Factors influencing user ability to retrieve information from the reference libraries in University of Calabar (UNICAL) and Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH) in Cross River State,Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of philosophy of reference service, the philosophy o f reference Librarians and users’ experience/skill on user ability to retrieve info rmation from CRUTECH and UNICAL libraries in Cross River State. A sa mple size of 500 users and 12 librarians was selected from a study population of 5012 using  stratified/simple random Sampling techniques. Two four - point likert-type questionnaires measuring three (3 ) variables that influence user ability to retrieve info rmation were  developed, validated and administered. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance using population t -test and line ar regression analysis of variance. The findings of the study revealed that the influence of the philosophy of reference service on user ability to retrieve information in the University libraries is positive. It was also seen that user ability to retrieve information depended significantly on reference librarians’ philosophy as well as the users’ skill and experience. Based on these findings , recommendations were made urging for a clearly defined and well articulated set of policies to guide reference service as well as strengthening information literacy interventions in university libraries to enhance user ability to locate, evaluate and effectively use required information for academic enhancement.

Key Words : University, Libraries, Reference, Librarians, Information , Retrieval, User, Service.