ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to examine reference services delivery and students’ satisfaction in Abia State University Library, Uturu. The study was guided by four objectives. Based on the four purposes, four research questions were poised for the study and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design, the population of this study was 3,128 which comprises 1508 male and 1620 female students. The sample of this study was 313 respondents comprising 151 male and 162 female students representing 10% of the total population using simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was the researcher designed questionnaire titled “Reference Services Delivery and Students’ Satisfaction in University Library Questionnaire (RSDSSULQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was 0.84 using Cronbach Alpha statistic. The data for the study was collected through the administration of 313 copies of the questionnaire to respondents, 301 copies were retrieved completely filled and used for data analyses. 301 represents 96% rate of return 146 male and 155 female respondents. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviations while the null hypotheses were tested using the t-test statistic. The result of the data analyses revealed that: The reference services available for students in Abia State university library include: user instruction service, current awareness service, indexing service, abstracting service, bibliographic service and referral services. The reference services are utilized on high extent by students in Abia State university library. The reference services accepted to be highly satisfied by students in Abia State university library include: user instruction service, current awareness service, indexing service, abstracting service, bibliographic service and referral services. The reasons for non-satisfaction of the reference services delivery to students in Abia State university library are: poor reference service policy, insufficient reference materials, outdated reference materials, poor infrastructures, inadequate trained personnel, poor reading environment, poor library orientation and lack of reference service skill. Based on the findings it was recommended that: regular evaluation of reference services should be carried out in the library, this would result in an improved service delivery.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tittle Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vi
Abstract ix
CHAPTER
1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to
the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 8
1.3 Purpose of the Study 9
1.4 Research
Questions 9
1.5
Hypotheses 10
1.6 Significance of the
Study 10
1.7 Scope of the Study 11
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE 12
2.1. Conceptual Framework 12
2.1.1 Reference
services 12
2.1.2 University library 19
2.1.3 Student’s satisfaction 22
2.1.4 Resources available for reference services delivery
in university
libraries 23
2.1.5 Reference services delivery in university libraries 30
2.1.6 User
satisfaction with reference services delivery in university libraries 34
2.1.7 Problems
of reference services delivery in university libraries 39
2.1.8 Ways of
improving reference services delivery by university
libraries
to students 42
2.2 Theoretical Framework 45
2.2.1 Media
richness theory 45
2.2.2 Fishbein and
ajzens reasoned action theory of attitude 46
2.3
Empirical Studies 47
2.4
Summary of Related Literature Review 53
CHAPTER
3: METHODOLOGY 54
3.1 Design of the Study 54
3.2 Area of the Study 54
3.3 Population of the Study 55
3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique 55
3.5 Instrument for Data Collection 56
3.6 Validation of the Instrument 57
3.7 Reliability
of the Instrument 57
3.8 Method of Data Collection 58
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 58
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
AND DISCUSSIONS 59
4.1
Result Presentation 59
4.2 Summary of
Findings 65
4.3 Discussion of
Findings 66
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 69
5.1 Summary of the
Study 69
5.2 Conclusion 71
5.3
Recommendations 71
5.4 Educational
Implication of the Study 72
5.5 Limitations of
the Study 73
5.6 Suggestions
for Further Study 73
REFERENCES 74
APPENDICES 84
LIST OF TABLES
4.1 Frequency and percentage of the respondents responses on the
Reference
services available for students in Abia State university library 59
4.2: Mean and standard deviation of the
respondents’ responses on the
extent
students use reference service in Abia State university library
60
4.3: Mean and standard deviation of the
respondents’ responses on
the
levels of the satisfaction of the reference ervice in Abia State
university
library 61
4.4: Mean and standard deviation of the
respondents’ responses on the
reasons
for non-satisfaction of the reference service delivery to
students
in Abia State university library 62
4.5:
t-test analysis of the mean ratings of male and female students on the
extent students
use reference service 63
4.6:
t-test analysis of the mean ratings of male and female
students on the
levels of the satisfaction of the reference service 64
4.7:
t-test analysis of the mean ratings of male and female
students on the
reasons for
non-satisfaction of the reference service delivery to
students 65
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
The library could be
regarded as a public institution charged with the responsibility of information
provision and dissemination. This information which is the wealth of the
library appear in different formats and could be used to perform certain
services in, and outside the library building. Trying to define the library,
Vijeyaluxmy (2015) opines that the library is an institution which is
specifically established for the acquisition, processing, organization,
preservation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information stored in
books and other contemporary (non-book) formats with the sole aim of serving
the needs of the users. Furthermore, Aguolu and Aguolu (2002) believe that the
library is a social institution, created to conserve knowledge, preserve the
cultural heritage, provide information, undergird and underpin education and
research, and to serve as fountains of recreation. The library plays an
important role in providing information services and resources to assist users
in their studies and research activities. It houses information materials in
the forms of books, periodicals, audio-visual and electronic media. These
information resources are provided to meet the needs of its users. These users
are very important because libraries are established because of them. They
should therefore be satisfied with the library services they receive (Motiang,
Wallis & Karodia, 2014).
