DOES SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE DETERMINE HOW THEY UTILIZE CONVENTIONAL AND DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA?

The study determined the attitude of Social Studies Education (SSE) students towards the use of conventional and digital libraries in South-east Nigeria universities. It adopted a survey research design. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 238 Students which consisted all the SSE students from 200 to 400 level. A sample size of 152 students selected through multi-stage sampling techniques were used for the study. A- 4-point instrument developed by the researcher titled “Questionnaire on Attitude towards the use of conventional and digital Libraries (QACDL)” was used for the study. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and it yielded .771 which indicates that the instrument is reliable. The research questions were answered using percentage while the null hypotheses were tested using Man Whitney U test at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that students that SSE students have access to the various sections of the conventional and digital library and have negative attitude towards the conventional. Some of the strategies recommended for improvement of the students use of the conventional and digital library included: Academic libraries have to improve the quality of their services to survive in this era of Information Communications Technology (ICT) and schools should assess the library service from student’s point of view to know their user needs amongst others

UDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF CONVENTIONAL AND DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES

The study investigated the perceptions of Social Studies Education (SSE) students towards the use of conventional and digital libraries in South-east Nigeria Universities. It adopted a survey research design. Five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. The study was conducted in the South-east zone of Nigeria. The target population for this study was 238 Students. A sample size of 152 students using multi-stage sampling technique. A self-developed instrument titled “Questionnaire on perception towards the use of the conventional and digital Libraries (QPDCL)” was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha and the reliability was .847 which indicates that the instrument is reliable. The research questions were answered using percentage while the null hypotheses were tested using Man Whitney U test at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that the perception of SSE students towards the conventional and digital libraries is highly satisfactory. However, it was discovered that the students preferred the digital library platform to the conventional library and this was as a result of its accessibility, currency, completeness, ease of use and accuracy. Some of the strategies recommended for improvement of the students use of the conventional and digital libraries include constant evaluation of the library service from student’s point of view to know their user needs, library needs to add new books and reference resources in various subjects’ disciplines especially the SSE related disciplines and increase number of journals and extension of library hours till 8.00 pm to enhance students use