An Empirical Study of Accessibility and Use of Library Resources by Undergraduates in a Nigerian State University of Technology

This study investigated the accessibility and use of library resources by undergraduate students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, Nigeria. The sampling design used for the study was the simple random sampling technique. A total of 600 respondents were chosen to represent the minimum number of students that visits the library on monthly bases. Twenty-one (21) item close ended questions were designed to be answered by the respondents. A total 393 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 65%. The results indicated that students do not have adequate access to electronic resources as compared to printed resources in the library. The sources of information used by LAUTECH undergraduates indicated that 297 (75.6%) of the undergraduate students searched for information in books and journals while 79 (20.1%) searched for information through the internet. The result from the study also revealed that the library has enhanced their studies and the library resources did satisfy the research needs of the undergraduates. Moreover, the respondents viewed the library as a place to borrow books and read lecture notes. This paper concludes that Nigerian university libraries should be adequately equipped with both print and electronic resources that would assist undergraduates in their studies