The Use of Academic Libraries among Students in Tertiary Institutions in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana.

Abstract

The paper surveys library use among students in tertiary education institutions in the Sunyani Municipality of Ghana. A response rate of 77.4% (697 responses) out of the 900 randomly distributed questionnaires from the three tertiary institutions in the Municipality was recorded for the study. The study was motivated by the advent of information technology’s role in information provision. It intended to unravel how best the academic libraries are meeting the information resource needs of users in the digital world.  . The study showed, inter alia, that many students principally used the libraries as a place to prepare for examinations and to do their assignments. Recommended course textbooks, reference books and past examination questions were the most sought after materials among the respondents. Few of them had eyes for fiction and periodical resources. Even though majority of the tertiary students find the stock in the libraries to be fairly old, it did not ward them off from using the libraries. It is instructive that if the libraries continue to hold on to old books, it could lead to low patronage of the libraries in the advent of new platforms  that have the potential to make large amount of electronic information available  to users.

Key words: Academic libraries, Library use