Utilisation of Internet Sources for Research by Information Professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study investigates the extent at which librarians and other information professionals in sub-Saharan African countries utiliise Internet facilities as research tools in their scholarly publications. It used African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science (AJLAIS) as a case study. All the references cited by contributors to AJLAIS vols. 10 (1&2) 2000 to 15 (1&2), 2005 were screened. The numbers and percentages of the cited references accessed from the Internet were calculated on yearly and regional bases using simple percentile method. The findings reveal that year 2005 records the highest citations of Internet references of 49 (20.25%) while year 2001 has the least citations of 4 (3.54%). On regional basis South Africa has the highest Internet reference citations of 98(68.53%, while West Africa has the least citations of 17(11.88%). Some measures to enhance the degree of utiliisation of Internet facilities among African information professionals are highlighted.



African Journal of Library Archives and Information Science Vol. 17 (1) 2007: pp. 53-58