A REVIEW ON STUDENT’S UTILIZATION OF LIBRARY AND ITS IMPACT ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

A university library is a well-organized and well-maintained collection of printed and unprinted resources for reading, studying, and consulting. According to Futalib (2015), a university library is an institution tasked with the collection, organization, and storage of recorded information in various media for study, research, and consultation. The major purpose of the University Library is to support the University's mission of encouraging teaching, learning, and research. The university library's mission is to help students, postgraduates, professors, and other university community members. Because of its unique function in the university system, the library is critical in assessing a university's excellence. A university cannot function without a library since the university's mission is to educate and do research. The university library should provide a variety of services. It is also anticipated to serve all knowledge areas within the institution. As a result, university libraries may be decentralized, with a central library coordinating the operations of departmental and faculty libraries. Its collection must include general and specialist reference collections, as well as journals, newspapers, manuscripts, historical maps, government documents, clippings, letters, theses, and audio-visual materials. As a result, undergraduates used these technologies to boost their academic performance.        Undergraduates' stated usage of information sources in the library is hence referred to as library utilization. This includes the frequency with which student visits the library, the frequency with which he borrows books, and the types and ages of the information sources he uses (Collins 2020). The entire usage of library facilities and information resources is thus characterized as library resource utilization. The usage of the university library by undergraduates, in particular, may inspire students to achieve academic achievement. Academic accomplishment refers to a student's academic outcomes, which demonstrate how far he or she has gone toward their learning goals. Academic accomplishment can be demonstrated by completing educational criteria such as a bachelor's degree. Exams or continual assessments are commonly used to measure academic performance.

Undergraduate academic achievement is an important part of education (Rono, 2017). It is considered the pivot around which the whole educational system revolves. Undergraduates, according to Narad and Abdullah (2016), decide any academic institution's academic success. Undergraduate academic success, according to Signh, Malik, and Signh (2016), has a direct influence on a country's socioeconomic growth. According to Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq, and Behanu (2011), undergraduate academic achievement provides as a foundation for knowledge acquisition and skill development. Onuoah (2000) asserts that there is a positive relationship between university libraries and student learning outcomes. Students who frequent libraries, according to him, have greater exam scores than students who do not frequent libraries. Most undergraduates no longer utilize libraries for a number of reasons, including a lack of awareness of how to use the catalogue, which aids library users in discovering or identifying the resources they seek; and a lack of library orientations or seminars for students. Other complaints include the lack of library goods, the placement of things on the shelf, outdated collections, and insufficient infrastructure. The library's administration should make every effort to avoid this situation. As a result, title use of the university library and academic accomplishment of undergraduates in selected university libraries in South-South Nigeria are critical.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Undergraduates determine the success of any academic institution. Undergraduate academic success, according to Signh, Malik, and Signh (2016), has a direct influence on a country's socioeconomic growth. According to Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq, and Behanu (2011), undergraduate academic achievement provides as a foundation for knowledge acquisition and skill development. Onuoah (2000) asserts that there is a positive relationship between university libraries and student learning outcomes. Students who frequent libraries, according to him, have greater exam scores than students who do not frequent libraries. Most undergraduates no longer utilize libraries for a number of reasons, including a lack of awareness of how to use the catalogue, which aids library users in discovering or identifying the resources they seek; and a lack of library orientations or seminars for students. Other complaints include the lack of library goods, the placement of things on the shelf, outdated collections, and insufficient infrastructure. The library's administration should make every effort to avoid this situation. As a result, title use of the university library and academic accomplishment of undergraduates in selected university libraries in South-West Nigeria are critical. While there is literature on university library utilization and undergraduate academic achievement in university libraries, none has been undertaken in South-West Nigerian university libraries with reference to University of Ibadan. As a result, the researcher writes in order to fill a knowledge gap.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The general objective of the study is to find out the how undergraduates utilized the university libraries and how they achieved their academic achievement. The specific objectives are:

i.          To investigate the extent at which  undergraduates utilize library in public university

ii.        To ascertain whether the use of libraries by undergraduate has impact on their academic attainment

iii.      To explore factors impede/hinder the utilization of the university library of by undergraduates in public universities.

iv.      To determine strategies could be adopted to improve the utilization of the University libraries by undergraduates in public universities.

1.4  Research Questions

i.          What is the extent at which  undergraduates utilize library in public university?

ii.        Does the use of libraries by undergraduate has impact on their academic attainment?

iii.      What are the factors impeding  the utilization of the university library of by undergraduates in public universities?

iv.      What strategies could be adopted to improve the utilization of the University libraries by undergraduates in public universities?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following individuals would benefit from this study:

One of the major significance of the study is to bring to light the importance of school libraries in enhancing students’ academic performance thus achieving high academic success in their educational career. This is because, if students generally imbibe the culture of reading and making use of the library facilities in the school, their academic achievement would be improved and the seemingly low academic standards in the school system will be remedied. The findings and recommendations of this Study would help students to be enlightened on the issue of using the library facilities in order to maximize their academic success in their academic pursuit in the schools Not only the students will be benefiting from the recommendations and finding of this study, teachers would also find this study very informative, as they would be better informed and exposed to the issue of students’ use and or non-use of the libraries as determinants of their academic performance in the school. This study will help teacher greatly because, if students, through this study, learn how to make proper use of the libraries and the maximization of their educational standards are assured, teachers’ work will be easier and the glory will also go to them. Library staff, the school library attendants would benefit from the finding and recommendations of this study, because, it will help them to carry out their duties effectively in a way that students will be encouraged and drawn to the libraries more frequently.

With the study and its recommendations, the library attendants would be able to get necessary information that would assist them in changing some of their negative attitudes and unfriendly dispositions that do not give students the zeal to come to the library to read or study. The recommendations of study will urge the library authorities to put in place a training and development programme that would help the library attendants to sit up and do their work diligently, for the benefit of the library users, especially, the students.The content, the finding and the recommendations of this study would be very expository and important to the school management, especially at the University of Lagos. This is because, the recommendations of this study if heeded and implemented by the managers of the institution, most especially, the school authorities at the Faculty of Education, it will go a long way in helping the authorities to look into the issue of low use of the library facilities by the students and its attendant negative effects on the general standards of University of Education and more importantly, on students’ academic achievement. Will be able to device means of organizing orientation courses, seminars and workshops on the essence of using the libraries and the improvement students’ academic performance in school.

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 The scope of this study borders on the assessment of instructional materials utilized for effective teaching and learning of economics.The study was delimited to University of Ibadan in Oyo State.

1.7  LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only University of Ibadan in Oyo State.Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other universities within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Operational terms and ambiguous words were accordingly defined in this study in the following dimensions:

School Library: School library is room or building for a collection of books kept there for reading;. It is also writing and reading room in an institution or school.

Academic Performance: This is the overall outcome of learning activities of students over a period of learning in a formal school environment.

 Counsellor: This is a professional adviser; an expert in solving people problems through counselling techniques.

Manuscripts: this refers to book and so on, as first written out or typed.

Journals: This means daily newspaper; other periodicals. It also means daily record of news, events, business accounts e.t.c.

Biography: This means person’s life-history written by another person; it is also a branch of literature dealing with the lives of persons.

 Librarian: A worker or personnel that stay in the library room to lend books and other library materials to individuals for reading and writing. A librarian is a staff employed by the school authorities to oversee activities in the library.  

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