Digital Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students of Library and Information Science on the Utilization of Electronic Information Resources in Two Federal Universities in Nigeria

This study examined digital literacy skills of undergraduate students of Library and Information Science on the Utilization of Electronic Information Resources in Two Federal Universities in Nigeria. Five (5) objectives were framed to guide the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of the study was 250 final year students comprising 182 and 68 students from the Departments of Library and Information Science, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, (MOUAU) and University of Uyo (UNIUYO) from the 2015/2016 session, respectively. The accidental (aka convenience) sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Data were collected using the structured questionnaire from 122 respondents who completed and returned their questionnaire. This yields 93.33% response rates. The Data generated were analysed using the descriptive statistics to determine the frequency counts and mean scores in accordance with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS Version 23) model. Findings of the study reveals that the electronic information resources available for the students in the two universities are: e-dictionaries, e-encyclopedias, Internet search engines (Google, Wikipedia, etc.), e-newspapers, e-research reports, online databases, e-journals, e-books, and CD-ROMs databases. It also shows that the digital literacy skills of the students include: electronic mailing skills; Internet surfing skills; social networking (social media) skills); basic computer operations skills (e.g. type-setting, formatting, printing, etc.; electronic search and retrieval skills and skills for accessing electronic resources via diverse search engines. The findings further shows that the students acquire digital literacy skills through: digital technology training programmes/practical sessions in their universities; formal lectures as part of course works; self-sponsored IT training programmes; trial and error; and assistance from friends. On the uses of digital literacy skills by the students, the finding reveals that digital literacy skills are used for: typesetting, formatting, and printing of documents; downloading of e-resources for academic works; sending of assignments and term-papers online for assessment by lecturers and social networking. The findings reveals that factors facing digital literacy skills of the students are: epileptic electricity supply; high cost of digital skill training programmes; inaccessibility to internet facilities; inadequate digital facilities, lack of conducive digital literacy learning environment; and poor teaching methods by IT lecturers. It recommends that university-based library schools should design and implement digital literacy programmes to educate and train undergraduate students to develop knowledge and practical skills on the use of digital technologies