ABSTRACT
This study investigated the extent of library utilization by students of veterinary medicine in two federal universities in south east geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Five research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was 1250 undergraduates students of veterinary medicine but 20% of the population participated in the study. The instruments for data collection were questionnaire and observation checklist. 250 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the students, out of which 246 copies were returned, representing 98.4% of the copies distributed, which is a response rate. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics were employed which includes percentages and mean to answer the research questions. The result obtained from the findings revealed that: Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike and University of Nigeria, Nsukka has the same information resources as veterinary medicine students. Library services in both institutions under study are inadequate resulting in student’s apathy to the library. The study shows inadequate utilization of library by students of veterinary medicine and some information materials are dated in the library, such that students also find it difficult to know when new materials are acquired in both libraries, possible suggestions on improvement were made: provision of relevant and current information resources. Provision of internet services/facilities is the libraries, Current Awareness Services and employment of more staff to help students locate materials in the library. Conclusion and recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Libraries play a central role in the academic work of students and faculty at colleges and universities. As a result, college and university libraries are often considered the most important centre of information in an institution of higher learning. Library services and facilities can be used among parameters for measuring capacities and sophistication of research in any tertiary institution (Gooch, 1994). They also act as pathfinders for research and provide the inspiration needed to venture into new areas (Leckie, Pelligrew and Sylvian 1996). Students and faculties in colleges and universities often conduct research in diverse academic disciplines, so they need the collections of academic libraries that reflect the vast range of their interest. University libraries have the primary responsibility to provide adequate facilities, services and collections to support the universities instructional programmes and faculty needs for research pursuit (Elogie, 2007).
University libraries are vital especially to veterinary students’ education because they provide information storage and retrieval. They make books, films, recordings, maps and other media of knowledge available to these students in an organized manner. To this end (Aguolu, and Aguolu 2002:366), describes university libraries as the heart beat of any institution. These institutions include universities, monotechnics, polytechnics and colleges of education etc. An academic library can also be a research library since it has as one of its objectives, the provision of materials in support of post-graduate, faculty, external and collaborative researches. Academic libraries extend their services beyond just making materials available to students. They offer other assistance to users such as reference services, Current Awareness Services (CAS), reprographic services, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), document delivery, inter-library loan services and others.
Today, veterinary professionals are educated in universities that grant Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees (DVM). Veterinary medicine is generally taught during six years of instruction. Post-doctoral education via internships and residencies may then be elected. Veterinary students are likely to be the most visible group frequenting the library facility during the regular school year, especially the first and second year students who are laden with class work, reading assignments, group projects and exams. As the emphasis shifts to clinical medicine in their third and fourth years of their curriculum, students spend more time in the clinics and less in the traditional classroom setting and the library. With the explosion of medical knowledge and technology in the health fields, the need for access to information by health professionals including veterinarians has increased. For this reason, (Thomson, 2004) notes that veterinary students need to understand how to access and use information in libraries that would aid in their understanding of their chosen career. Instruction begins with the pre-clinical sciences, such as physiology and pharmacology, public health, which are then followed by the clinical sciences where a more problem oriented approach is taken as case work which is integrated into the curriculum. In recent years, evidence-based medicine has made its debut into some veterinary instruction programs, thus enhancing the exposure of those students to the role of information resources and services.
Veterinary medicine is evolved with the profession to try to answer its information needs in all of its capacities. While this evolution is sparsely documented in many cases, when found, documentation relates an array of dispersed veterinary collections, the struggle to find common space for materials, and the appropriate expertise to manage them become a problem to researchers. Veterinarians perform duties in animal welfare, medical research; food safety and clinical practice as they protect animal health and promote public health. These are some of the primary obligations of the veterinary profession to society. This calls for the need for the students to use the library services earlier mentioned. (Dunlop, 1995) is especially noteworthy for his extensive description of
the earliest veterinary literature, from the Egyptian Kahun papyrus, dating to about 1900 BC. The Chinese are credited with much of the early activity now known as veterinary medicine, related to care of military horses, as early as 581 AD.
The Veterinary Medicine library is established to serve the society through the provision of study and research materials that prepare students for the practice of veterinary medicine, veterinary public health and/or veterinary research in an educational program. Through library service and facilities, instruction and clinical opportunities are provided in a wide variety of domestic species, including food animal, equine and companion animals. The college sustains a vibrant, diverse faculty by encouraging advancement through personal and professional development and research. Academic libraries create an environment of competent, caring, ethical professionals, where cooperative learning, public service, and scholarship can flourish in an arena of excellence. According to (Bigland, 1990), more and more emphasis was being placed on the library as a source of information; learning and research, particularly in the veterinary colleges of the United States where research programmes were expanding.
The Veterinary Medicine students have more need for the library and its services, because it helps the students, do an indepth study of the course work which practical work. They include a statement of need for the library’s collection in support of programmes at the veterinary medical institution (including the need for inter-library cooperation), and for the services that will be necessary for these programmes. Veterinary librarians typically rely on a wide variety of selection aids, from conventional approval plans to book reviews and adverts to recommendations from users. While there are steady amounts of academic biomedical/ life science/ zoology/agricultural titles coming into the market from major publishers, the veterinary bibliographer with a modest
budget needs to sift through these carefully and choose only those most appropriate for the veterinary library’s collection.
