Information literacy of students as a correlate of their use of electronic resources in university libraries in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship existing between undergraduate students’ information literacy skills and their use of electronic resources (ERs) located in university libraries in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The descriptive design was adopted for the research questions, while the correlational design was adopted for the hypothesis. The purposive sampling technique was also adopted in selecting 12 university libraries which the preliminary study had revealed that they have Internet access and also subscribe to ERs in the south-west geopolitical zone in Nigeria. Questionnaire and oral interview were used for data collection. The population size consists of all the 36,116 library-registered undergraduate students in the 12 universities, while the sample size is 1,806 (5 per cent of the population) and the 12 librarians heading the ERs sections of the libraries. Findings – The findings revealed that ERs are not adequately utilized, undergraduate students do not possess adequate information literacy skills necessary for optimal utilization of the libraries’ ERs and strong positive correlation between level of undergraduate students’ information literacy skill and their use of ERs provided in the library. Practical implications – This paper provides practical insights into the impact of possessing inadequate information literacy skills on the use of ERs. Originality/value – This paper is the first to relate undergraduate students’ information literacy skills and their use of libraries’ ERs in south-western zone of Nigeria.