Usage of library electronic resources by students at North West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa

Abstract

Academic libraries provide print and electronic resources for their users. Librarians have to market and train their users in how to access electronic resources (e resources). The purpose of this study was to examine the usage of library e-resources by students at the North-West University (NWU) – Vaal Triangle Campus (VTC) (NWU-VTC). To attain this purpose, six objectives were formulated: to find the level of knowledge of students in using e-resources, to understand students’ motives for using e-resources, to identify the particular e-resources used by students, to find out which methods are used by library staff to inform students about the availability of e resources, to pinpoint the issues faced by students when accessing e-resources and to recommend measures to enhance students’ utilisation of e-resources. The target population of the study was students registered at the NWU-VTC for the 2018 academic year. The study used the quantitative research approach and the descriptive survey research design was employed. The study also adopted probability sampling with the simple random sampling technique. The total population of registered students was 7 821. According to the sample size calculator, the sample size for this study was 365. The data were obtained via a questionnaire, and the statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The study discovered that most respondents had knowledge of using e-resources and most preferred to use e-resources, as they were easy to browse and navigate. From the findings of the study, it could be seen that the NWU-VTC library users did not use e-resources adequately, as most of the students were inexperienced in using e-resources. The study recommends that, during the orientation of new students, librarians should conduct seminars aimed at training the students to have abilities such as computer and information literacy, information retrieval and digital literacy skills.