INFORMATION LITERACY, COGNITIVE STYLE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIBRARY USE AS DETERMINANTS OF UNDERGRADUATES’ USE OF LIBRARIES IN NIGERIAN.
UNIVERSITIES
BY
ABIMBOLA YOLOYE
Matric No: 96498
A PhD RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTED AT THE DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY, ARCHIVAL AND INFORMATION STUDIES. FACULTY OF EDUCATION. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN. NIGERIA.
DR. O. A. OKWILAGWE
SUPERVISOR.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The whole concept of education is to train and develop the total man to be able to fit in and function in the society and community. Education ensures the promotion of the physical, emotional and psychological development of children and, acquisition of competence necessary for self reliance at all levels. Empirical studies like that of Ukeje (1991) and Oshosanya (2004) indicate that education is the future of Nigeria, the way out of poverty and illiteracy. Therefore, undergraduates must explore all avenues that will make them fulfilled academically, socially and culturally. The more widely the undergraduates read, the better informed they become and the more their understanding will grow. The academic libraries are established basically to provide learning and research materials for students, lecturers and other users (Johnson, 2000). The library is a collection of resources like books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, reports, audiovisual, disc, cassettes, tape recordings, CD-ROM, film and filmstrips, slides, posters, pictures, maps, and information services (Fayose, 2000).
In Nigeria, most primary and secondary schools do not have established libraries but all the higher institutions have, though some may be ill- equipped. A well equipped library contains books on all relevant subjects and disciplines, from quick reference books like encyclopedias that give a quick taste of a topic to more scholarly monographs which discusses the topic in great depths and periodicals which give the most precise and up-to-date information on the topic from several view points. Books are the principal sources of information, cognition and intellectual growth. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2005, share the view that the basic means for storage and transfer of information are books.
According to Olowookere (2004), the library is a place entrusted with the selection, acquisition, processing, organising, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information in either book or non-book materials. This shows libraries are functional in selection and acquisition of collections though the undergraduates perceive the library resources as not being straight forward as Internet search engine (Kibirge, 2000). However, we must note that libraries are no longer restricted to traditional resources; we now have electronic library resources which are in electronic format which require special equipment to use them. These electronic resources include digital documents, electronic serials, databases, patents in electronic form and networked audio visual document.
The university library is charged with certain roles, most especially in the area of availability of information that will enable the undergraduates to carry out their academic activities successfully. Among these crucial roles are the acquisition and dissemination of information on the various courses in the universities. The library promote the sharing and transfer of information between other institutions through network, maintain rich up-to-date reference sources, share resources with other universities and conduct current awareness services with a focus on selective dissemination of information to undergraduates (Widernet, 2003). The library may also have print subscription to certain title that is not full text electronically or accessible through another database. For the library to perform these roles creditably, it must conform to the latest trend in the information management world. This is why digitization and automation are occupying a centre stage in the achievement of effective and efficient delievery and dissemination of information in a library system. The issue is only a few of the university libraries are automated.
Widernet (2003) believes automation makes materials easier for undergraduates to locate as well as allow library staff to serve undergraduates better by facilitating a multitude of tasks such as acquisition, cataloguing, circulation and reference. Also, digital libraries have the potential to store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contain it.
There are many myths associated with undergraduates’ use of academic libraries. The reality is many undergraduates come to the university unprepared and unequipped to handle the demands of their course work, since they have no experience with large research libraries. They may not understand how academic libraries work and may not have acquired the skills to do meaningful research. Undergraduates use the library primarily as a quiet and convenient place to study and may not be aware of its resources (Whitmire, 2001). Mays (2006) reveal undergraduates are not borrowing books in great numbers, he posits 11.6% of undergraduates in Deakin University borrowed no books at all for a whole session and tends to view the university library as a meeting place and study hall. There is another important reality of undergraduates’ research techniques including lack of understanding when it comes to sources of scholarly information with students exhibiting confusion between popular and academic journals (Leckie and Fullerton 1999). In addition they often miss important information because they tend to use sources that have worked for them in the past and they have no conception of what a citation trail is (Valentine, 2003).
Kunkel (1996) report that 49.4% of undergraduates in Kent state university are seldom given any work that requires library research and 31.4% have few library assignments to do. Consequently students who are not given library assignments fail to develop library skills. At the university level, the unique needs of undergraduates are focused on content, appropriate critical and creative thinking skills. For intellectual stimulation and growth to occur, it is important to challenge the undergraduates on a higher cognitive level. Most undergraduates struggle to make sense out of printed texts and often show signs of emotional distress or lack of interest towards the use of library due to their in-efficiencies. This may be due to the fact that most primary and secondary schools do not have established libraries and librarians (Ajayi, 1993).
Thousands of students enter the universities with varying experiences depending on where they attended school previously; the size and status of the institution and the level of their interest and intellect (Mason, et al 2000). Observations on these young people bring the word sophistication to mind, and amazement at their level of self confidence. Some grew up with computer at home and in school, surfing the internet and playing computer games. Many are well travelled and quite able to handle themselves in many situations, but what happens when they enter the foreign atmosphere of an academic library, they are faced with how to cope with fulfilling the academic requirements.
