ORGANIZATION AND USE OF STUDENT PROJECT-REPORTS IN THE POLYTECHNIC LIBRARIES IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1:           Populations of the study          –           –           –           26       

Table 2:           Procurement of Project Report –           –           –           28

Table 3:           Method of organization –             –           –           –           29

Table 4:           Space Accommodation –            –           –           –           30

Table 5:           Cataloguing of Project reports in Polytechnic Libraries –       –           –           30

Table 6:           Adequacy of Project Reports Location –           –           31       

Table 7:           Available Facilities –         –           –           –           31

Table 8:           Access to Project Reports in the Polytechnic Libraries –        –           –           32       

Table 9:           Entries created for students Project Reports in Library Catalogue –  –           33

Table 10:         Sources of Access to Project Reports by users in Polytechnics Libraries       33

Table 11:         Information Dissemination in Polytechnic Libraries  –           –           –           34       

Table 12:         Terms of Availability of Project Reports in Polytechnic Libraries     –           34

Table 13:         Qualification of staff in charge of Project Reports in Polytechnic Libraries  35

Table 14:         Heads of section (Project Report Collection) –           –           –           –           35       

Table 15:         Personnel Experiences in Library Service –  36       

Table 16:         Staff Strength on duty-Post      –           –           –           36

Table 17:         Problems Facing Polytechnic Libraries in organization of the reports            37

Table 18:         Problems faced by the Library in the provision of Access-    –           –           38

Table 19:         Problems facing Polytechnic Libraries in Dissemination –      –           –           38       

Table 20:         Digitalized Polytechnic Libraries –         –           –           39

Table 21:         Polytechnic Libraries connected to Internet         39       

Table 22:         Ways of improving organization     –           –           –           40

Table 23:         Ways of improving accessibility  –        –           –           –           41

Table 24:         Ways of improving Dissemination –          –           –           41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page      –           –           –           –           –           –           –           i

Approval page                –           –           –           –           –           –           ii

Certification    –           –           –           –           –           –           –           iii

Dedication        –           –           –           –           –           –           –           iv

Acknowledgment             –           –           –           –           –           –           v

List of Tables  –           –           –           –           –           –           –           vi

Table of Contents          –           –           –           –           –           –           vii

Abstract          –           –           –           –           –           –           –           ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study-          –           –           –           –           –           1

Statement of the Problem-          –           –           –           –           –           10

Purpose of the Study- –           –           –           –           –                       12

Research Questions-      –           –           –           –           –           12

Significance of the study –            –           –           –           –           –           13

Scope of the study-      –           –           –           –           –           –           14

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Conceptual frameworks –       –           –           –           –           –           –           15

The concept of Polytechnic     –           –           –           –           –           16

Overview of the Potentials of Research Report in Polytechnic Education: –           17

Organization and Use of Research Reports in Libraries . –     –           21

Problems Associated with the Organization And Use Of Students Research Reports 22

Review of Related Empirical Studies        –           –           –           –           23

Summary of Literature Review.-               –           –           –           –           24

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD

Research Design-             –           –           –           –           –           –           25

Area of the Study-      –    –           –           –           –           –           –           25

Population of the Study-                 –           –           –           –           –           25

Sample and Sampling Technique-      –           –           –           –           –           26

Instrument for data Collection-           –           –           –           –           –           26

Validation of the Instrument- –      –           –           –           –           –           27

Method of Data Collection –  –     –           –           –           –           –           27

Method of Data Analysis-           –           –           –           –           –           27

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF DATA         –           –           28

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION           –           –           43

Summary of findings  –          –           –           –           –           –           50

Conclusion      –           –   –           –           –           –           –           52

References-    –             –           –           –           –           –           –           54

