INFLUENCE OF LIBRARY INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES ON RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS IN AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS IN BENUE STATE

ABSTRACT The study investigated the influence of Library Information Resources and Services on Research Productivity of Agricultural Scientists in Agricultural Institutions in Benue State. Seven purposes with corresponding research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted survey research design. The population for the study comprises of 242 Agricultural Scientists in Agricultural Institutions in Benue. The sample size for the study was 151 Agricultural Scientists by using proportionate stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The instrument employed for data collection was a self constructed structured questionnaire which was validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha method and an overall reliability index of 0.86 was obtained which shows that the instrument was highly reliable. Data for the study was collected with the help of research assistants. The data for the study were analyzed using Frequency Count, Percentages, Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions and Chi-Square Statistic to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that Library Information Resources and Services are available and highly utilized for research productivity of Agricultural Scientists in the Agricultural Institutions in Benue State. However, the research productivity of the agricultural scientists is considerably low. The researcher concluded that, the research productivity of Agricultural Scientists is low despite the high availability and utilization of library information resources and services. Recommendations were made that, Library information resources such as E-books, Granary, Monographs and Bibliographies should be made available in Libraries to enhance the research productivity of Agricultural Scientists and Library services such as Selective Dissemination Information Services and Bibliographic services should be made available in Libraries to enhance the research productivity of Agricultural scientists. The limitations of the study were pin-pointed. Based on the limitations, suggestions for further studies were made