ABSTRACT
The introduction of new technologies has had
a significant influence on teaching, learning and research activities in
universities. This has offered university libraries opportunities to provide
information resources in a variety of formats. Studies have indicated that
e-resources are underutilized in university libraries despite their immense benefits
to users. This study investigated the influence of information literacy skills
and computer self-efficacy on postgraduate students’ use of e-resources in
private university libraries in Nigeria.
The study adopted the survey research design.
The study population comprised 2,805postgraduate students in five private universities offering
postgraduate programmes in South-West, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique
was used in the selection process. A purposive selection off our
faculties/schools from each of the five universities was carried out.
Proportionate sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 550 postgraduate
students as the respondents for the study. A validated questionnaire was the
instrument for data collection. The Cronbach’s alpha values for the constructs
ranged from 0.80 to 0.94. The response rate was 88%. Data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and
multiple regression.
Findings
revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between information
literacy skills and the use of e-resources (r = 0.28, p<0.05). Computer
self-efficacy was also found to have a positive correlation with the use of
e-resources (r = 0.26, p<0.05). There was a significant joint influence of
information literacy skills and computer self-efficacy on the use of
e-resources(F(2 : 492) = 22.13; R = .29, R2
= 0.09, Adj. R2 = 0.08; P < .05).
The
study concluded that the utilization of e-resources promoted access to current
information among postgraduate students in the selected private universities in
South-West, Nigeria. The study recommended that
the management of private university libraries should ensure a continuous
provision of e-resources with adequate information communication technology
tools to facilitate their use. The study also recommended that the management
of private university libraries should promote the teaching of information
literacy skills and computer self-efficacy to postgraduate students in private
universities to improve the use of e-resources as well as improve the quality
of their academic work.
Word
Count: 350
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
Title
Page i
Certification ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgements
iv
Abstract v
List of Tables
vi
List of Figures
vii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
- Background to the Study 1
- Statement of the Problem 11
1.3 Objective of the Study 12
1.4 Research Questions 13
1.5 Hypotheses 13
1.6 Significance of the Study
13
1.7 Scope of the Study 14
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
15
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
18
2.1 E-Resources in Nigerian University Libraries 18
2.2 Use of E-resources in Libraries by postgraduate students 21
2.3 Information Literacy Skills of Student 38
2.4 Information Literacy Skills and Use of E-Resources 43
2.5 Computer Self-efficacy of Students
53
2.6 Computer Self-efficacy and Use of E-resources 55
2.7 Information Literacy Skills, Computer Self-efficacy and E-resources Use 68
2.8 Theoretical Framework
71
2.8.1. The Big 6 Information skills model
71
2.8.2. Self-efficacy Theory
73
Content Page
2.8.3. The Unified Theory of Use and Technology Acceptance 76
2.9
Conceptual Model 79
2.10 Appraisal of Literature 80
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
82
3.1 Research Design 82
3.2 Population 83
3.3 Sample size and sampling Technique 83
3.4 Research Instrument 86
3.5 Validity and Reliability of Instrument 87
3.6 Reliability Assessment 87
3.7 Method of Data Collection 88
3.8 Method of Analysis
88
3.9 Ethical Consideration
89
CHAPTER FOUR:
DATAANALYSIS, RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION OF
FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction
90
4.1 Demographic Variables of Respondents 91
4.2 Presentation of Research Questions 92
4.3. Presentation of Hypotheses
100
4.4 Discussion of Findings
103
CHPATER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary 111
5.2 Conclusion 113
5.3 Recommendations 113
5.4 Contribution to Knowledge 114
5.5 Limitation of the Study 115
5.6 Suggestion for Further Studies 115
REFERENCES 116
APPENDICES 144
LIST
OF TABLES
Table Page
- Table representing the study population 76
- Reliability Assessment 80
- Questionnaire Administration and Response Rates 81
4.1. Demographic Variables of the Respondents 85
4.2 Purpose of Use of E-resources 86
4.3. Frequency of Use of E-resources
88
- Information Literacy Skills 89
- Computer Self-efficacy 91
- PPMC of Information Literacy Skills and E-Resources Use 93
- PPMC of Computer Self-Efficacy and E-Resources Use 94
- Multiple linear regression analysis of E-resources Use of
Computer Self-efficacy and information Literacy skills 95
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Page
- The Big Six Information Skills Model 65
- The Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology 70
- Conceptual Model 72
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
University
libraries are known for providing resources to meet the information needs of
those within the university community.Thus, they play supportive role to the
university education by providing necessary information resources and services,
to ensure that the needs, expectations and aspirations of their users are
satisfied. In the past, most university libraries
provided information in print format such
as print textbooks, newspapers, monographs, magazines and so on, but with the
advancement in technology, most libraries have expanded their collections to
include electronic resources abbreviated as e-resources. The Anglo- American
Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2, 2005:p.1) defined an electronic
resource as “material (data and/or program(s)) encoded for manipulation by a
computerized device. This material may require the use of a peripheral directly
connected to a computerized device (e.g.,
CD-ROM drive) or a connection to a computer network (e.g., the Internet)”. The
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA,
2012:p.3) definede-resources as “materials
that require computer access, whether
through a personal computer, mainframe, or handheld mobile device”. From the
definitions, it can be deduced that electronic resources require the knowledge
and use of computers.
Electronic resources are materials that are available
and can be accessed electronically through such computer networked facilities
as online library catalogues, the Internet and the World Wide Web, digital
libraries and archives, government portals and websites, CD-ROM databases,
online academic databases, such as Medline or commercial databases such as
LexisNexis (Karunarathna, 2014). Electronic resources are any collection of
information created electronically that form part of an electronic record and
that is usually stored separately within the digital file making up the
electronic record as a whole. Every electronic record consists of at least one
digital object , component or element, such as the bits of data that come
together to create a word processed document.
