Legal factors as precursors of consortium building readiness among university libraries in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated legal factors as precursors of consortium building readiness among university libraries in South-West Nigeria. In line with this, two research questions were posed: what are the prevailing legal factors for consortium building readiness among university libraries in South-West Nigeria? What is the level of consortium building readiness among university libraries in South-West Nigeria? These were the research questions, and one hypothesis: there is no significant relationship between legal factors and consortium building readiness among university libraries in South- West Nigeria. The study adopted the survey design of the correlational type. The population comprised all the 643 library staff that possessed at least diploma or degree in library and information science, in the 45 university libraries in South- West Nigeria. Total enumeration (census) technique was adopted for the study and the instruments used for data collection were the questionnaire and Interview schedule. Data collected were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively, using the descriptive and correlation and regression analysis of inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that the most prevailing group of legal factors is dispute resolution (_X̄=3.21; std dev. = 0.61), followed by dissolution (_X̄ =3.14; std dev. = 0.58), nondisclosure (_X̄=3.14; std dev. =0.58); log-in-option (_X̄=3.13; std dev. =0.58); cash contribution (_X̄ =3.12; std dev. =0.62) and governing law (_X̄ =3.09; std dev. =0.60). The finding reveals that legal factors altogether (r = .415; p<0.05) has significant positive relationship with consortium building readiness (CBR) among university libraries in South- West Nigeria. The study concludes that university libraries must provide legal factors to show their readiness for consortium building.