AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION RESOURCES BY STAFF AND STUDENTS OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF LAFIA

Abstract

This study assessed availability, awareness and utilization of information resources by staff and students of Federal University of Lafia (FULafia). Three research questions guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was the researcher self-developed questionnaire and observation checklist. The fisrt instrument was used to identify the availability of information resources in the library while the second one was used to solicit information on users’ awareness and utilization of the library resource. The study used a descriptive survey with a total population of the 2181. The sample size of 436 was drawn using a simple 20% of the entire population. Data was analyzed using simple percentage. It was concluded that, the library have some useful information resources, that users are aware of some of the available resources and they utilize some of them. Findings also show that users are not aware of some of the resources available in the library. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that the library should acquire additional information resources, especially ICT based ones, information access policies should be adjusted for more openness and the library should make deliberate efforts to make users aware of the available information resources to encourage utilization of available information resources.