Accessibility and Challenges Associated with Digital Library Resources for Learning Among Undergraduate Students in Universities in Yobe State
Keywords:
Accessibility, Challenges, Digital Library Resources (DLRs)), Undergraduate StudentsAbstract
The paper investigated the accessibility of digital library resources for learning among undergraduate students in Universities in Yobe State. The paper also aimed at identifying the challenges faced by undergraduate students in accessing digital library resources in the universities. The targeted population comprised of the all the undergraduate students of universities in Yobe state, which is 14143. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that there was poor accessibility of digital library resources among the undergraduate students. Likewise, the finding
showed that majority of the respondents expressed that the accessibility of digital library resources was limited to e-journals, e-books e-newspapers and online dictionaries. While other important digital library resources like e-databases, eproject, e-theses and dissertations, e-magazines and e-conference proceedings among others were also not accessed. The findings further indicated that low bandwidth, poor internet connectivity and poor enabling environment were among the challenges faced by undergraduate students. Therefore, the study recommended that sensitization on the digital library resources should be conducted to the
undergraduate students, and the university libraries should addressed the challenges faced by the undergraduate students, this include effective network connectivity, high bandwidth among others.