Undergraduate law students’ perception of the availability and use of library information resources and services in Federal Universities in South East, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined law students’ perception of the available law library resources and services and the extent of utilization of their  resources and services in federal universities in south east zone. Four research questions guided the study and four null hypotheses were  tested. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Two law libraries were selected.for the study-the law library  of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) and that of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus Law library (UNEC). The population consisted of  1770 of registered undergraduate law students of NAU and UNEC, second year students to final year students. Sample size of the study  was 177.Accidental sampling technique was used. The instrument for data collection was four-point rating scale questionnaire which  contained 63-items in four clusters. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and obtained a reliability co- efficient value of 0.89, 0.86, 0.85 and 0.77 for clusters B1 to B4 respectively, with an overall co-efficient value of 0.84. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The  findings revealed that law students from NAU and UNEC agreed that library resources and services were available in their various  institutional law libraries while the extent of utilization of library resource and services were low utilized.Law students from NAU and UNEC significantly differ in their mean ratings of the availability of library resources and library services offered to them in their various  institutional law libraries. Law students from NAU and UNEC significantly differ in their mean ratings on the extent they used library  resources but did not differ significantly in the extent they use library services offered to them in their various institutional law libraries. Practical Implication: The inability of the law library management/law librarians to equip law library students with the basic skills needed  to explore the resources and services in the law libraries will result to ineffectiveness of the programme. Effective utilization of law library  resources and services by law library students will help them perceive the library as the ultimate solution to their information needs. They  will invariably hold the library in high esteem and make conscious efforts to benefit from available library resources and services.  High extent of utilization of law library resources and services by its students will enable them upgrade in their academic performance. The availability of library resources and services in the desired format, quality and magnitude is a measure of the readiness of academic  libraries (law libraries) to meet the information needs of their law library students. It was, therefore recommended among others that the  law services provision of the librarians should be extended to assisting undergraduate law students in retrieving their needed information. This will go a long way in enhancing their continued use of the law library resources and services in their respective law  libraries.