Availability and Access of Electronic Information Resources to Medical Library Users in Universities in South-South, Nigeria

The paper examined the extent of availability and accessibility of electronic information resources to medical library users in south-South, Nigeria universities. The study adopted descriptive survey design to assess the availability of different types of electronic information resources and their accessibility to different categories of medical library users. The total population of the study comprised 226 medical library users of four federal universities in the south-South, Nigerian universities. Four (4) research questions guided the study. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire instrument. The Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of percentages, mean and standard deviations. The criterion mean of 2.5 was used to judge the responses as to whether they were negative or positive. Results from the study showed that the overall percentage of availability of electronic information resources in all the medical libraries studied was rather low, about 30.9% on the average. All electronic information resources studies were rarely accessible to all categories of users in medical libraries in the south-south, Nigerian universities. All respondents studied agreed that, inadequate information and communication technology skills, time constraints and inadequate library space did not constitute impediments to accessibility and competent use of electronic information resources rather, high cost of subscription, poor internet services, inadequate infrastructure, light fluctuations and lack of competent IT resource’s persons were noted as major impediments in the libraries studied. The study recommends extension of library information services to clinics, regular subscription to electronic information resources, constant power supply and regular internet services for medical libraries