Relationship between information retrieval skill and electronic library use among LIS undergraduates in universities in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between information retrieval skill and electronic library use among library and information science undergraduates in universities in Southern Nigeria. One research question guided the study while one research hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 10,345 library and information science (LIS) undergraduates from ten federal, seventeen state and eight private universities in Southern Nigeria. The study adopts purposive and quota sampling technique to determine the sample size of 1, 006 used for the study. Two instruments: “Undergraduate Information Retrieving Skills Questionnaire (UIRSQ)” and “Undergraduates’ Electronic Library Use Questionnaire (UELUQ)” respectively were used for data collection. The overall reliability indexes for the two instruments were .94 and .89 respectively using Cronbach’s alpha. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) and simple linear regression was used to analyze the data. The findings specified that there was a moderate positive relationship between LIS undergraduates’ information retrieval skills and their electronic library use. The study further typified that there was a significant relationship, f(df; 1,981) = 228.80, p<0.05.between information retrieval skill and electronic library use among LIS undergraduates. However, the study recommended amongst others that university library management in corroboration with university management should have a well – organized electronic library information retrieval training and retraining for LIS undergraduates frequently through seminars, workshops, conferences to equip them with the needed proficiency towards utilization of electronic library resources for a gigantic academic prowess.