Availability of Electronic Libraries in Universities in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the availability of electronic library among students in universities in Rivers State. Three research questions were raised and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey design was adopted in the study. A sample size of 400 male and 350 female students were purposely selected from the population of 6,419 registered students of the e-libraries in the three public universities. The instrument used for the generation of data was an 18-item questionnaire designed by the researcher titled Availability of Electronic Library in Universities Questionnaire (AELUQ). The instrument was validated with its reliability coefficient established at 0.89 using Cronbach alpha. Arithmetic mean ( ) and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The study revealed that students can gain access to the e-library without difficult although the e-library cannot be accessed in all the departments and faculties. There is skilled Information and Communication Technology (ICT) personnel and librarians guide students to obtain good search results in different subject areas. E-libraries in Universities in Rivers State are generally found to be functional. There is no significant difference in the opinion of male and female students on the level of functionality of e-libraries in the universities. The study concluded that there is need to ensure its sustainability and upgrade from time to time to meet users need. It was recommended that e-libraries be distributed in departments and faculties, so that students can be encouraged to use them more often.