Use of electronic information resources at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Library in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Abstract

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Library (UNECA Library) has a collection of more than 90,000 electronic information resources and half a million-print collection. These resources are available freely to staff members of the UNECA, United Nations agencies, diplomats, researchers, students and others. The study investigated the utilisation of electronic information resources and the challenges faced by the different users of the Library. A quantitative research approach with a survey research method was applied. The population for the study was 600 users,, out of which 500 were internal users (UNECA and United Nations agencies staff members) and 100 were external users (researchers, students, or non-staff members). From the population, 20% from each category, that is, 120 users were taken as a sample. A webbased questionnaire built on SurveyMonkey was distributed through email to collect data from randomly selected users. The total response rate was 74%. The data were analysed using built in survey monkey analysis software and reported with simple frequency and percentages. The results shows that 92% of the respondents were aware of the availability of the electronic information resources in the UNECA Library. TInstitutional Repository (IR) and e-journals were frequently accessed and utilised. Highly accessed and utilised databases were the Economist, African Journal Online, JSTOR, Ebscohost, ScienceDirect, and Financial Times. 94% of the respondents reported that the electronic information resources were useful, with 84% agreeing that the resources were easy to use. High numbers of the respondents positively agreed that the quality of their output was improved by using the electronic information resources provided by the library. The respondents also indicated that using the electronic information resources have improved their research output, and overall, the resources have increased their performances. The challenges were information overload, access restriction with IP address, lack of training and remembering login credentials. 68% of the users reported that the library services met their expectations. The study recommends the development of strategies for enhancing accessibility and discoverability of the resources, providing information literacy trainings for all users, and finding alternative measures for IP restriction access.