ATTITUDE OF LIBRARIANS TOWARDS THE USE OF E-RESOURCES FOR COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

 The purpose of this study was to determine the attitude of librarians towards the use of e-resources for collection development in university libraries in South East Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and one null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. Population of the study comprised all the 157 librarians in the collection development department in the 10 public university libraries in the South-East Nigeria. Disproportionate sampling technique was employed to select 83 young librarians and 74 experienced librarians. Self-designed questionnaire titled ‘Librarians’ Attitude towards the Use of E-resources for Collection Development Questionnaire (LAUECDQ)’ was used for data collection.  Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze data for the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypothesis. The finding of the study revealed that while young librarians have a positive attitude towards the use of e-resources for collection development, the older librarians have a negative attitude towards it. Findings further revealed that no significant difference existed between the mean scores of old and young librarians on their attitude towards the use of e-resources for collection development. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the university management should make a conscious effort towards organizing seminars and workshops especially for the old librarians on the need to prioritize the use of e-resources for collection development. That way, the attitude gap between the old and young librarians will be bridged on matters relating to their use of e-resources for collection development.