Awareness and Use of Electronic Information Resources Among Academic Staff of Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Rumuola, Port Harcourt

Abstract

The growing awareness, acceptability and usage of Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) among academic staff of Nigerian Universities, have been well documented in a lot of recent studies but there seems to be very little or no study available to help ascertain the current state  of EIRs usage among academic staff  of Nigerian Polytechnics. This was the primary reason for embarking upon this study. The academic staff of Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Rumuola, Rivers state was selected for the study. The study employed a descriptive survey research at arriving with its findings.The study revealed that the academic staff are fully aware of EIRs and seems to use them regularly. Other findings from the study showed that the academic staff was motivated to use EIRs for research purposes, increased access to a wide range of books, current information among other motivations. Some constraints identified in the use of the EIRs were poor internet connection, inability to access the EIRs from the Institution Library, poor power supply etc. Recommendations were made for the managements of Nigerian Polytechnics to fully integrate EIRs into their institutions in order to help their academic staff fulfill their functions of teaching, learning and researching.

Keywords: Electronic Information Resources (EIRs), Academic staff, Nigerian Polytechnics, Research.