Purpose Undergraduates use electronic library resources for academic activities. However, literature has revealed that undergraduates’ use of electronic library resources is low in Nigeria owing to attitude, computer literacy and information retrieval skills, while little attention was given to computer self-efficacy. This paper aims to examine computer self-efficacy as a predictor of undergraduates’ use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The descriptive survey research design was adopted. Multi-stage sampling method was used to select 1,526 undergraduates from the population size of 30,516 from six federal universities in south-west Nigeria in four faculties (Arts, Engineering/ Technology, Science and Social sciences) and three departments from each of the faculties (English, History and Philosophy; Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering: Economics, Sociology and Psychology). Data were collected using a questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, hierarchical and regression analyses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings There was a significant relationship between computer self-efficacy and use of electronic library resources (r = 0.13, p < 0.05). The result of the analysis showed that computer self-efficacy influenced undergraduates’ use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria. Research limitations/implications The data for the research were obtained from undergraduates in the selected faculties in the six federal universities except for two faculties which did not have some departments that were common to the selected faculties. Practical implications The findings indicated that computer self-efficacy improves the use of electronic library resources for academic purposes. It therefore encourages the library management to provide the necessary support and training for the undergraduates to acquire the technical skills required for the acquisition of computer self-efficacy. This has greater influence on undergraduates’ ability to use the computer maximally to access electronic library resources for academic purposes. Social implications It will improve the undergraduates’ use of electronic library resources for academic purposes. This implies that the undergraduates will have access to information around the world that could be useful for development in and around their locality which will become easily accessible. Also, in this era of computer, it will encourage reading culture among undergraduates. This could inform policymakers on the need to provide more electronic library resources for libraries. Originality/value The study provides original data on computer self-efficacy as a predictor of undergraduates’ use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria. This can provide valuable indicator for library managements considerin...

The importance of electronic resources as the bedrock of provision of accurate, easy to access, relevant and, up-to-date information in learning and research cannot be over-emphasized. Through electronic resources’ use students have access to global resources for their academic activities. However, despite the potential benefit electronic resources holds for effective learning and research by students, studies have shown that their proper and maximum use is still a matter for discussion. This study, therefore, examined perceived ease of use and gender differences as factors influencing electronic resources use by students in selected private universities in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a population of 4,452 undergraduate students. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting the sample size for the study. Questionnaire was used for data collection which was analysed using descriptive statistics, standard deviation, Cross Tab Analysis (Pearson Chi-Square) and T-test. The result of the analysis revealed low usage of electronic resources by the students. It further revealed a renowned difference in gender differentiation. Also, a significant proportion of the students did not use electronic resources frequently. In addition, this study found that the respondents perceived use of electronic resources easy to use. However, the major constraints to electronic resources use by students were lack of knowledge of search techniques to retrieve information effectively, insufficient user training, lack of awareness, download delay and constant power failure. The findings indicated that both perceived ease of use and gender significantly influenced students’ use of electronic resources. Based on the findings, the study recommends that concerted effort by university libraries may ameliorate the problems of low use. Therefore, libraries should: integrate e-resources search techniques and retrieval skills into the curriculum of Use of Library taught at the universities, create awareness strategies by under taking university-wide lecture on access, promote e-resources through the use of e-mail alert and social media platforms, adopt various motivational strategies to encourage the use of electronic resources and should also endeavour to have standby generator, Inverter or Solar Power to limit the problem of constant power failure.

This study investigated various problems of conservation and preservation of library resources in African academic libraries. Particularly, it examined the overview of preservation and conservation of library resources. It also studied the causes of deterioration of library information resources, among which are: natural aging process, level of use of library materials, inherent chemical content used in the process of paper making, high temperature and fluctuating relative humidity, improper handling of library materials among many others were equally discussed. Various preventive measures were equally discussed. Different challenges facing preservation and conservation of library resources in African Academic Libraries were presented. Useful suggestions were also made to ameliorate the situation.

This paper examined if undergraduates of African universities have reading culture or not. To elicit the necessary information, a questionnaire was randomly distributed to 200 students from 100-500 level and a response rate of 100% was achieved. Using simple percentage response rate to analyze the data, the results showed that only 21% of the respondents have poor reading culture, while majority of them (59.5%) read for interest only. The paper therefore recommended ways by which librarians; lecturers and parents can encourage undergraduates to read, to improve and to inculcate good reading culture. Introduction: The acquisition of knowledge for the development of man, society and nature does not arise from a vacuum. This can be done partly through formal training which involves mostly a; "determined, result oriented information processing efforts" by the individual, through reading (Ugwoke, 2004). Thus, besides being a ready source for acquisition of information, reading is an effort aimed at sifting received opinions in order to cope with the challenges of the everyday experiences. The word sifting is used because sometimes, received opinion may not be adequate for ones contemporary needs and interests. Since man's existence depends on ability to cope with the challenges of survival, it is important to develop the critical attitude to meeting them. This obviously makes the proper cultivation of reading culture impetrative. This is so not only because Holte (1998) avers that reading adds quality to human existence, empowers and emancipates man and society, but rather that reading creates the atmosphere that makes human freedom inevitable. Certainly, reading culture in a university like Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso will obviously have some problems.

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