Consequently, types of
libraries are; school, public, special, national, and academic library. These
categorization of libraries is dependent on the types of clienteles it serves
and the parent institution that own each (Edom, 2013 in Awodoyin & Aina,
2018). For the purpose of this study, academic library is the focus. Academic
libraries, according to Nnadozie (2007), are regarded as those libraries
established in institutions of higher learning such as universities,
polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education, colleges of technology and
other such institutions that offer education at the tertiary level. These types
of library are identified by its parent institutions as university libraries
(for universities), polytechnic libraries (for polytechnics), college libraries
(for the colleges of education, technology, agriculture, health, etc.),
monotechnic libraries and institute libraries (for other institutions that
offer specialized education at the tertiary level). Arua and Chikezie (2006)
stated that the prime obligation of an academic library is to provide
appropriate information and reference resources for study and research to the
members of its own institution. They added that this huge task requires the
academic library to acquire, organize, preserve and conserve as well as
disseminate information and reference materials to users. The thrust of this
study is university libraries and their reference services.
Reference
service is one of the basic services provided in the library. It is also viewed
as the most exciting and exhilarating of library services, aspects that enhance
all sense of skilfulness in the practitioner in that it has to do with the
interaction between the library users and reference librarian. Ifidion in Doara
(2011) defined reference service as the personal assistance given by librarians
to individual readers who are in pursuit of information. This involves not only
locating the materials in the library but also locating the information and
sorting out what information is relevant to the specific user. Aboyade in Doara
(2011) opined that reference service in any library is the total sum of all
library process aimed at promoting the use of the library and its resources.
Adeyemi
(2005) affirms that reference service is “that part of library arrangement
which is mandated with the responsibility of assisting readers in the use of
resources in the library wall as differentiate from the retraction of books and
other materials for use at home.” The services are provided by experts whose basic
task is to identify exactly what the readers want and provide answers to same
using one or a combination of books or tools. In agreement to the above, Madu
(2008) opines that reference services are seen as “personal assistance eagerly
given to library users in search of information by librarian in charge of
reference section”. Therefore reference service in context of this study can be
defined as the direct personal assistance to readers seeking information. In
other words, reference service is the personal aid given by the librarian to an
individual client in meeting his/her information needs.
Reference
service is the provision of information formalized in different forms by librarians
in the reference service department, who is an intermediary between the
available information resource and questioner. Hence, reference service takes
place between the information resources, questioner and librarian at the reference
service department (Doara, 2011). Reference services provided in academic
libraries are: Users instruction, photocopying, information, selective
dissemination of information (SDI), abstracting and indexing services. The
resources for these information and reference
services may include: Journals Articles, Online Resources, Books, Dictionaries,
Encyclopedias, Directories, Manuals and Handbook, Maps, Bibliographies,
Biographies, Yearbooks, Almanacs, Students Project, Thesis and Dissertations (Doara,
2011).
However the methods
employed in rendering these services in academic libraries are: Answering of
query, Telephone, Fax, E-mail, internet, Readers advisory services, verification, Inter-library loans, Selective Dissemination
of Information (SDI), Data base searches and Library Instructions programme
(Doara, 2011). These services are meant to satisfy the information needs of the
users which include the students, staff and users from the host community (Oyelude,
2004). However, when this satisfaction is not derived, the services are as good
as not being offered. Most of the services pointed out are offered at the
reference desk of the library. The reference desk is an integral part of the
reader’s services department. It is that area where users come in contact with
the library properly.
Nwalo
(2003) referred to the reference desk as a major area of the library where
contact is made with the public. He went further to say that staff of the
reference sections are image makers of the library. Further speaking on the
essence of the reference desk, Edoka (2000) observes that this area is an
important section in which librarian answers reference questions and also
provides bibliographic services to the library. The objectives of any reference
section of a university library are not merely for the provision of information
but to help the students find the information they desire at ease.
