Effects of Smartphone Use on Library Information Resources Utilisation by Undergraduates in Two Federal Universities in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

Library Information Resources (LIRs) are meant to be utilised. Previous studies have shown traces of decline in LIRs utilisation by undergraduates. Thus; this study investigated the effects of smartphone use on LIRs utilisation by undergraduates in two federal universities in South-west, Nigeria. Descriptive research survey was adopted for the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 337 respondents from 30,103 undergraduates in the University of Ibadan (UI) and the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. Questionnaire was used for data collection. A total of 337 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to respondents in UI and OAU, however, 323 were duly filled and returned with a response rate of 95.9%. Research question 1 and 2 were answered using frequency and mean distribution, while the hypothesis was analysed using Pearson correlation method. Findings of the study revealed that the level of LIRs utilisation was generally moderate, albeit, LIRs such as, OPAC, CD_ROM and government publications utilisation, was low. The undergraduates rarely direct the purpose of their using smartphone towards LIRs utilisation, however, smartphones use had positive effect on use of LIRs, but the undergraduates were unable to use data subscription on smartphones to access library’s online databases, and there was difficulty in accessing some of the websites subscribed to by the university library. Thus, it was recommended that access to online/Internet-based LIRs, should be extended to data subscription on smartphones, and manual should be provided to guide users in accessing websites subscribed to, or owned by the university library.