Undergraduate students’ perception and Utilization of electronic information resources and services in the university of Calabar library, Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

An evaluation of undergraduate students’ perception and utilization of electronic information resources and services was carried out. The population of the study consisted of all registered library users in the 2014/2015 academic session. The total population of the study was 4, 211 registered users. Accidental sampling technique was used to select 300 respondents who constituted the sample of the study. The study relied on questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics (simple percentage %). The study found that the adoption and utilization of directional signs to guide users to the various divisions and units in the library has proven to be a good publicity variable, as a greater percentage of the respondents (30.3%) admitted that they became aware of the electronic library through directional signs. The finding revealed that 25.6% of the respondents became aware of the availability of e-library resources and services during orientation programme for fresh students. On the perception of electronic resources and services by undergraduate students’ the finding revealed a mix of positive and negative perception. For example, 99 respondents (33%) regard electronic resources and services as difficult to use while 73 respondents (24.3%) perceived eresources as time friendly. It was revealed that the elibrary in the university of calaber is significantly utilized. 23% of the respondents used it daily and 24.7% spent an average of 4-5 hours daily in the elibrary. The study also revealed key factors considered to be inhibitors to the use of electronic resources and services in the University of Calabar as slow speed of Internet browsing service ranked first, (30.7%), followed by inadequate number of computers, (24.7%), poor attitude of library staff (13.3%) and lack of user education, (13.3%).. As more people became aware of the availability of the e -library, the number of users c ontinued to increase therefore putting more pressure on the existing facilities. There is need to increase the number of computers in the e -library to accommodate more users . This would avoid the crowd created outside the e -library by potential users waiting for the opportunity to use the library.

Key Words: Undergraduate, students, Perception, Utilization, Electronic, Resources, Electronic Information, Services.