APPENDICES                    –           –           –           –           —          –           57

ABSTRACT

The end result of education as one of the instruments for national development is empowerment to make one useful and productive to the society. Polytechnic establishment is to enhance or encourage this through technological know-how and practical knowledge. Its objectives are tailored to meet working life but they are basically ill-equipped for this purpose. To ameliorate this, the sector is given impetus to a renewed investment in research that culminates in enormous growth in library resources. The growth usually generates problems of organization and consequently accessibility to information. There has to be proper organization of the materials before these can be adequate accessibility. Therefore as we prepare to meet the needs of library users, our expertise in resources organization is fervently needed. The main purpose of the investigation into this study is to examine the organization and use of the project reports in polytechnic libraries, identify problems militating against the professional practice and proffer suggestions that can improve the challenges identified. Six research questions were formulated to guide the study. The Organization and Use of Thesis in Polytechnics Questionnaire (OUTIPQ) was the instrument used to collect data for the study. Data was collected from the ten polytechnic libraries in North-Central of Nigeria. The study identified lack of professional handling-full cataloguing, indexing and abstracting services, lack of database creation, lack of bulletin and non-digitization of library resources and internet connectivity as problems militating against the professional services needed. But succor can be through adequate training of staff and deployment of user education with adequate funding for provision of necessary tools. With the availability of ICT, the development of internet, the availability of digitization equipments access and the formation of digital library software (DLS), to the potential users with no barriers globally. If we are not prepared to engage with technology to publicize these project reports, then we will do the future of public access to information a grave disservice.    

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

            Nations allover tries to improve and develop her social, economic and political system for her citizen’s wellbeing. Among other instruments for achieving these objectives is education, which is an instrument “par excellence” for effecting national development. Education is a vehicle by which a nation can liberate itself from Ignorance, poverty and diseases etc. It is a means by which a nation can quickly and speedily attain economic, social and political freedom and independence.

            Polytechnic is a term which may be held to designate any institution formed with a view to encourage or to illustrate various arts and sciences. A non-university higher education institution usually focusing on vocational education. Polytechnic occurs in several countries and vary considerably in size and status from one country to another. Some institutions include polytechnic and university in their name. Emphasis is on practical disciplines. It has however, been used with different applications in several European countries. In France, the first ecole polytechnique   was founded by the National convention at the end of the 18^th century as a practical protest against the almost exclusive devotion to literary and abstract studies in the places of higher learning.

            In Germany there are many technical colleges which in like manner, have a special and industrial rather than a general educational purpose. In Switzer Land, the principal educational institution which is not maintained or administered by the communal authorities, but is non-local and provided by the Federal government is the polytechnikum at zurich. In all the important towns of the federation, there are trade and technical schools of a more or less special character, adopted to the local industries; examples, schools of silk weaving, wood-carving, watch making, or agriculture. Polytechnic is designed to give instruction and practical training in those sciences which stand in the closest relation to manufactures and commerce and to skilled industry in general and its work is of university rank.

            Polytechnic is a school of higher education offering instruction in a variety of vocational, technological and science subjects, that is institution in which instruction in industrial arts, applied science or technical subjects is given. The goal of the polytechnic system has been to boost expertise by means of a network of polytechnic throughout the country and the education is so designed to meet working life. The main objectives were to provide education with an applied and technical emphasis and strong vocational orientation for the intermediate. Invariably, the scope of polytechnic education includes the production of trained manpower in applied science, technology and commerce; the provision of technical knowledge and vocational skills and the fostering of the understanding of the complexities of technology and science (Gana, 1992). Attama (2005) agrees that polytechnic education is that which leads to acquisition of practical and applied skill as well as basic scientific knowledge.

            To reach this objective, polytechnic train students to be professionals who are capable of working independently and whose skills in science are targeted towards applied research. A polytechnic gives skills and know-how for the changing demands of working life. It offers knowledge and training geared towards preparing the recipients for a special role in the economy. Therefore, polytechnics are important agents for national development, and through their teaching and learning programmes, they produce the needed technical manpower necessary for the engineering of the social, economic, industrial and technological development of a nation (Ajibero, 1992). Consequently, based on the above, the first college of technology in Nigeria-Yaba college of Technology was established in 1948. However prior to the establishment of polytechnic education, there were the conventional universities for training of higher level professionals and the technical colleges where artisans were trained for maintenance work. There was a gap between these two levels of educational phase, this led to the demand for a type of institution that would produce the much needed middle-level manpower that make sustainability of technological innovations their priority for societal benefits. The polytechnics were that sector of higher education with a bias towards courses leading to vocational qualifications. It was entrenched in the promulgated Decree.  (Nigeria, FMOI-Decree no 33, 1979).

Apart from the benefits derived as a result of this establishment such as development and employment of higher level manpower, there are attendant problems associated with their establishment such as- planning, resource management, curriculum development, administration, academic programmes articulation and other associated issues.

