Mis-Shelving and Staff Assault as Correlates of Patrons’ Use of Resources in Federal University Libraries in South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

This research aimed at ascertaining the relationship between library mis-shelving and staff assault and patrons’ use of library resources in federal universities in south-south Nigeria. Two research questions were posed and two corresponding hypotheses formulated to guided the study. Descriptive survey and simple linear correlation research designs was adopted. A 4-point rating scale was used to collect data from a sample size of 394 drawn from 33,159 user population. The sample size was determined using Krecjie and Morgan’s table for determining sample size while proportionate sampling technique was applied to determine the individual student respondents of each of the institutions. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to obtain means and coefficient of correlation for answering research questions and t-test and ANOVA statistics for testing hypotheses. Findings shows that there is a positive significant relationship among mis-shelving of books and staff assault on one hand and the patrons’ use of the library resources on the other hand in south-south federal universities. Based on the findings, it is recommended among others that: library management should mount a working Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) or any other electronic device that can augment the human effort in tracking and reporting the criminal acts by patrons.