Undergraduates’ interest cover a multitude of subjects, as well as a wide spectrum of personal expectations and goals to be realised, but one thing they will have in common is the need to use the university library for research papers, projects, presentations, assignments and access reserve readings. How often do undergraduates use the library? Do they know their way around the library or going to the library is an unsettling, stressful experience for some? Studies like that of Kunkel and Kuhlthau (1996) show that using the university library for research purposes overwhelms many undergraduates. Often they use the library as a meeting place to talk to classmates or quiet place to take a mid afternoon nap. When it comes to actually using library resources to reach an end, anxiety is often the result. Investigating undergraduates’ research behaviour, Valentine (2003) found that unfamiliar library surrounding and resources were related to undergraduates’ fear of using the library. They considered themselves failures if they have to ask the librarian for anything.
Undergraduates leave secondary school with little or no library skills to transfer to a post secondary institution (Kunkel, 1996). The lack of library skills coupled with library and performance anxiety increases when faculty members think the problem will be quickly effaced and has no concern to the reality that their students cannot cope. There is no reason to believe undergraduates can learn adequate library skills independently, they only learn to cope better with their own deficiencies and hide their inadequacies. By so doing, they miss out on a greater quality of education which can only come from learning how to do independent research. It is a myth to believe that undergraduates can make the changes needed for educational success without faculty members and librarians helping them. Asking librarians for help can lessen how much stress is involved in the research process, while librarians should include assurances that the undergraduates’ feelings of confusion and anxiety are normal (Keefe, 1998)
Kuhlthau (1996) found that undergraduates do not know the library can be quite helpful in completing their course work and in providing them with deeper understanding of assignments. They attempt to do their research work very quickly, getting in and out of the library as fast as they can. Also unremarkable is their keen interest for using electronic sources in the research process, although many databases were beyond their comprehension. Libraries give undergraduates access to books they cannot afford to buy and allows undergraduates who cannot afford to get a computer to use the ones in the library (Mays, 2006). Again undergraduates do not support or supplement course work with library research; this may mean that undergraduates rely on lecture notes, handouts and text books on the curriculum which may not help the undergraduates to learn independently (Hardy, 1992). In other words, undergraduates should be active seekers of information rather than passive recipients of learning. Whether undergraduates will use the library often also depend on the teaching style of their lecturers, course requirements and the educational mission of the university.
The objectives of the university libraries are to acquire, organize and provide resources and services towards effective teaching, learning, research and dissemination of existing and new information (Crawford, 2003). For any course of study to be worthwhile, a wide range of reading is required. Thus, the importance of the library in teaching, learning and acquisition of knowledge is very crucial to the human race and in particular to undergraduates. Flemin (1990) opines that libraries provide instructions; education and exploration to undergraduates to enable them make more effective, efficient and independent use of information resources and services to which these libraries provide access.
Information literacy is a fundamental component of the educational process at basic and advanced level, in which undergraduates learn how to think actively and critically about information rather than passively receive packaged facts or materials (Dewald, 2000). To be information literate at the university level is far more than just reading a set of text books to obtain a degree. The whole concept is to train and develop the total man to be able to fit in and function in the society. A study conducted by Maduagwu (2000) show undergraduates need more than one book to widen their horizon, deepen their understanding and have broader social insight. He state further that books provide an adequate information literacy foundation and undergraduates must use libraries optimally and competently. Undergraduates must explore all avenues that will make them fulfilled academically, socially and culturally. The more widely they read, the better informed they become and the deeper their understanding would grow (Johnson, 2000). Studies like that of Clougherty, Forys, Lyles, Persson, (1998) show that undergraduates underused certain library services and resources. According to these researchers, most students use the library to study, photocopy and check out materials; very few students use the library for reference consultations. The most use library resources are catalogues, news papers and computers in a computer laboratory area. Researches also show that very few students use printed indexes and bibliographies, microfilm and microfiche, CD-ROMs, videos and maps, where they are available (Eurich, 2002).
It is essential for university libraries to posses the resources that will enable them meet the goals of promoting learning, research and scholarship. A well stocked library will be of no use if undergraduates do not know how to use the resources and services, it is necessary to introduce the undergraduates to the library and its methods of operation. Aguolu (2001) supports the view that libraries will be useless if they were mere information storage systems without librarians to select from the universe of rapidly proliferating records that are growing at an exponential rate. The librarian creates bibliographies of all types, cataloguing codes and classification schemes to provide effective subject access to books, print or non-print, micrographic, audio-visual or machine readable.
The library catalogue is a useful tool that provides the key to all the resources in the library, some libraries build their own internal database, known as Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) which is an electronic version of the traditional card catalogue. These machine readable resources are computerized databases stored on computers and floppy discs (Ifidon, 1997). Empirical study by Bawden (1999) found developments in the field of information technology have launched the library and its use into an information communication super highway that does not require the undergraduate to come into the library at all. Many of them may work remotely from homes, hostels, classrooms, offices or internet cafes. They may alternate between using a desktop or a laptop, web-capable cell phones or personal digital assistants.
However, many undergraduates wrongly assume that basic internet searches will suffice in writing research papers. They may be ignorant of the hidden web in the library which often contains materials of considerable value which internet search engines cannot find and index and, may not appreciate the value of information in paper form on library shelves. As a result, librarians and other educational professionals are introducing information literacy in all its forms and aspects to make their patrons information competent persons. Information literacy is experienced in a number of ways and differently by different people; it gives insight into interaction with the world of information as students experience it. It also helps students to understand critical differences in experiences and suggest learning outcomes based on whole experiences and real life practice (Williams, 1995). Information literacy enables undergraduates to perceive, encode, decode, retain and remember information or learning materials as they interact with the libraries. Information literacy develops in the undergraduates a set of skills and competencies in finding, evaluating and making use of information in appropriate ways.