These are problems among others, the scholars, students and researchers over the years devote their time to proffer solutions for the improvement of mankind and the society. The polytechnic segment of the tertiary institutions has her mission and vision uniquely derived from the above, they are supposed to provide the framework for technology and to manipulate discovery for the maximum benefit of the society. They are to provide the platform on which technological development revolves. For polytechnics to achieve these as a vehicle for technical education at the tertiary level in Nigeria they have these specific mandate:

1. Provide full-time or part-time courses of instruction and training in engineering, other technologies, applied sciences, businesses and management, leading to the production of trained manpower.
2. Provide the technical knowledge and skills necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development of Nigeria.
3. Give training and impart the necessary skills for the production of technicians, technologist and engineers, skilled personnel who shall be enterprising and self-reliant.
4. Train people who can apply scientific knowledge to solve environmental problems for the convenience of man and
5. Give exposure on professional studies in technologies.

Polytechnics, like other tertiary institutions try to achieve these mandates through teaching, research and development, community service, virile staff development programmes, generation and dissemination of knowledge,  variety of programmes including full-time, part-time etc. access to training funds, Students Industrial Work Experience scheme (SIWES), maintenance of minimum standards through appropriate agencies, inter-institutional cooperation and dedicated services to the community (FRN, 2004).

         The 2004, National Policy on Education spells out in clear and unequivocal terms the philosophy and objectives that underlie its investment in education. In it, the expected role of our education system from primary to tertiary level is articulated succinctly. Tertiary or higher level of education in which the Polytechnic is a part has the following mandate:

1. Contribute to national development through high level relevant manpower training.
2. Develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the individual and society.
3. Develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and appreciate their local and external environments.
4. Acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society;
5. Promote and encourage scholarship and community service;
6. Forge and cement national unity and
7. Promote national and international understanding and interaction, (FRN,2004).

The essence of tertiary education is to prepare for the survival of society through; developing manpower for all sectors of economy and the educational levels including research and development for the sustainable development of society and for the improvement of life generally in society.(Ivowi, 2006).

The significance of higher education therefore, cannot be over emphasized as the future of any nation, especially political, social, and economic development depend on the efficient and effective implementation of its set goals. Tertiary institution are expected to contribute to national development through the training and production of high level man power and to develop in their students proper values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and competencies which will make them self reliant and patriotic citizens who will contribute significantly to the development and progress of their society and the nation.  From the foregoing, it can be seen that for the lofty goals and objectives to be attained at the higher education level, there are many kinds of inputs but students constitute not only the largest input but also the central focus and reason for all the other inputs. Nwagwu (2006) opined that, using classical systems models, all processing activities revolve around the students and all outputs are judged by the quality of the graduates from the tertiary institutions.         

For the polytechnics to proffer solutions to myriads of societal problems, they pursue these through research among others. Their students select areas of research and apply scientific knowledge to solve problems that confront society. That student research project-reports are the focus of these present investigations.

            The library in any higher institution is the most significant academic facility. They are expected to support the teaching-learning process of students and the research needs of the faculty amongst others. They are very important academic support unit in the polytechnic. It is therefore, the responsibility of the Nigerian polytechnic libraries to acquire, organize, store and make available the relevant information necessary for sustaining the teaching-learning process and research.

            The polytechnic libraries are academic libraries whose content and structure reflect the needs as well as the demands of polytechnic education as well as those of its community as stated earlier. In emphasizing the role of the academic library, Ekere (1992) stressed that the main objective of any academic library is to support the teaching, learning and research activities of the parent institution; an objective which is achieved through systematic acquisition and organization of all forms recorded and undocumented information in all fields pertinent to the goals of the institution, and by making such information available to the members of the academic community and other scholars engaged in study and research. On his own part Afolabi (1985), opined that the library in an educational establishment should supply students and staff with recorded ideas of value to them, for their programmes of teaching, research and learning. Besides furnishing staff and students with information materials of all types, the library should help the students with information materials of all types, the library should help the students, to become familiar with its resources, develop skills in locating and using the materials. Ajibero (1995) in highlighting this strategic role of the academic library emphasized that the library of a polytechnic is a meeting point of the complementary concept of the library as an educational agency and a source of information. Therefore, the common focus existing between polytechnic libraries and their users is service. The library has responsibility to ensure that its resources and services are used. With a variety of mode of programmes mounted by the polytechnics; full-time, part-time, regular programmes etc. there are welter of these collection, there is need for professional organization and proper utilization of these valuable resources. Since the provision of information on demand or in anticipation of demand in response to perceived need is the domain of information science, as such the organization of these resources to facilitate information access and retrieval should be a major concern of the library managers. Academic librarians responsibility is the description of documents, their contents, features and purposes including the organization of such documents. This is to make the documents and their parts available and accessible to persons seeking them. Therefore, we would not loose sight of these information resources that contain viable intellectual product from the product of polytechnic education that are relevant to research and scholarship. It therefore deserves the attention of librarians and information professionals like other forms of publications.

