International Journal of Academic Research in Education and Review

Vol. 12(1), pp. 17-26, February 2024

ISSN: 2360-7866

https://doi.org/10.14662/ijarer2024040

 

Full Length Research

 

 

Comparative Study of Electronic Information Resources Usage in Public and Private Universities.

 

Adaeze Nwona Nzewi PhD(CLN)

 

Medical library, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus

 

Accepted 22 February 2024

Abstract

Abstract: The study was carried out to examine comparative study of electronic information resources usage in public and private universities. The study was guided by five research questions and four null hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted comparative research design, the population of the study was 8,563 comprising 2,524 undergraduates’ in two Public Universities and two Private Universities and 6,039 undergraduates in Anambra State, Nigeria. The Universities used for the Study are NnamdiAzikiwe University, Awka; Chukwuemka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Ul/Igbariam;Legacy University Okija; and Paul University, Awka. The sample of this study was 428 comprising 302 undergraduate students in public universities and 126 undergraduate students in private universities. The instrument for data collection was researcher designed questionnaire titled “Undergraduates’ Use of Electronic Information Resources Questionnaire (UUEIRQ)”. The instrument were validated by four lecturers, one from each university. The reliability of the instrument was 0.79 which was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistic. The data were collected through the administration of 428 copies of the questionnaire to respondents and 405 copies were retrieved completely filled and used for data analyses representing 95% rate of returns which include: 284 public and 121 private university students. The research questions were answered using frequency count, percentages, mean and standard deviation and the null hypotheses were tested using the t-test statistic. The result of the data analyses revealed that: Undergraduate students to a high extent access EIRs in private university libraries and low extent in public university libraries. The undergraduate students to a high extent utilized EIRs in private university library and to a low extent in public university libraries. The challenges of the use of EIRs among undergraduate students in public and private university libraries include: unfriendly user interface, inadequate electronic information gadgets, and slow internet network connectivity among others. From the findings,recommendations were made.

 

Key Words: Electronic Information Resources, Usage, Public Private, and Universities

Paper type: research