Assessment of utilization of online information resources among Arabic academics in Federal College of Education, Zaria

Abstract

This study investigates the utilization of Online Information Resources among Arabic academics of Federal College Education Zaria. To  achieve this objective, two (2) research questions were formulated, which are: For what purpose do Arabic academics at Federal College  of Education Zaria use online information resources? What challenges do Arabic academics at the Federal College of Education Zaria face while searching for online information resources? A quantitative research methodology was adopted, in the conduct of this study. The  population of this study consists of twenty-nine (29) academics in the Department of Arabic at the Federal College of Education, Zaria.  The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. A total of twenty-nine (29) copies of the questionnaire were administered to  Arabic academics at the Federal College of Education, Zaria, with a total response rate of 28 (96.6%). The data collected for the study were  presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency count, simple percentage, and mean. The findings  arising from the studies indicated that the majority of Arabic academics utilize online information resources for research purposes, paper  publication, teaching, and thesis and dissertation writing. The challenges faced by Arabic academics in accessing and utilizing online  information resources are inadequate search strategies, slow Internet connectivity in the college, erratic power supply, insufficient access  to needed journals, poor ICT facilities, and a lack of Internet connectivity in the offices. Information overload, technophobia, a lack  of printing facilities, and difficulty while browsing were also reported as the major challenges faced in accessing and utilizing online information resources. Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that the majority of Arabic academics in FCE Zaria were  not accessing and utilizing available information resources because they lacked adequate knowledge of information search skills and  search strategies to access the available information resources, Therefore, the study recommended that there is a need for training on  how to access and make use of the available resources with different search skills and to address all the challenges faced by Arabic  academics in the college.