INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SKILLS AS IT CORRELATES TO UNDERGRADUATE USE OF LIBRARY INFORMATION RESOURCES AT A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY

The study examined the correlation between information retrieval skills possessed by undergraduates and the use of library information resources in a Nigerian University of Education. A Correlational survey research design was adopted. The population of the study consists of the entire cohort of undergraduate students in Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State. The first University of Education in Nigeria was used for the study. A sample size of 800 undergraduates was drawn using a stratified sampling technique across the five colleges of the university. A total of 765 questionnaires were returned. A frequency distribution table, mean, standard deviation and percentage were used to analyze the data. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient at the significance level of 0.05 was used, and it was performed in SPSS program version 22. The findings revealed among other things that the undergraduates possess extremely poor skills in the use of internet search engines for information retrieval. However, they possess average skills in the use of abstracts and the library catalogue. Also, the students possess poor skills in the use of Indexes but they possess good skills in the use of bibliographies. The study shows that there is a significant relationship between the information retrieval skills possessed and the frequency of use of library information resources by undergraduates. The study recommended that the university library should subscribe to electronic information resources for the students to use. Internet search engine skills and search strategies should be included in the course contents of “Use of Library” so that undergraduates will acquire such skills of using advanced search strategies, alert services, Boolean operators, and Truncation among others