Though
every part of librarianship are concerned with this goal, it is at reference
desk that the process of determining the student’s desire, formulating a search
strategy to fill that desire and providing complete and accurate information to
the student is finally tested. Though, statistics
have shown that users’ enquiries at the reference desk are declining owing to
the establishment of digital libraries (Kumar, 2006), however most researchers
and practitioners maintain that reference service is still relevant in the
digital library (Chowdhury in Everest, 2008). Today the reference librarian’s obligations
have increased by societal expectations for access to information through enabled
electronic capabilities (Awodoyin & Aina, 2018).
Reference
librarians are the pillars to the continued success of libraries. This key, the
reference librarians enhances through the provision and delivery of adequate
and relevant reference services that satisfies the students. The role of
information and reference librarian is extremely important. A good information
and reference librarian is bound to promote the use of university libraries by
acting as mediator between users and information and ability to bring effective
flow of resources and the user together without time wastage. The university
library is saddle with the responsibility of providing information and reference
services to users (lecturers, students, researchers) that depends on the
libraries for their need and desire for information in advancement of
knowledge. Therefore, the reference librarian is expected to have the capacity
and intellectual skills and desire to help users, flair for organizing
document, competency to search literature, fluently communicating efficiently
knowledge of the resources in order to meet the information needs and
satisfaction of the library users (Awodoyin & Aina, 2018).
Since university library
users have different needs, it is the obligations of the reference librarian to
know the expectations and needs and try to meet them. Satisfying the
information needs of users require the provision of the actual information
resources and services that will satisfy their needs. If users’ needs and aspirations
are met then they would be satisfied naturally because their expectations have
been met. The satisfaction is the state that emanate after a library user (student)
has favorably or positively experienced in the services desired.
Students
satisfaction, according to Kotler, Walter and Hanson (2009) is a person’s
feeling of pleasure which results from receiving the desired performance of
products (services to their expectation. Student feel satisfied when the
services provided in the library meet their information needs. It is the
quality of service provided by reference librarian that will determine the
level of satisfaction by students who use the library. Students need information
for research, class assignment and lifelong education. Therefore, reference
service delivery offered by the university library should go a long way in
satisfying their needs.
Satisfaction inview of Zeithalm
and Bitmer (2000) is seen as “the customers’ assessment of a service or product
in aspects of whether that service or product has met their desire and anticipation.
Failure to meet desire and anticipations is assumed to result in
dissatisfaction with the service or product. Satisfaction may lead to users
using the services of the library over and over again and even suggesting it to
others. Individuals always express experiences, whether good or bad, implying
that if they also receive a bad service they might also extend it to others.
Furthermore, Thakuria (2007) describes different factors which contribute to
user satisfaction to include availability of up-to-date information, library’s
ability to organize its facilities to be visible to the users, easy
accessibility of library services and resources, courteous and friendly nature
of the library staff in their engagements with the users. This entails that the
appearance of a library, its facilities, collection, staff and services should
be attractive and pleasant.
Though user satisfaction is not gender
based, however library clientele are human beings (male and female by
implication gender). Gender is a socio-culturally constructed concept of
ascribing some characteristics and roles to sex such as male and female within
the society. Gender is the quality of
being a male or female. It involves the biological, psychological, social and
cultural characteristic of being a male or female (Tiemo & Ateboh, 2016). Gender is a very important aspect in the issue
of learning in life generally because learning concerns and benefit every human
being hence university education attracts
different people of different gender background (male and female with different
behavior traits). Libraries as the repositories of knowledge and as a place where
students rely in undertaking their research, has to meet the demands of both
male and female. Male dominate the university enrollment in Nigeria (Tiemo
& Ateboh, 2016). Therefore, female participation in various academic
activities in our tertiary institution is less compared to their male
counterpart (Tiemo & Ateboh, 2016). In order to develop our educational standard
in Nigeria, both males and females should be given an equal opportunity to
obtain information for the attainment of their goals (Tiemo & Ateboh, 2016). Therefore, it is very imperative to measure user
satisfactions considering gender (males and females) as moderating variables.
Despite
paramount roles of reference services in university libraries, rendering of
reference services in university libraries toward students satisfaction are
associated with some problems. These problems include, inadequate trained
personnel, outdated reading materials, poor handling of users instruction
services and information services. These problems have no doubt constituted a
great challenge to university libraries in achieving their reference services objectives.
