TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Page – – – – – – i
Title Page – – – – – – – ii
Approval Page – – – – – – – – iii
Certification Page – – – – – – iv
Dedication – – – – – – – v
Acknowledgements – – – – – – – vi
Table of Contents – – – – – – vii
List of Tables – – – – – – – x
Abstract – – – – – – xi
Chapter One: Introduction – – – – – – 1
Background to the Study – – – – – – 1
Statement of the Problem – – – – – – 9
Purpose of the Study – – – – – 11
Research Questions – – – – – – 11
Significance of the Study – – – – – 12
Scope of the Study – – – – – – 13
Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature – – – 14
Conceptual Framework – – – – – – 14
Overview of the University Libraries, Software Generally and Library Oriented Software package(s) – – – – – 14
Availability of Library Software package(s) – – – – 17
Selection Methods of Library Software package(s) – – 23
Selection processes of Library Software package(s) – 27
Problems of Library Software Selection Practices – 32
Strategies for Enhancing the Library Software Selection Practices 36
Review of Related Empirical Studies – – – 40
Summary of the Review – – – – 44
Chapter Three: Research Method – – – – 45
Design of the Study – – – – – – 45
Area of the Study – – – – – – 45
Population of the Study – – – – – 46
Sample and Sampling Technique – – – – – 46
Instrument for Data Collection – – – 47
Validation of the Instrument – – – – – 48
Method of Data Collection – – – – – 48
Method of Data Analysis – – – – – 48
Chapter Four: Presentation and Analysis of Data – – – 50
Research Question One – – – – – 50
Research Question Two – – – – – 52
Research Question Three – – – – – 54
Research Question Four – – – – – 56
Research Question Five – – – – – – 57
Summary of the Major Findings – – – – – 58
Chapter Five: Discussion, Recommendation and conclusion – 59
Discussion of Findings – – – – – – 59
Implications of Findings – – – – – – 61
Recommendations – – – – – – – 63
Suggestions for Further Studies – – – – – 63
Limitations of the Study – – – – – 64
Conclusion – – – – – – 65
References – – – – – – – 66
Appendix A: Population of the Study – – – – 72
Appendix B: Sampled Population – – – – – 72 Appendix C: Data Collection Instruments – – – – 73
Appendix D: Instrument Validation – – – – 80
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1A: Availability of Library Software
(Observation Checklist)
Table 1B: Availability of Library Software
(Questionnaire)
Table 2: Methods of Software Selection Practices in
the Libraries
Table 3: Effectiveness of Software Selection
Processes of the Libraries
Table 4: Problems of Software Selection Practices
in the Libraries
Table 5: Strategies for Enhancing the Software
Selection Practices of the Libraries
ABSTRACT
The study
examined the software selection practices of two federal university libraries
in south east Nigeria.
Specifically, five purposes and research questions guided the study. It was a
descriptive survey study that used disproportionate stratified random sampling
technique to select eighty (80) samples out of two hundred and forty seven
(247) library staff. The study used structured questionnaire and observation
checklist as the instrument for data collection. Eighty (80) copies of
questionnaire were distributed to the respondents and seventy two (72) of them
returned. This represented a return rate of ninety percent (90%). The data
collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency tables,
simple percentages and mean scores. And the decision rule for research question
one items was based on fifty percent (50%) benchmark for either availability or
non-availability percentage values while that of research question two to five
was based on whether the item’s value for mean score was equal to or above the
criterion mean for acceptance or otherwise rejected. In addition, the findings
of the study revealed that: eight library software packages as Tin-lib, X-lib,
Lib-plus, GLAS, Resource-mate, Koha (open source), Alice for WINDOWS and
Greenstone are available in the libraries; selection practice methods such as
quantitative, intuitive, decision analysis, political, technological and
experiences from seminar approaches were employed in the selection practices of
the libraries; and selection practices processes such as criterion dependent,
library requirement dependent, technological advancement dependent, library
development and growth dependent, software evolutionary trends dependent, and
among others were effective in the selection practices of their libraries. It
further revealed that: problems as financial barriers (funding), insufficient
infrastructure, political barriers, inadequate planning and communication,
among others affected their software selection processes and strategies like
adequate funding, planning and communication as well as involvement of top
management, use of reliable data, consultation with previous users, adherence
to selection criteria, and among others were appropriate for enhancing their
software selection practices. With respect to the above findings, the study
recommended the selection of software package(s) that will sustain the
operations and services of the libraries and the adoption of methods and
processes most appropriate for the libraries.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study:
In an
attempt to acquire all the relevant resources as well as the unalloyed services
necessary for sustaining the teaching, learning, research and public services
of the host university; a library is established. This is why Madu (2004)
opines that “the academic health, intellectual vitality, vibrancy and
effectiveness of any university depend largely upon the state of health,
performance and excellence of their libraries”. Generally, libraries irrespective
of types are meant to select, order, acquire, process/organize, store and
disseminate relevant information resources to their clientele. Specifically,
libraries in institution of higher learning (universities, polytechnics and
colleges) that are organized to meet the information needs of the student,
staff and school/faculty are referred to as academic libraries (Trustees’
Glossary, 2004). In Nigeria,
the existence of such libraries dates back to the establishment of Yaba College
of Technology in 1934 and University College Ibadan in 1948. Since then, it has
become a tradition that every institution of higher learning must have her own
library which must support the teaching, learning and research processes of
such institution.
