Undergraduate Ownership of Small Mobile Devices: Engagement and Use in an Academic Environment

Abstract

With many students owning mobile devices and gadgets that they use for various purposes, it seems logical to investigate whether the use of these devices has the potential to facilitate seamless access to library resources. Using an online survey administered to 489 students, this study aimed to determine: the percentage of the undergraduate population primarily in science and technology disciplines who own small mobile devices; the pattern of use of mobile devices with emphasis on accessing library resources, scholarly information, or other academic content; effect of attending previous library instruction session on students’ use of mobile devices to access educational content; and variation in the pattern of ownership and use among academic and gender categories.The study found that mobile devices have become widely common, with 100 percent of the female respondents and 98 percent of the male respondents owning at least one small mobile device. Among the different academic disciplines, engineering students used their mobile devices to access library resources the most, followed by nursing, life sciences, physical sciences, and agricultural sciences.Students overwhelmingly reported using social networking apps on their mobile devices, followed by apps relating to entertainment, communication, information, education, utility, commerce, health, and religion.