However, Madu (2008) opined that for improvement in reference services delivery
to students by university libraries there is need for provision of adequate
finance, training and retraining opportunities for reference staff, acquisition
of current reference resources and the provision of compulsory users’
instruction services to all categories of the library among others. These
strategies if adopted, the university library will achieve effective reference
services delivery for enhancement of students learning outcome.
Nonetheless, it has been
observed that the population of students’ using the reference services at the
reference desk seem to be on the declining compared to the number using the
circulation and digital services of the libraries. It may be because of the
nature of reference resources acquired and reference services delivered by the
library or because of the attitudes of the reference librarians. However, all
these are mere speculations to the declining use of the reference services of
the university library. It is therefore against this background that this study
intends to investigate into reference services delivery and students’
satisfaction in university libraries using Abia State University Library Uturu
as a case.
1.2
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of the university library is
to provide information resources and services that will meet the information
needs of library users of which the students are inclusive. Reference service
is one of the services provided by university libraries to ensure that students
get current information resources that will help them in their academic work.
With the introduction of information technology, quality reference service
delivery has been provided to meet the information needs of students.
However, in spite of
the importance attached to reference services delivery, it seems reference
services offered to students are not adequate, the methods adopted by the
university library to deliver reference services to students seem not to be
satisfactory to the students which may be attributed to poor knowledge and
skills of some librarians on appropriate method of reference services delivery
which also retard the extent students make use of reference resources and services
in the university libraries especially in Abia State University, Uturu.
If this unsatisfactory level of reference
services delivery continues in the university libraries. The universities
libraries will no more be relevant in the university system as so will no
longer meet the objectives for its existence.
To harness students’ satisfaction in the
use of university library through reference services appropriate solutions need
to be proffered through empirical evidence which is the crux of this study. Though
other scholars have researched into the reference services delivery and
students’ satisfaction but to the knowledge of the researcher none has
researched into the reference services delivery and students’ satisfaction in
Abia State University Library, Uturu, the researcher has embarked on this study
to fill this gap.
1.3
PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study
was to ascertain the reference services delivery and students’ satisfaction in
university libraries case of Abia State University, Uturu.
Specifically the study
sought to:
i.
Ascertain the reference
services available for students in Abia State university library.
ii.
Determine the extent of
use of reference services by students in Abia State university library.
iii.
Ascertain the level of
the satisfaction of the reference services in Abia State university library.
iv.
Ascertain the reason for
non-satisfaction of the reference services delivery to students in Abia State university
library.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research
questions guided the study
1.
What are the reference
services available for students in Abia State university library?
2.
To what extent do
students use reference service in Abia State university library?
3.
What are the levels of
the satisfaction of the reference services in Abia State university library?
4.
What are the reasons for
non-satisfaction of the reference services delivery to students in Abia State university
library?
1.5 HYPOTHESES
The following null hypotheses formulated and
tested at 0.05 level of significance:
H01: There is no significant difference between
the mean ratings of male and female students on the extent students use
reference services in Abia State university library.
H02: There is no significant difference between
the mean ratings of male and female students on the levels of the satisfaction
of the reference services in Abia State university library.
H03: There is no significant difference between
the mean ratings of male and female students on the reasons for
non-satisfaction of the reference services delivery to students in Abia State university
library.
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
This study would be of immense
benefit to Abia State University, Uturu (especially the university library),
librarians, library users, library and information scientists and educators as
well as other researchers.
Abia State University
Uturu: The
findings of this study should be beneficial to university administration
(especially, the university library) in that it will identify the information
needs of students in the use of reference resources and services, so that the
administrators will be aware of these needs and know the appropriate means of
meeting them. The finding of this study would also propel government through
university administrators to provide adequate funds to university libraries to
procure reference resources needed for effective and efficient services to the
students.
Librarians: The
findings of this research would help the librarian through the library
management to organize activities towards meeting the reading interest and
information needs of the students through the provision of adequate reference
resources and services need to facilitate students learning.
Library Users:
The users of the library would also benefit from this
study because the findings will sensitize them on reference services delivery
so that they will avail themselves of the opportunities of using the university
libraries to enjoy these services.
To the other researchers
and authors, this study would provide additional literature to those already
existing at the field of this study, so that they can always have enough
reference resources to consult in the course of making researches in this area.
1.7
SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
This study covered
reference services delivery and students’ satisfaction in Abia State University
Library, Uturu. The registered users of the library were used for the study.
Specifically the study covered: the reference
services available for students, the extent of use of reference services by
students, the level of the satisfaction of the reference services and the
reason for non-satisfaction of the reference services delivery to students.
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