TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page……………………………………………………………….. …………….i
ApprovalPage……………………………………………………………….…………ii
Certification………………………………….…………………………… ………….iii
Dedication……………………………………….…………………………. …………iv
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………..v
Table of content………………………………………………………………………..vi
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….vii
CHAPTERONE:INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………1
Background of Study…………………………………………………………………1
Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………………….9
Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………………10
Research Questions…………………………………………………………………..11
Significance of the Study…………………………………………………………….11
Scope of the Study……………………………………………………………………12
CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review Conceptual Framework…………….13
Library-based Websites………………………………………………………………13
Postgraduate Research………………………………………………………………..16
Concept of Utilization…………………………………………………………………17
Relevance of Library-based Websites………………………………….20
Attitudes of Postgraduate Students on the Use of Web-based
Resources……………..22
Uses of Library-based Website………………………………………………………..24
Problems of the Use of Library-based Websites………………………………………33
Strategies for Enhancing Postgraduate Use of Library-based
Websites………………..38
Related Empirical Studies……………………………………………………………..39
Summary of Literature Review………………………………………………………..41
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS………………………………………43
Design of the Study……………………………………………………………………43
Area of the study………………………………………………………………………43
Population for the Study……………………………………………………………….44
Sample and Sampling Techniques…………………………………………………….44
Validation of the Instrument…………………………………………………………..44
Method of Data collection…………………………………………………………….44
Method of Data Analysis………………………………………………………………45
CHAPTER FOUR:
RESULT……………………………………………………….47
Summary of findings………………………………………………………………….57
CHAPTER FIVE:
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………..60
Discussion of findings…………………………………………………………………60
Implications of the study………………………………………………………………63
Limitations of the study………………………………………………………………63
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………….64
Summary……………………………………………………………………………..64
REFERENCE……………………………………………………………………….67
APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………….77
ABSTRACT
This study examined the utilization of
library-based websites for research by library and information science
postgraduate students in selected federal Universities in south east Nigeria.
Six research questions were formulated to guide the study. A descriptive survey
design was used and the entire Population of 372 were used for the study.
Therefore, there was no sampling. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires.The
data obtained were organized and analysed using simple descriptive statistic
which includes; Simple percentages, mean scores and frequency tables. The
result showed that the level of awareness of some Library-based
websites byPostgraduate students in conduct of research were low. Also,
the result showed that students make use of social network sites more as
against academic purpose. The problems associated with utilization of
library-based websites are computer incompetency among some of the postgraduate
students in using web facilities, lack of steady power supply, lack of
appropriate funding, lack of provision of IT facilities. The strategies for
enhancing utilization of library-based websites includes provision of adequate
power supply, provision of adequate funding, arranging for seminar and workshop
to teach students on how to browse and search for information on the web. The
researcher recommended that there should be a lay down policy that will mandate
departments to organize workshops and seminar where students will learn the act
of websites usage. Also, the researcher recommended that websites utilization
should be added to the school curriculum to mandate and equip researchers and
students on the need to be aware of these websites.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The word “university” is
derived from the Latin
word “universitas which roughly
means “community of teachers and scholars.
In modern usage the word has come to mean “An institution of higher
education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically
having the power to confer degrees. According to Aronowitz (2000), it is an institution
of higher education
and research
which grants academic degrees
in a variety of subjects and provides both undergraduate and
postgraduate education. Gutek (2008) has it that universities
are institutions of higher education that offer programs beyond
the high school level. The author further explains that universities provide
necessary training for individuals wishing to enter into professional careers
as they also strive to develop students’ creativity, insight and analytical
skills. Newman ( as cited in Boulton & Coin, 2008) defined university as a
place where inquiry is pushed forward, discoveries verified and perfected, and
error exposed, by collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge. He
also said that university is a place for communication and circulation of
thought, by means of personal intercourse. The university could therefore be
seen as an institution of higher
learning providing facilities for teaching and research and authorized to grant
academic degrees; specifically
one made up of an undergraduate division which confers bachelor’s degrees and a
graduate division which comprises a graduate school and professional schools
each of which may confer master’s and doctoral degrees.
