LIBRARY ORIENTATION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC JOURNEY: A CASE STUDY OF KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KNUST), LAW FACULTY LIBRARY

ABSTRACT Libraries use orientation as one of the marketing tools to introduce their clientele and potential patrons to the services and resources at their disposal. However, the means to measure the impact of the orientation programme is not clear as students still find it difficult to use the library effectively; based on this, the study investigated the effectiveness of present-day library orientation methods and their impact on students of the Law Faculty of KNUST library usage. Using a quantitative case study design, the study involved a randomly selected sample of 200 undergraduates out of a population of 721 students from the Law Faculty for the 2017/2018 academic year. Data were analysed using STATA and presented through both simple descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings were that most of the students indicated that information about the library; its resources and services were valuable. Specifically, the study revealed that participants were satisfied with the information on how to select proper database(s) for research. Lack of access to e-resource, slow internet connection, and inability to access full-text books online as well as services from staff were challenges encountered in accessing library service by several students at the Faculty of Law. It was therefore recommended that academic libraries should endeavour to afford most of the full-text materials and also improve on the internet connections in addition to the implementation of comprehensive information literacy programmes