Use of Africana Collection by Postgraduate Students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study investigated the level of Africana collection usage, and the problems encountered in accessing these materials among postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Survey method was adopted in the study using questionnaire as an instrument to collect data. The study population was 1,000 postgraduate registered library users in 2022/2023 academic session of which 420 postgraduate registered users were purposively selected for the study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the data analysis. The result of the study indicated that the level of Africana collection usage among postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University was low. In addition, findings revealed that: lack of awareness of the availability of the collection (x=3.59) and difficulty in finding relevant material (x=3.52), were the major problems encountered by the respondents. Therefore, library must create awareness for its collection and services for optimum utilization. The study recommended that Library management should organize orientation programmes for fresh postgraduate students, engage the use of user education, library manual, bulletin and website to create awareness for library collection. The process of retrieving materials in Africana section need not be cumbersome. Up to date catalogue cards should be prepared for Africana collection and catalogue box to be placed at a strategic position in the library for easy accessibility.