AVAILABILTY AND UTILIZATION OF LIBRARY RESOURCES BY ACADEMIC STAFF OF FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE IN NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, SHABU-LAFIA CAMPUS

Abstract

The study investigated the availability and utilization of library resources by academic staff of Faculty of Agriculture in Nasarawa State University, Shabu-Lafia Campus. Four research questions guided the study. Survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 46 academic staff in the Faculty of Agriculture Shabu-Lafia Campus. 46 copies of questionnaire were distributed and 42 (91% ) were retrieved and used for the study. The findings of the study established that textbooks, serial materials, reference materials, audio-visual materials, e-resources, dissertations, translation and proceedings, encyclopedia, dictionaries, posters, atlases, maps and globes were the types of library resources available in the Faculty of Agriculture Library. The most utilized library resources were serial materials, e-resources and textbooks. The findings further revealed that inadequate Internet access, lack of proper funding, inadequate power supply, inadequate staff and unqualified personnel were the major challenges encountered by academic staff in the utilization of library resources. Strategies that could be employed to enhance the use of library resources by academic staff in the library studied include advocacy on acquisition of current library resources, the need to improve library funding and provision of Internet services respectively. The study recommends that library resources such as research monographs, indexes, abstracts, CD-ROMs, audio and video cassettes should be acquired and made available for use, advocacy on the use of theses and dissertations, translation and proceedings and dictionaries should be vigorously carried out to enhance the utilization of the library resources, library management should provide up-to-date library services in line with global best practices in addition to the provision of congenial reading area for academic staff, training and retraining on online searching skills should be periodically organized for academic staff, and adequate funding of library operations, improved collection development and maintenance should be given a top priority.