Assessment of access and use of school library information resources by secondary schools students in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), 2014; Paper 1107The paper reports results of a study on “Access and Use of School Library Information Resources by Secondary Schools Students in Morogoro Municipality Tanzania”. The main objective of this study was to assess access and use of library information resources by students of secondary schools in Morogoro Municipal. The study comprised of the following specific objectives; to investigate access and use of school library information resources by the secondary school students; to determine the level of satisfaction of students towards school library information resources and to find out challenges facing students in the use of school library and how to address such challenges. The study was carried out in five purposefully selected advanced level schools in Morogoro Municipality. Simple random sampling was used to select 30 respondents from each selected school to make a sample size of 150 respondents. The study employed a case study research design and used combination of methods to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected by using documentary review, questionnaires, interviews and personal observations. Quantitative data was analysed by using SPSS, while content analysis was adopted for qualitative data. Key findings revealed that the most frequently used library information sources by secondary students are only books and novels. Moreover, other library information resources, such as atlas and maps, dictionaries, novels, audio visuals and poetry were not accessible by students hence those sources were not satisfactory to meet their information needs. The findings further revealed that secondary school students face many constraints in using school library including lack of current and up to date reading materials, restricted reading hours, lack of sitting facilities, and lack of informational professional/ librarian for processing materials. The study conclude that for effective use of Schools Libraries by the secondary school students, there is need for current and adequate school library information resources, provision of accommodation facilities, provision of professional school librarians to manage libraries and conducive reading environment. These could be done in collaboration with all stakeholders in secondary education in the country. However, the study recommended that adequate provision of fund is necessary for the provision of current and up to date information resources and also for the employment of qualified and trained teacherlibrarian