Use of Cloud Storage amongst the Users of Prof. Abubakar A. Rasheed Library, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State Nigeria

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess the awareness and accessibility of online storage facilities among the users of Prof. Abubakar A. Rasheed Library, Federal University of Wukari, TarabaState, Nigeria. The study adopted a survey method. Three research objectives were formulated to guide the study. Data were collected through a questionnaire from 172 users of the e-library. Out of 200 copies of the questionnaires distributed, representing 86% returned rate. Afrequency count and simple percentage were used for the analysis. Major findings showed that the student's level of awareness of some online storage facilities was very low. They were most familiar with the popular ones such as Google Drive, DropBox, E-mails, and iCloud. Also, most of the respondents claimed to have full accessibility to these popular online storage facilities, apart from iCloud, which was considered poorly accessible by the respondents. The most common challenge facing the students in using online storage facilities were: lack of awareness, high cost of online storage hosting, and lack of assistance from the library staff. Based on the findings, the study recommends, among others, that the students need to keep abreast of new developments in cloud computing as this is very useful to their academics. This can be achieved through their independent studies or a series of information literacy lectures by the library. Also, the library staff needs to be trained on cloud computing and willing and ready to assist the users whenever there is a need for such.