Information Communication Technology (ICT) and its effect on Newspaper Utilisation in University Libraries in Nigeria

Abstract

Newspaper services are considered as one of the important services provided by university libraries because they provide up to date and timely information to the user. They are the major channel of communication and main sources of information on current topics on all aspects of a country’s social environment, agricultural growth, business and industrial sectors, political and cultural life. The Internet has already had a major impact on how people access information and newspapers. University libraries, therefore, have the challenge of managing newspapers for quick access, retrieval, dissemination and posterity. This study, therefore, examined Information Communication Technology (ICT) and its effect on newspaper utilisation in university libraries in Nigeria.

The survey research design was adopted. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select fifteen (15) universities from all public universities in Nigeria. Fifty (50) users from each of the selected universities participated in the study.

The instrument used was the questionnaire. The result explicitly revealed that Information Communication Technology has a positive effect in various ways on newspaper utilisation in university libraries in Nigeria. Majority (96%) of the respondents were satisfied with the electronic services provided by the university libraries for use. The constraints identified by 72% of the respondents are limited number of computer terminals available for use, while 83% identified alternative to power supply as a major constraint.