ROLE OF CONSORTIUM MEMBERSHIP FOR EXPANDING ACCESS AND RESOURCES

ROLE OF CONSORTIUM MEMBERSHIP FOR EXPANDING ACCESS AND RESOURCES

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter One: 

1.0        Introduction                                                                        
1.1        Background Information                                                     
1.2        Problem Statement                                                            
1.3         Research Objectives                                                          
1.4       Hypothesis                                                                         
1.5        Significance of the Study                                                    
1.6        Scope of the Study                                                            

Chapter Two: 

2.0   Literature Review

Chapter Three: 

3.0   Research Methodology                                         
3.1   Description of the Study Area                             
3.2   Research Design                                                            
3.3  Method of Data Collection                                            
3.4  Data Limitation                                                             
3.5  Method of Data Analysis                                               
3.5.1   Summative Approaches                                
3.5.2   Simple Percentage                                             
3.5.3   Incremental Averages                                        

3.6    Test of Hypothesis                                             

Chapter Four

4.0 Presentation of Data, Analysis of Data and Discussion of Findings        
4.1  Data Presentation                                                          
4.2  Data Analysis                                                                
4.3  Discussion of Findings                                         
4.4   Test of Hypothesis                                                         

Chapter Five: 

5.0  Summary    of      Findings Conclusion and
Recommendation                                              
5.1  Summary of Findings                                                     
5.2  Conclusion                                                       
5.3  Recommendation                                                 
ReferencesCHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Academic libraries all over the world are established to provide support to the teaching, learning, research and community service functions of their parent institutions. In performing their numerous functions, the academic libraries acquire information resources in diverse formats, organize, preserve and disseminate them to users through a plethora of user oriented services. The extent to which the libraries can provide services in meeting the information needs of their users depends on a number of factors that include funding, staffing, quantity, depth, and recency of the collection; general support and goodwill of the management of the parent body, environmental factors and consortium building (Nwalo, 2008).The main goal of every academic resource is to provide satisfactory services to its users, by making more information resources available to them (Gang, 1980). Access to information is a fundamental right of all resource patrons in Nigeria. Since no individual resource has adequate resources to meet its patrons needs, libraries therefore participate in resource sharing services.

It is pertinent to note that these services supplement and greatly expand local collections and remove geographic barriers. Successful resource sharing services in academic libraries depends on the ability to locate, identify and promptly deliver specific items to its patrons (Ejedafiru, 2011) when libraries cooperate and make their resources accessible to one and another. The justification for resource sharing is hinged on the fact that no resource, however large could be completely self-sufficient in provision of resources. According to Nwalo (2008), a resource consortium is any local, regional or national co-operative association of libraries that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of schools, public, academic, special libraries and information centers, for improving services to the clientele of such libraries. In another dimension, Kumar (2014) observed that consortium facilitates the libraries to get the benefits of wider access to electronic resources at affordable price and to the best term of licenses, the consortium to its collective strength of participating institutions has highly attracted discount rate of subscription with most favourable terms of agreement. The resource environment has changed drastically over the past few decades due to the rapid growth and development ofiCT and it make a lot of impact on resource system especially in their collection and services. The so-called 'Information Revolution' has made Libraries around the world to adopt new philosophies and technologies for information dissemination and also reduce the cost of information.

Libraries have realized that although they are well funded, it is difficult to acq uire all the materials needed by the clientele. In fact partnership and cooperation in local, national and international have become enviable for all libraries. In achieving resource sharing/resource cooperation is through the establishment of consortium over networks. The resource consortia is one of the major implications ofICT advancements in Information industry for maximizing the availability of scholarly resources in electronic format to academic and research communities at shared cost. The exceptional growth of scholarly resources in electronic format especially in the form of databases, the diversified user needs in academic institutions, fmancial crunch and lack of selfsustainability."",,1ead40dhe-formation of consortium. However, the study tends to examine the role of consortium membership for expanding access and resources.