Although
universities differ in size and structure, their administrative functions are
nearly the same with the presence of board of trustees; chancellor,
vice-chancellor and deans of various divisions all working together to achieve
a common goal. Universities have unique mission which is
to contribute to the development and sustenance of the society through the
pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels
of excellence. Also,
(Peretomode, 2008) highlights the purposes of university education to include
the following:
- The acquisition,
development and incubation of the proper value orientation for the survival of
individuals and society;
- The development of the
intellectual capacities of individuals and society
- The acquisition of both
physical and intellectual skills to enable individuals to develop into useful
member of the community;
- The acquisition of an
objective view of local and external environment;
- The promotion and encouragement
of scholarship and research; and
- The making of optimum
contribution of graduates to national unity and development. He further
stressed that university education at its completion of the programme include;
- Teaching people to
think further, broader and deeper than they have been so far brought up to do;
- Give each student a
training of mind to enable him think more critically that him or her could
understand and be in a position to cope with all major aspects and questions of
human existence both personal and social;
- Provide an ethical
education- a man who is not just a thinking creature but one who knows the
difference between right and wrong.
The universities are generally divided into a number
of faculties, colleges, departments and schools based on discipline. A discipline is
an area of specialization or a focused study in one academic field or
profession. It incorporates expertise, people, projects, communities,
challenges, studies, inquiry, and research that are strongly associated with a
particular academic area of study or area of professional practice.
Library and Information Science (LIS) is one of
the disciplines studied in the universities. (LIS) as a profession is concerned
with the knowledge and skill, by which the records of human communication are
collected, organised and utilised. LIS is an umbrella term that encompasses
library science, librarianship, information science, information work. It is
the study and practice of professional methods in the use and exploitation of
information, whether from an institutional base or not, for the benefit of
users (Bates & Maack, 2010). Rubin (2010) in his work “foundation of
library and information science” defined LIS as a discipline oriented
toward providing access to vast amounts of accumulated knowledge and
information. LIS schools have undergone a continuous process of adaptation
mirroring the development of the profession and discipline by encouraging
future professionals to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for successful
professional practice and scholarly work. They award both undergraduate and
postgraduate degrees in an attempt to produce experts in the various fields of
interest.
According to Wisegeek (2001) a postgraduate student
is a person who has already earned a four years undergraduate degree, commonly
called a bachelor degree, and then went further to pursue postgraduate
education. For instance, a postgraduate student may enrol in an educational
programme that ends with a master degree or and even pursue a doctoral degree.
In such cases, such educational programmes require a person to earn a
bachelor’s degree prior to enrolment and meet other admission requirements. For
the purpose of this study, postgraduate student shall be viewed as all
postgraduate diploma, masters and doctoral students that have been offered
admission by the schools of postgraduate studies of UNN and NAU. Training of
Postgraduate students is one of the most important functions of any University
(Siddle, 2001). He states that this involves training successive generations of
students and researchers who are capable of innovative and pragmatic research
across the spectrum from fundamental, through user inspired, to applied
research in a variety of educational research and development, commercial and
industrial contexts. Postgraduate Studies on the other hand involves learning and
studying for higher degrees, professional or academic certificates, or other
qualifications for which a first or Bachelor’s degree generally is required,
and it is normally considered to be part of higher education. Although the
organization and structure of postgraduate education varies in different
countries, as well as in different institutions within countries, the objective
of postgraduate studies are similar all around the world, hence the main
significance of the postgraduate degrees is that it license the holder to teach
or lecture in an academic environment especially above ordinary level
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, 2002). It is worthy to note that the major
preoccupation of a postgraduate student is research and development. Through
research the postgraduate students learn to establish or confirm concrete
facts, reaffirm the results of previous works, support theorems or develop new
theories, draw inference or solve new or existing problems from systematic
examination of circumstances and events following a definite pattern (Anderson, Day, & Mclaughlin, 2006). This
agrees with the opinion of Alabi (2004) who noted that postgraduate education
is essential or has become a
Knowledge
based process. This knowledge as a process includes knowledge acquisition,
knowledge incubation, knowledge application and knowledge amplification and
knowledge dissemination. It is self evident that information is a key
resources, which permeate the postgraduates teaching, learning and research as
well as publishing. Creswell, (2008) maintains that a research project is a
genre that requires one to spend time investigating and evaluating sources with
the websites to offer interpretations of the texts and not unconscious
regurgitations of those sources. The goal of a research paper is not only to
inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but also to draw on
what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to
thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is
accomplished through reference to different information sources like journals,
newspapers textbooks, gray literature, etc of which web resources is paramount
especially in this technological era.
