Knowledge of various types of online information resources and utilisation by librarians for effective services delivery in public university libraries in South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to assess the librarians' understanding of the many types of online information sources and the technologies used to find, gather, organise, and use them in order to give successful library services in public university libraries in South East, Nigeria. Three objectives, three research questions, and one hypothesis were developed and tested at the 0.05 level of significance to serve as the study's guiding principles. The study used a descriptive survey as its methodology. 174 core professional university librarians from Federal and State public universities in the South-East of Nigeria made up the study's population. The whole census sampling method was used. Data were gathered using a standardised questionnaire instrument. Using Cronbach Alpha, validated copies of the questionnaire were assessed for reliability. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.94, supporting the dependability of the questionnaire. Out of the 174 questionnaires that were distributed to the respondents, 157 were returned, or 90% of the total. In order to calculate the frequency counts and mean scores, descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data and show it in tables. Each item's agreement was determined by using a criterion mean of 2.50. Although not all of the tools known are fully utilised, especially in the federal university libraries, the study showed that there was good knowledge of online information resources and the tools with which they are utilised for effective service delivery in the university libraries under study by the librarians.