ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ACCESSIBILITY, ICT SKILLS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AS CORRELATES OFUNDERGRADUATES’ ELECTRONIC INFORMATION RESOURCES UTILISATION IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The utilisation of electronic information resources in tertiary institutions cannot be underestimated because of its potential in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. In spite of the versatility of these resources, observations have shown that there was low utilisation of these resources among undergraduates in North-Central Nigeria. Previous studies largely focused on electronic resources accessibility, ICT skills and environmental factors of lecturers without much attention paid to undergraduates. This study, was therefore, carried out to investigate electronic resources accessibility, ICT skills (computer management, computer application and Internet search and use skills) and environmental factors (learning environment and physical infrastructure) as correlates of undergraduates’ electronic information resources utilisation in federal universities in North-Central Nigeria. The study was anchored to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology developed by Venkatesh, Morris and Davis, while the survey design of correlational type was adopted. The multistage procedure was employed. At the first stage, all the conventional federal universities in North-Central Nigeria: University of Abuja, University of Jos, University of Ilorin, Federal University Lokoja and Federal University Lafia, were purposively selected without the specialised ones. Three faculties and two departments common to the universities were selected: Arts - (English and History) - Science (Chemistry and Mathematics); and Social Sciences (Economics and Political Science). The proportionate-to-size sampling technique was used to select 20% of the undergraduates from each of the departments, making a total of 1258. The instruments used were Electronic Resources Accessibility (α = 0.71), Computer Management (α = 0.78), Computer Application (α = 0.81), Internet Search and Use Skills (α = 0.83), Learning Environment (α = 0.79), Physical Infrastructure (α = 0.82) and Utilisation of Electronic Information Resources (α = 0.85) scales. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance.

The respondents’ age was 25.50 + 2.42 years, and 50.4% were male. Electronic resources accessibility (r = 0.78), computer management (r = 0.56), computer application (r = 0.41), internet search and use skills (r = 0.32), learning environment (r = 0.29) and physical infrastructure (r = 0.33) had significant positive relationships with electronic information resources utilisation. Electronic resources accessibility, ICT skills and environmental factors jointly contributed to electronic information resources utilisation ( = 11.95, Adj. = 0.59), accounting for 59.0% of its variance. Electronic resources accessibility ( = 0.48), computer management ( = 0.39), computer application ( = 0.42), Internet search and Use skills ( = 0.32), learning environment ( = 0.44) and physical infrastructure ( = 0.38) significantly contributed to electronic information resources utilisation.

Electronic resources accessibility, computer management, computer application, Internet search and Use skills, learning environment and physical infrastructure determined electronic information resources utilisation among undergraduates in federal universities in North-Central Nigeria. Therefore, university managements, library administrators and librarians should give congnisance attention to ensure effective utilisation of electronic information.