Consequently,
university libraries in particular are established by universities. It gears
towards the facilitation of learning, teaching and research activities of the
academic community. Hence, university libraries as part of the university
support the curriculum and research needs of student, staff and faculty of the
university (Online Library Learning Glossary, 2006). In lieu of this,
university libraries are indeed the most important organ in the university
system. Thus, the establishment of libraries in the universities becomes
inevitable as notwithstanding the support for conventional generic functions
(teaching, learning and public services) the university libraries perform the
following added functions as: pursuit, promotion and dissemination of knowledge,
manpower development, provision of social economic modernization, provision of
intra and intercontinental international understanding as well as provision of
intellectual leadership. In the light of the foregoing, the prime functions of
the university libraries include the following:
provision of
material for undergraduate instruction, term papers, and project as well as
complementary reading; provision of material in support for postgraduate
research;
provision of
expensive standard work especially in the specialized discipline; provision of
material support for faculty and collaborated research; provision of material
for personal self development; provision of special information on the region
within which the university is located; co-operation with other academic
libraries with a view to developing a network of academic libraries resources
that is at the disposal of all scholars (Ifidion and Okoli, 2002: 24).
Consequently, with knowledge and or information explosion,
the management of information in academic libraries and indeed university
libraries becomes a challenge. This is primarily due to some inherent
shortcomings that are associated with manual operations in our university
libraries. Such shortcomings are: inaccuracy, limited access to information, retrospective
conversion of records, slow pace of operation and breakdown of service
delivery. It is against this background that the use of computers (an
electronic device that accepts raw data or information as input, and through an
encoded set of instruction (program); processes it (the raw data or
information) to generate a meaningful and an accurate result (Obeta, 2007)) and
its associated technologies in our university libraries and indeed libraries in
general becomes imperative. Obeta further emphasized that computers as a system
that works together for information processing are composed of three major
components. Such components are:
Hardware: consisting
of the physical and tangible components that make up the computer system as the
input, output, and processing units as well as the backing storage.
Software: comprising
of programs or set of instructions which computers will follow to perform its
task, examples are the system software as operating system, language
translators, utility programs and device drivers and the application software
as word processing program, Statistical Programs for Social Sciences (SPSS),
database programs, desktop publishing programs, library packages, e.t.c.
Livesware or
humanware: consisting of varying professionals in the computing industries as
system operators, system analyst, programmers, Database Managers (DMs), system
engineers, hackers, e.t.c p.15.
But for the purpose of this research work, the interest is
on computer software. Shameen (2006) defined it as; “instructions (programs)
that when executed provides desired features, functions and performances” or
“data structures that enables the programs to adequately manipulate
information” or “documents that describe the operation and use of the
programs”. As was stated earlier software are composed of two major categories,
namely:
system software:
These are software designed to operate the computer hardware and provide the
platform for running the application software……; and the application software: which
are generalized set of programs designed to enable computers to be used for a
particular application or task…. (Ralph, et al., 2003: 65)
Notably, the growth in the use of these applications
software or software packages in every areas of human endeavour are alarming. This
is because they have some characteristics that sustain their usage. Such
characteristics are; they are developed not manufactured, they do not “ware
out” but deteriorates with changes and that most of them are custom built.
As a result of this, companies, institutions, co-operate
organizations, and government agencies, ministries and parastatals rely
heavenly on the use of software driven interconnected compute
