ASSESSMENT OF THE USE OF ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGUE IN RETRIEVING INFORMATION RESOURCES AMONG STUDENTS AND STAFF IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN BENUE STATE

Abstract

Background: The Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) is an essential library tool designed to facilitate efficient access to and retrieval of information resources in academic libraries. Despite its importance, evidence suggests that its utilization among library users remains suboptimal in many Nigerian universities.

Objective of the Study: This study assessed the use of the Online Public Access Catalogue in retrieving information resources among students and staff in public university libraries in Benue State.

Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised students and staff of public university libraries in Benue State. A total of 571 respondents participated in the study.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire validated by experts in Library and Information Science and Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach's Alpha.

Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance.

Findings: The findings revealed that:  Respondents had a relatively low level of awareness of OPAC.  The extent of OPAC use was also low.  The major challenges affecting OPAC utilization included:  Inadequate number of OPAC terminals Lack of user orientation Absence of user guides Inadequate searching skills Restricted access to OPAC facilities(Grand Mean = 3.49)  There was a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between OPAC use and information retrieval (r = 0.861, p < 0.05).  There was also a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between awareness and OPAC use (r = 0.723, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The study concluded that awareness and utilisation of OPAC in public university libraries in Benue State is relatively low, due to infrastructural and user-related challenges.

Recommendations: It was recommended that university libraries should provide continuous user education and practical OPAC training programmes to enhance users' searching skills and improve the effective utilization of OPAC for information retrieval.