Abstract:
This study examined the attitude of undergraduate students towards academic use of electronic information resources in two federal universities in Nigeria, specifically University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, in Enugu and Anambra states respectively. Six research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey design was employed for the study and the population consisted of all registered undergraduate students of U.N.N and N.A.U. with a total of 35,854 from both universities, out of which seven hundred and twenty students were sampled. Stratified random sampling technique was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. The questionnaire has 61 items. Descriptive statistics including frequency tables, percentages and mean were used to answer research questions. The finding revealed that: undergraduate students’ use of electronic information resources enhances their access to a wider range of information, most of them prefer to use internet for their academic work, and they prefer to use phones and laptops as their sources of electronic information resources. They are motivated to use electronic resources because they provide quick access to information. The study also revealed that some electronic resources like CD ROM, Library portals, wire radiophone, news group, and online public access catalogue (OPAC) were not popular among the students. However, the students face the problem of limited access to computer terminals, slow internet connectivity, irregular power supply, lack of IT knowledge to effectively utilize the electronic information resources services, as well as inadequate time to access electronic information resources due to pressure from academic work. Some of the strategies for improving the academic use of electronic resources by the students include giving them more education on the use of electronic information resources, provision of more computers in the university libraries, provision of free internet connectivity to students within the university and providing constant power supply among other suggestions.
