for
academic libraries to be selective at all times not just when financial
concerns force them to do so. Evaluation enables a library to have insight as
to how to prioritize in its acquisition of information resources so that
available funds are judiciously utilized, and in the case of academic
institutions, taking cognizance of a realistic budgetary spread across the courses
offered in the individual polytechnics.
Discovery from market
survey has shown that engineering books are among the very expensive book in
the market whether local or foreign, therefore, there is the tendency for
library managers to consciously or unconsciously concentrate on the collections
of other disciplines that are cheaper to acquire in order to have more volumes
in the library to the detriment of others. Carrying out collection evaluation
will therefore give them insight to this deficiency. Ojedokun (2007) states
that evaluation enables libraries to identify what types of information
materials will enhance teaching, independent learning, and research, in their
academic environment. It also helps in determining the format and number of
copies of the selected titles to be purchased or reduced and made available to
a wider audience, taking note of easier accessibility channels like reserve
books facility, and “New Arrivals” display among others. A vital advantage of
collection evaluation is its ability to also create a platform for libraries to
get grants from donor agencies, as well as apply marketing strategies in their
quest for quality collection development. Ameen (2010), buttresses this point
by highlighting that the history of libraries demonstrate that only recently
have library and information science (LIS) professionals turned their attention
towards clients by directly asking about their information needs instead of
librarians making assumptions and collecting titles to meet them. This
development took place in part because of the need to evaluate collections to
get grants, as well as the application of marketing ideas in libraries since
the late 1970’s.
It is very critical to evaluate library collections of
academic institutions, the polytechnics in north\central Nigeria inclusive,
especially at this time of dwindling financial resource to enable them to
evaluate and also maintain a reputation of being reliable information centres
for their communities. As a key function of academic libraries, evaluation and
analysis facilitate availability and accessibility of the resources with
particular emphasis on adequacy, relevance, and currency. Furthermore, any
library that is not creating impact in its service delivery may soon loose
relevance most especially in the present information age where the emphasis is
on ICT and e-library services. In view of the inherent challenges of irregular
power supply, huge expenses on fueling generators, low level of ICT literacy
among library users and staff, as well as insufficient funding to cope with
offering satisfactory electronic services, the polytechnic libraries in north central
Nigeria are very keen in discharging quality services to their users and also
building the confidence of their respective management in them. Carrying out a
collection evaluation exercise at this time will definitely be a welcome
development, more so as it is the process of planning a stock acquisition
programme not simply to cater for the immediate needs of users, but to build a
coherent and reliable collection over a period of time to meet the objectives
of service.
The provision of the right book to the right reader at the
right time, in the right format, and at the quickest time possible can be seen
as an effort towards library users’ satisfaction. The library is a service
organization saddled with the primary responsibility of providing information
packaged in various formats for the benefit of interested users according to
their levels, and also at the right time. The discharge of this duty
efficiently can be described as service delivery aimed at satisfying the
informa