Libraries are very important to students of veterinary medicine, because of the peculiar nature of their study. According to (Jennifer Wells 1995) states that, “the effectiveness of libraries has often been measured by the volume of library materials available to clients, the amount of use of services and resources, and the apparent or quantified satisfaction of clients.”A broad definition of veterinary collections includes all materials that are obtained and managed by a library that serves a veterinary medic. In other words, all materials of interest and use to the students, faculty, staff and researchers of a particular veterinary college, and programmes at the university; veterinary practitioners, clinics, researchers, and those individuals who own or are interested in the care, health and diseases of pets and animals. This broader definition fully serves the curricular and research needs of veterinary schools and goes beyond those needs to serve other user groups outside the college. Subject-wise, in addition to the veterinary sciences, it encompasses human and comparative medicine; animal science (livestock and poultry production); zoology; the human- animal relationship; animal welfare and animal rights; managing a veterinary practice; or whatever additional topics may be needed or wanted by the full range of users of a specific veterinary library. At the popular level that may include books on pet care, dog and cat breeds, and raising horses, livestock and poultry and many other topics.
Today in Nigeria, veterinary medical libraries provide services and collections that support primarily teaching, clinical applications and research at colleges of veterinary medicine. They also serve students, faculty and staff of other academic subject disciplines on campus that interact with veterinary medicine. They support the bibliographic needs of state and federal diagnostic laboratories, federal research laboratories, agricultural experiment stations and
independent veterinary practitioners. The last group has been a particularly problematic one since this group has information needs that span all veterinary subspecialties while often practicing in areas remote to veterinary libraries.
Universities act as the bedrock of each discipline found in these universities. These universities play a very big role in the life line of students especially veterinary medicine students. In the south-east there are only two universities that offer veterinary medicine as a course there are: one conventional, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu state and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia state, this institution serves as a second generation university and a specialized one also, because it is an agricultural based institution as its name implies.
Statement of the problem
Libraries are established for the systematic collection, organization, preservation and dissemination of knowledge and information. It is very important for veterinary students to preserve and maintain the valuable knowledge and information contained in the books and documents because we want to preserve our knowledge and wisdom for the coming generations and also add more knowledge to librarianship.
In spite of the importance of libraries to Veterinary Students, observations by the researcher show that the libraries are not fully utilized by these students. Hence, most students even in their final year use shelve browsing to retrieve materials from the library shelves instead of first consulting the catalogue cabinet. The questions they ask library staff on the location and utilization of library resources and services and the incessant complaints and grumbling by lecturers on the poor citation and referencing styles of the students leave one in doubt as to whether the students had ever gone through user education programmes.
The scenario suggests the problem of an ineffective user education programme of universities in Abia and Enugu states. This might have resulted from the inability of the students to pay attention in their use of library and library orientation course. If the trend of activity continues without being addressed, the consequence of this is low academic standards which might likely affect their future academic and professional endeavours.
The role of the University library in the bibliographic control of materials however would be neglected basically because of the students’ non-utilization of the library resources. Therefore, the problem for this study is to examine the extent of library utilization in university libraries in Nigeria, to address fundamental questions as: what is wrong in the use or suspected in the university libraries In Nigeria; what happens if not addressed?
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of the study is aimed at finding out the extent of library utilization by students of veterinary medicine in federal universities in south-east Nigeria. .
Specifically, the study is intended to:
1. Determine the library resources required by veterinary medicine students from the university libraries.
2. Determine the library services that are available for veterinary medicine students in the libraries.
3. Ascertain the extent of library utilization by the veterinary medicine students.
4. Find out the problems affecting the utilization of the libraries by the students.
5. Recommend strategies for improving the utilization of libraries services by the students.
Research Questions
Diverse views on this issue have raised some key questions which this study seeks to answer:
1. What resources do veterinary medicine students require for academic pursuit?
2. What library services are available for veterinary medicine students in the academic library?
3. What is the extent of library utilization by the veterinary medicine students?
4. What problems affect the utilization of libraries by the students?
5. What measures can be adopted to improve the utilization of academic library services by students?
Significance of the Study
It is hoped that the results of this study be useful to librarians in academic libraries, to understand the extent to which the students of veterinary medicine utilize their library resources and find ways of addressing such problems.
The study would further help to increase the frontier of knowledge of librarians in academic libraries to identify areas of dissatisfaction of students in library utilization to enable them to make necessary corrections.
The study would help the library management to know where the library is not meeting the demand of its clientele and know how to curb them. Also, the study would help in further research and help students of library studies to know where there are gaps and know how to cover them.
Scope of the study
The study will focus on the extent of library utilization by students of Veterinary Medicine in federal universities in the south-east Nigeria. The study will cover first to sixth year students in Veterinary Medicine in Federal Universities in the south-east zone of Nigeria namely: Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike in Abia and University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu
States where the institutions offering the course are situated. Also it would cover the 2009/2010 session in both schools under study.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
EXTENT OF LIBRARY UTILIZATION BY STUDENTS OF VETERINARY MEDICINE IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN THE SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA
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