Electronic book usage and publishing by academic staff in universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The academic environment in Nigeria is characterized by the “PUBLISH’’ or “PERISH’’ syndrome which has no doubt affected publishing in Nigeria. This study examined the effect of electronic books usage on the research output and publication efforts of academic staff in universities in Nigeria. In Nigerian University system the emergency and integration of e-book in the collection of the university libraries have been at a very slow pace, hence the need to investigate the usage and effect on research output and publication efforts of academic staff in universities in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for this study while a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select two universities from each of the six geopolitical zones based on electronic books presence in the university libraries. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection, while data collected were analysed with the use of descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that the level of electronic book usage by academic staff in universities in Nigeria is below 50%, which negatively affects publishing in the universities. Majority of the respondents agreed that electronic books are useful for information service provision. The study recommended that the universities should increase financial resources available to the university in the area of ICT facilities acquisition and training among others. This will no doubt encourage the academic staff on the use of Electronic Books.