The rapid advancement in
information technologies has revolutionized information dissemination, sources
and retrieval with the help of websites, within the global communication
networks provided by the websites. A
website is a collection of related web pages containing images, video or other
digital assets. A website is posed on a least one web server, accessible via a
network such as the internet or a private local area network an internet
address known as a Uniform Resource locator. Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus
and Encyclopedia (2011) defines web content as the textual visual or aural content
that is encountered as part of the user experience on websites. It may include
among other things: such as text, images, sounds, video and animations. The development of library web sites started
in the 1990s. As soon as Mosaic, the world’s first web browser, was released in
1993 academic health science libraries began developing websites (Brower,
2004). Similarly, Vaughan (2001) also describes the development of the library
web site at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries, which became
operational in 1996. Today, very few university libraries are without a
presence on the web. The World Wide Web provides a flexible network of networks
‘where institutions, businesses associations and individuals create their own
“websites” on the basis of which everybody with access can produce their own
“home page” made of a variable collage of text and images’ (Castells, 1996). The library-base websites represent an
important component in the user experience. The library websites represent the
“face” of the library. It showcases its print and electronic
resources and it promotes services to students and faculty such as circulation,
reserves, reference, library instruction, library events, and interlibrary loan.
The library website also represents a virtual space where information is
collected, organized, and presented. When developing this virtual space, it is
important to reflect the needs of the user (Manzari, 2006). Users must be able
to locate the necessary information with ease. The library website should not
only provide information but also be a learning tool (House, 2007). The websites has become
one of the primary means of information and communication, a space for
expressing both private and professional interests, and at the same time a huge
marketplace and economic foster etc. University of Southern California (USC
2007). It has become a key platform for news and entertainment, e-commerce,
research, communication and collaboration. Within universities in Nigeria,
there is evidence of changes brought by internet websites which has become a point
of first resort for information on practically anything. Several hundreds of
millions web pages, bibliographical databases, and full-text databases are now
available on the websites of which library and information science is fully
involved (Prasher, 2003). As the needs and expectations of library users’
change in the digital environment, libraries tried finding out the best ways to
satisfy their user communities by developing library based website with
collections and services to meet their demands. Ryan (2003) and Welch (2005)
posit that since 1990s, most libraries have been offering services via internet
websites. Research findings also have it that almost all the libraries are
offering web-based services in one way or the other.
Library-based
websites are websites designed for libraries, and as such they showcase to the
whole world through the websites information and wealth of knowledge repository
in the library in an e-platform. It is one of the facilities through which
information and knowledge can be stored, arranged and transmitted back to it
users quickly, timely and accurately. (Adegbija & Daramola, 2007). These
websites are the gateway of libraries and information centres to enter the
electronic information era and provide information generated by different
organizations, institutions, research centres and individuals all over the
world (Ezomo, 2006). A comprehensive resourceful library website is one showing
some characteristics designed to provide access to the following:
- Orientation of the library resources, services and
facilities;
- Access to online databases and e-journals subscribed by the
library;
- Link to other open source databases and institutional
repositories available in different subjects;
- Access to a world of
information from e-books, e-theses, e-dissertations, e-prints and web-based
reference sources, etc;
- Computerized library housekeeping operations; and other
resources and services Houghton, (2000). As people who carry out research, the
postgraduate students need information in varying degrees to satisfy their
information needs. The library-based websites offer uniquely rich resource for
authentic inquiry and the postgraduate students must learn to utilize it in the
course of their research writing. The use of library based websites have made
it possible for people to access multifarious information sources scattered in
every part of the world with little or no delay and less stress. The
utilization of library-based website by the post graduate student should
ordinarily be limitless as it has reduced to the barest minimum the stress and
strain they pass through in their bid to source for and retrieve information
for their research works. Although library-based website promises new ways to
promote information access, reactions to it have been mixed. Some have embraced
it with unbridled enthusiasm while others have held it at arm’s length with a
healthy skepticism. Yet the growing influence of the platform has caused many
researchers to acknowledge that they need library-based website to satisfy
their research information needs.
This work therefore, seeks to assess the
utilization of library-based websites for research by library and information
science postgraduate students in federal universities in south-east zone of
Nigeria in recognition of the fact that these are critical sources needed to
thrive in academics holistically especially in the digital age.
Statement of the Problem
UTILIZATION OF LIBRARY-BASED WEBSITES FOR RESEARCH BY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SELECTED FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-EAST
