Students’ Use of Electronic Resources in University of Professional Studies, Accra

Abstract

This study investigated students‟ awareness of the availability of e-resources in UPSA, their extent of use of these e-resources, reasons for use, usefulness of e-resources for students‟ academic performances, challenges with use, and the relationship between “students‟ computer literacy skills” and “use of electronic resources”. This study is beneficial to three (3) main categories of people within a university community, and includes university administrators, library information professionals, and students. It also adds to knowledge in its area of study. A survey methodology was used in this study, and the study has a population size of 2,850 (level 400 students of UPSA). A sample size of 570 (which is 20% of the population of 2,850) was used. A convenience sampling technique was adopted for data collection. SPSS was used to analyze data that were collected via questionnaires, whereas an interview schedule was analyzed according to themes. The findings revealed that UPSA students are fairly aware of electronic resources, and they fairly used electronic resources to conduct their researches and to answer their assignments. It was further discovered that comparatively, electronic resources‟ significance quite outweigh that of paper-form documents. Some challenges such as overcrowding of the library‟s electronic resources section by students due to inadequate number of computers and inadequate training on how to use e-resources were discovered. A Chi-square test revealed the direction of relationship between “students‟ computer literacy skills” and their “extent of use of electronic resources”. It was discovered that “students‟ computer literacy skills” affect their “extent of use of electronic resources”. Recommendations to improve the situation were made