AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES BY POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR LIBRARY

Abstract

This study examines the availability of electronic resources in the University of Calabar (Unical) Library and their utilization by postgraduate (P.G) students. To accomplish the research purpose, five research questions and a single hypothesis was formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study and the population of the study was two thousand, seven hundred and twentysix, while a sample of four hundred postgraduate library users were selected through stratified sampling: two hundred postgraduates each from Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. The instrument used for data collection. Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was the statistical analysis technique adopted to test the hypothesis under study at 0.05 level of significance. Three hundred and eightytwo dully filled questionnaires were retrieved giving an overall response rate of 95.5 percent. The result of the analysis revealed that electronic resources were available in Unical Library and P.G students utilized them, however, online databases were underutilized. The University Library has e-journals, e-books and have access to databases and internet resources. E-Journals were the most often used electronic resources. Lack of computer skills, slow internet network, inconsistent internet connectivity, power outage and massive irrelevant information were the problems postgraduate students encountered while accessing and using electronic resources in Unical Library. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made that adequate budgetary allocation should be given to the University Library for subscription to online databases, acquisition of more relevant and current electronic books open access databases should be made accessible to users, creation of awareness on the available electronic resources in Unical Library, installation of inverter and battery system in the e-Library, as well as organizing users education for better use of electronic resources in Unical Library.