AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN AL- HIKMAH UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to evaluate availability, accessibility and utilisation of information retrieval systems in 
academic libraries in Al- Hikmah university. The objectives were to: determine the extent to which information 
resources are available for use; find out the extent of access to these information sources; find out the frequency of 
use of the information retrieval systems. The survey research method was used. The data collection instrument for 
the study was the questionnaires method. The major findings were that there is high level of availability of 
information retrieval systems in Al-Hikmah university Library; there is high level of accessibility of information 
retrieval systems in the selected Nigerian Universities studied.; majority of the respondents used information sources 
daily; Services provided in the library are conventional, reactive and product oriented rather than proactive, 
customer oriented, innovative, and augmentative. Although, libraries tend to build up a vast resource collection, they 
provide insufficient user oriented programmes. Findings also revealed that, information retrieval systems mentioned 
above were available for research by students to a great extent. Also, it is revealed from the findings that, the extent 
of accessibility and utilization of the availability electronic information resources for research by students is great. 
Findings further revealed that, inadequate computers in the library, poor internet connectivity limited subscribed 
titles, power outages, difficulty to access and use, lack of relevant e-resources in various disciplines as well as no 
assistance from the library, were the problems encountered by students while accessing and using electronic 
information resources for research in Library University of Al-Hikmah. It was recommended that the University 
administrators and library management should improve on the bandwidth and enhance the internet connectivity so as 
to enable the students have easy access to online e- resources. Also, trained personnel should be on ground to assist 
the students in the use of the available e-resources in the University library and appropriate user education should be 
organized for students for better use of e-resources in Al-Hikmah Library.