Availability and Use of Government Documents by Academic Staff in Library Complex of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

Abstract

This study examined the availability and use of government documents by academic staff in the library complex of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. To achieve the objective of the study, three research questions were raised and answered. The population of the study comprised all the academic staff in the twelve faculties of Ahmadu Bello University. Survey research design was employed, purposive sampling was adopted where 186 academic staff were selected and questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected. The study discovers that: technical report, government gazettes, annual reports, statistical reports, law reports, bulletins among others were the types of government documents that were highly available (in hard copy format) except statistical and annual reports which are in both hard and soft copies (offline) only available in the Library Complex of A.B.U Zaria; family members/colleagues/friends and personal experience were the main sources of awareness of the academic staff. The study, therefore, recommends among others that: the library complex of A.B.U Zaria should institute current awareness service with the aim of making the academic staff aware of the availability of government documents as soon as they are acquired. The awareness can be created through mobile phone text messages, library bulletin, e-mail addresses, social media, text message. The study concludes that lack of effective awareness creation undermines the high level of use of government documents by the academic staff of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.