Citation Analysis of Serials in Graduate-Students’ Thesis: A Functional Tool for Effective Serials Management in University Libraries (Published)
Serials being important to students and researchers as they contain the most current and relevant information that can be used for academic and research purposes needs to be assessed periodically to determine if they are still relevant to the users. This study therefore examines the analysis of serials citations in graduate-students’ theses as a functional tool for effective management of serials in university libraries using theses submitted from 2013 to 2021 in Library and information Science of four government owned universities in eastern region of Nigeria as case in point. The study was meant to provide answers to three research questions which formed the guide while a descriptive survey design was applied with a population of 203 which stood as the total number of masters’ degree theses produced by the four universities within the period under study. The main instruments used in collecting data for this study were the researcher-designed checklists with which 8445 serials citations were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics of mode, mean and range and data presented in tables, charts and graphs using frequencies and percentile. The outcome of the study revealed that journals with 76% citations were the most cited against conference proceedings/reports with 20% and the least cited being government publications with only .5% citations. It was further established that multi authorship is the most cited authorship pattern in the graduates’ theses whereas the average age of serials cited were within the age bracket of 0 – 18. The conclusion drawn is that with the most cited type(s) of serials, serials titles, ages of serials and preferred authorship pattern known through citations analysis of serials in research reports, the university librarian is better placed as to knowing which serials to select, acquire and how to have them organized for easy accessibility and retrieval by users as well as the amount of money to be earmarked for their acquisitions which invariably will bring about prudent management of the library budget in this period of shrinking budget for academic libraries.The study therefore recommended among other things that for effective application of serials citations analysis as a functional tool for effective serial management, staff of serials unit most partner documentation unit as to ensuring proper citations analysis of serials submitted to the library by every department as this can be used as a guide for the unit to identify the core serials for selections, acquisitions and also as a guide for total serials collections maintenance.
Keywords: Academic Library, Graduate Students, citation analysis, library and information science, serials, serials management, theses, university library
User Information Needs and Reference Services Satisfaction at Selected Federal Universities Libraries in North-Eastern Nigeria (Published)
One of the most important criteria for assessing a library is the level of satisfaction its users express with the service they get. The extent to which the library is able to anticipate user needs and integrate such predictions into collection development is a crucial aspect in influencing the level of satisfaction users have with the library’s service. As a general concept, “user satisfaction” refers to how satisfied users are with a service or product they have used; as a more specific term, “library user satisfaction,” it is used to describe how happy library patrons are with the library’s collection and services. The study used a descriptive survey technique with a sample size of 288 postgraduate students randomly selected from four different Federal Universities in Northeast Nigeria. The data was collected by closed-ended questionnaire, and the resulting psychometrics include a CRV=1 and r-coefficient of 0.83. Frequency counts and percentages, together with chi-square tests at the 0.05 significance level, were used to examine the data. The study established that graduate students asked reference librarians for the same types of information but were dissatisfied with the level of service they received from librarians at their respective institutions. The results reveal a linear correlation between all the factors; therefore, it stands to reason that the chosen universities have the same information needs and levels of user satisfaction.
Citation: Inuwa Bukar, Grace Wambui Kimani and Wekalao Namande (2022) User Information Needs and Reference Services Satisfaction at Selected Federal Universities Libraries in North-Eastern Nigeria, International Journal of Library and Information Science Studies, Vol.8, No.3, pp.24-33
Keywords: Graduate Students, Library, reference librarian, reference service, user satisfaction