Information Retrieval Skills and Use of Library Electronic Resources by University Undergraduates in Nigeria

Abstract

There is an increase in provision of electronic resources in Nigerian university libraries, yet studies have revealed that there is low use of the resources by undergraduates and this is due to lack of information retrieval skills. Hence, the study, tried to find the impact of information retrieval skills on students’ utilisation of electronic resources in university libraries in Nigeria. The study focused on ten universities in Nigeria. The descriptive research design was adopted and multistage sampling technique was used for the study. Three faculties were purposively selected from the universities while two departments each were randomly selected from the faculties. A questionnaire, (Information Retrieval Skills and Utilisation of Electronic Resources) was used. Two research questions were posed and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Informational retrieval skills, operational retrieval skills and strategic retrieval skills correlated significantly with students’ utilisation of electronic resources for research. The data showed that undergraduates lacked requisite skills for the use of e-resources.

Keywords: Information Retrieval Skills, Library, Electronic resources, Undergraduates, Nigeria.