For
most university libraries, the provision of e-resources has become increasingly
important due to the demands of the 21st-century
information users who want to find the technologies they are used to outside of
the library, in the library. It is,
therefore, no longer novel to find electronic encyclopedias,
newspapers, books, journals, theses and
dissertations,CD-ROM databases,
online databases and web-based resources in libraries. The use of electronic
resources no doubt has myriad advantages for libraries as users can now access
information resources across the globe without restriction which was
practically impossible in the past. Lending credence to this view, Dadzie
(2007) noted that e-resources provide access to information that might otherwise, be restricted to users due to
geographical location or finance constraints as well as to extensive links to
additional resources having related contents. University libraries, can, therefore, go beyond the information
resources present in the physical library to enable access to information in
remote servers. In university community
where students are mostly engaged in
research activities, the provision of e-resources becomes important considering
that the resources contain frequently updated information.
The
provision of electronic resources in university libraries plays a prominent
role in facilitating access to required information by the users in an easy and
quick manner. Electronic information resources, in reality have become
essential in the academic environment. They serve as motivating factor to students
as they provide them opportunity to transmit, acquire or download, process and
disseminate information on any subject of interest. Electronic resources
provision makes it possible for users to access new tools and applications for
information seeking and retrieval. E-resources have become invaluable research
tools that complement the print collection in the traditional library setting.
These resources serve as veritable
sources of information which students could tap into to aid their class
assignments, write research and term papers, search for information on their
subject areas and so on.
Due
to the several advantages of e-resources such as timeliness, search facilities,
remote access and up datedness,they become more indispensable after the arrival
of the Internet in the academic environment.The provision of e-resources in
tertiary institutions of learning are new ways of gaining quick access to a
great number of research information and dissemination globally. As a result of
the potential benefits offered by e-resources, they have been embraced by
university libraries. Students, especially those at the postgraduate level
would benefit from the e-resources if they are well harnessed as they will
provide excellent opportunities to access scholarly information which are
beyond the reach of libraries due to geographical barrier and limited finances.
Once electronic
resources are provided by university libraries, it is expected that
students utilize them to justify the investment on
such resources. Unlike the federal and state universities in Nigeria which are
funded with public money, and which enjoy certain privileges such as the
Educational Trust Fund (ETF) which seeks to improve the quality of education in
Nigeria through a 2% education tax imposed on the profits of all registered
companies and banks in Nigeria and library consortium such as the Nigerian
Research and Education Network (NgREN) to which 27 federal universities are
currently members (Nigerian Research and Education Network,2016). Private universities,
on the other hand, depend mostly on subvention from their proprietors and other
internally generated revenue (IGR). In most cases, where funds are made
available, the allocation is shared through an agreed upon formula unique to
each university which may or may not be
favourable to the university library.
Although most university libraries (public or
private) spend money in the acquisition of electronic resources, some libraries
devote man-hours to harvesting free electronic resources online with the goal
of increasing access and use of electronic resources. However, irrespective of
what libraries are able to provide, the utilisation
of a product or service is very important as it shows the value attached
to such product or service. On the other
hand, when a service or product is unutilized, it indicates that there is a
problem with it. In such situations, it is necessary for library management to critically review the product or service.
Use, therefore, becomes a standard for measuring the worth of a library’s
product or service. Little wonder then,
that some studies have been dedicated to
investigating the use of electronic resources in libraries (Egberongbe, 2011;
Ajayi, 2014; Islam, 2015; Daramola, 2016).
In
the United Kingdom (UK), Ray and Jay (1998) examined
students’ use of electronic resources in three universities and found that
alarge number of the students use e-resources.
For instance, in Saudi Arabia, a similar study came out witha similar conclusion. A lot of researches have
been carried out in the area of availability and utilization of electronic
resources in Nigerian University libraries (Ozoemelem, 2009; Deng, 2010;
Madhusudhan, 2010; Egberongbe, 2011; Komolafe-Opadeji, 2011 and Ndubisi and Udo,
2013;Okite-Amughoro, Makgahlela and Bopape,
2014; Abubakar & Adetimirin, 2015) and majority of these studies found low
frequency of use of e-resources. The findings of these studiesgive credence to
a major survey of literature carried out by Tenopir (2003) which concluded by
noting that while the use of electronic resources by students in developed
countries is well-recognised, their use in the less developed countries is
still in its infancy. Several reasons such as low bandwidth, erratic power
supply, inadequate provision of computers, lack of information literacy skills
and low computer self-efficacy were reported to attribute to the low frquency
of utilisation of electronic resources in developing countries by the authors.The
Internet and various forms of web-enabled technologies are growing
exponentially, and many more’ pieces of information are becoming digitized in
computers. All these, are to assist students, especially postgraduate students
in their learning and research activities.Students
are expected to use e-resources while at the university to improve the quality
of their academic work. To be successful in the useof the available
e-resources, students need to acquire and practice the skills necessary to explore them.Therefore, for
effective information search to be achieved by postgraduate students, computer
literacy is crucial.
Information literacy skills refer to knowledge of one’s
information needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and
effectively create, use and communicate information (The Association of College
and Research Libraries, 2000). It is required for active participation in the information
society. Indeed, the University
of Idaho (2011)clearly stated that “not all information is created equal: some are authoritative,
current, reliable, but some are biased, out of date, misleading, false; the
amount of information available is going to keep increasing and the types of
technology used to access, manipulate, and create information will likewise
expand”. To make the best out of the ever-growing list of electronic resources,
it is therefore, necessary for u