            The resources of polytechnic libraries to support the mandate of the parent institution encompasses the human and material. The human resources are the personnel that man the activities of the libraries. The materials comprises of the collection; [books, non-book, grey-literature (e.g. Project Reports); Building; Equipments; Funds etc. With the premise that the role of polytechnic libraries is to meet the teaching and information needs of the community for practical and applied skills in the sciences and technology, the physical facilities component of the libraries resources can be appreciated; this is because the physical are those materials features which make learning or doing things easy or simple. In the library environment, physical facilities cover a wide range of objects. The libraries are repositories and access points for prints, audio and visual materials in numerous formats, including maps, prints, documents, microform, audio-tapes, CDs, cassettes, video tapes, DVDs, video games, e-books, e-audio books, and many other electronic resources. Among the physical resources deposited in the polytechnic libraries are the product of students research investigation. Being the focus of the present study, as polytechnics are designed to produce holders of Ordinary Diploma (ND) and holders of Higher National Diploma (HND). However, the student project-reports under studies are those research undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a Higher National Diploma (HND) from the polytechnics as partial fulfillment of a requirement for graduation. These are deposited in the institution library through statutory legal deposits condition set-up by the authority of the polytechnic every year.

            These students research reports are expected to have research values and serve as a veritable source of information on problems militating against the development of polytechnics or technical advancement in the country. As an excellent source of information, they contribute to various fields of knowledge and access to them is very useful. Project Reports are very important because they communicate information which has been compiled as a result of research and analysis of data and of issues. Reports cover a wide range of topics, but usually focus on transmitting information with a clear purpose, to a specific audience. Good reports and documents that are accurate, objective and complete. Reports are expected to be systematic and should be well-written, clearly structured and expressed in a way that holds the reader’s attention and meets their expectations. The true value of the research investigation to be appreciated is always assessed through a report, since the written report may be the only tangible product of hundred of hours of work, rightly or wrongly, the quality and worth of that work are judged by the quality of the written report –its clarity, organization and content. The students research reports under this study embodies these characteristics which makes them significant in the library collections to meat the library users needs and aspirations. Consequently, with these students efforts proffering solution to issues of life, the particular problem envisaged is inadequate access to these veritable information sources and unprofessional organization of these unique collection which make the content value of no consequence to the objective of polytechnic education.

The historic function of librarianship has been to accumulate and maintain a record of human knowledge in a form which is as uniform, ordered, economical and predictable in use as the complexity of the materials will allow. In management palance, organization is the collection of people in one structure with the aim of achieving stated goals, or it is a varied ways in which certain aspect of life, collections or items are structured for effective and efficient operation. Organization in the present study concerns orderliness or arrangement of items physically for accessibility and use and not as management style. We organize to understand the world around us and we organize to save time as we bring similar things together because we need to retrieve later. Our concept of organization here is a process of arranging resources into a whole of interdependent parts so that these project reports may be located quickly and collections may be browsed efficiently. Therefore, the type of organization referred to in this study is bibliographic organization of the resources. On the order hand, the disorderly record is subjected to bibliographical control, its idiosyncratic use is economically standardized by classification, indexing and abstracting systems.  These resources are part of those that reflect man’s intellectual efforts and as such we should bear in mind the call to all nations to intensify efforts towards the collection, bibliographic control and dissemination of locally generated grey literature. (Omeje, 1998).

Academic librarians responsibility is the description of documents, their contents, features and purposes including the organization of such documents. This is to make the documents and their parts available and accessible to persons seeking them. Therefore, We would not loose sight of these information resources that contain viable intellectual product from the product of Polytechnic education that are relevant to research and scholarship. It therefore deserves the attention of librarians and information professionals like other forms of publications.

Statement of the Problem