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Faculty Awareness and Utilization of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library for Teaching and Research: A Study of Academic Staff in the University of Calabar, Nigeria

Received: 10 March 2016    Accepted: 18 March 2016    Published: 26 May 2016
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Abstract

This study reports on a survey conducted to explore the awareness and extent of utilization of The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) database resources by academic staff at the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria. Structured Questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. Eighty copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed to respondents in their offices; 60 copies of these were retrieved and used for data analysis (with 75.0% response rate). The findings of the study indicate that although vast majority (88.3%) of academic staff in the faculty of Agriculture are aware of TEEAL database resources, their utilization is rather low (46.7%) in teaching and research, the frequency of usage is equally low, as most (46.7%) respondents use these databases “occasionally”. From the findings of the study, most respondents used TEEAL abstracts for research and publication (80.0%), for better research output (53.3%) for insights to various topics for lectures (50.0%) and keep abreast with current trends in the field of study (50.0%). Major factors that impede awareness and utilization of TEEAL databases by academic staff of the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria include lack of awareness of the available databases by the university library, lack of access to TEEAL databases in the University library, lack of time to spend in searching TEEAL databases in the Library and inadequate information skills to use TEEAL, and improper orientation on the use.

Published in Education Journal (Volume 5, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11
Page(s) 33-38
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Electronic Libraries, TEEAL Databases, E-resources, University Library, Offline Databases, Academic Staff

References
[1] Aina, L. O. (2012) The Information environment for agricultural stakeholders in Botswana. Information Development, 28 (2): 149-159.
[2] Ani, Okon E.; Ngulube, Patrick and Onyancha, Bosire (2014). Effect of accessibility and Utilization of electronic information resources on productivity of academic staff in selected Nigerian universities. Available at http://www.sciencepublishing group.com/j/sr
[3] Ani, Okon and Edem, Nkoyo (2012) Access and usage of online databases in Nigerian Universities in teaching/research. Library and Information Practitioner 5 (1 & 2), 475–486.
[4] Bashorun, M., Tunji, I. A. & Adisa, M. U. (2011). User perception of electronic resources in the University of Illorin, Nigeria. Journal of emerging trends in computing and information sciences 2 (11): 554-562.
[5] Bhatt, S. & Rana, M. S. (2011) E-information usage among engineering academics in India with special reference to Rajasthan state. Library hi tech. 29 (3): 496-511.
[6] Chuckwusa, J. (2015) Electronic resources usage in some selected university libraries in south south, Nigeria.
[7] Edem, N. B. and Ani, O. E (2015) Development of Electronic libraries in Nigerian Universities. Information Technologist, 12 (2), 35-45.
[8] Edem, Nkoyo (2015) Utilization of information Technology Facilities for Research by undergraduate students in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. Information and knowledge Management, 5 (10) 81-87, Available online at http://www.iitse.org/journals/index.php/....
[9] Egberongbe, H. S. (2011) The use and impact of electronic resources at the university of lagos. Library philosophy and practice (e-journal) paper 472. Retrieved February 2, 2016 from http://digitalcommons.uni.edu/cgi/newcontent.cgi;article=149&context=hbphilprac.
[10] Foster, K.; Heppensta, R.; Lazarz, C. & Broug, E. (2008). Emerald academy 2008 authorship in Africa. Available at http://info.emeraldinsight.com/pdf/report.pdf/.20.3.14
[11] Lawal, M. T. and Lawal, B. (2015). Information Literacy Skills and accessibility of databases among undergraduate students of Umaru Musa yar’adua University, katsina. Information Technologist, vol 12 (2), 95-105.
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  • APA Style

    Nkoyo B. Edem. (2016). Faculty Awareness and Utilization of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library for Teaching and Research: A Study of Academic Staff in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Education Journal, 5(3), 33-38. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11

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    ACS Style

    Nkoyo B. Edem. Faculty Awareness and Utilization of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library for Teaching and Research: A Study of Academic Staff in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Educ. J. 2016, 5(3), 33-38. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11

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    AMA Style

    Nkoyo B. Edem. Faculty Awareness and Utilization of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library for Teaching and Research: A Study of Academic Staff in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Educ J. 2016;5(3):33-38. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11,
      author = {Nkoyo B. Edem},
      title = {Faculty Awareness and Utilization of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library for Teaching and Research: A Study of Academic Staff in the University of Calabar, Nigeria},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {5},
      number = {3},
      pages = {33-38},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20160503.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20160503.11},
      abstract = {This study reports on a survey conducted to explore the awareness and extent of utilization of The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) database resources by academic staff at the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria. Structured Questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. Eighty copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed to respondents in their offices; 60 copies of these were retrieved and used for data analysis (with 75.0% response rate). The findings of the study indicate that although vast majority (88.3%) of academic staff in the faculty of Agriculture are aware of TEEAL database resources, their utilization is rather low (46.7%) in teaching and research, the frequency of usage is equally low, as most (46.7%) respondents use these databases “occasionally”. From the findings of the study, most respondents used TEEAL abstracts for research and publication (80.0%), for better research output (53.3%) for insights to various topics for lectures (50.0%) and keep abreast with current trends in the field of study (50.0%). Major factors that impede awareness and utilization of TEEAL databases by academic staff of the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria include lack of awareness of the available databases by the university library, lack of access to TEEAL databases in the University library, lack of time to spend in searching TEEAL databases in the Library and inadequate information skills to use TEEAL, and improper orientation on the use.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AB  - This study reports on a survey conducted to explore the awareness and extent of utilization of The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) database resources by academic staff at the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria. Structured Questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. Eighty copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed to respondents in their offices; 60 copies of these were retrieved and used for data analysis (with 75.0% response rate). The findings of the study indicate that although vast majority (88.3%) of academic staff in the faculty of Agriculture are aware of TEEAL database resources, their utilization is rather low (46.7%) in teaching and research, the frequency of usage is equally low, as most (46.7%) respondents use these databases “occasionally”. From the findings of the study, most respondents used TEEAL abstracts for research and publication (80.0%), for better research output (53.3%) for insights to various topics for lectures (50.0%) and keep abreast with current trends in the field of study (50.0%). Major factors that impede awareness and utilization of TEEAL databases by academic staff of the faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Nigeria include lack of awareness of the available databases by the university library, lack of access to TEEAL databases in the University library, lack of time to spend in searching TEEAL databases in the Library and inadequate information skills to use TEEAL, and improper orientation on the use.
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Author Information
  • Library Department, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

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