The study surveyed librarians’ and students’ attitudes, perceptions and concerns on privacy in Ghanaian universities with the aim of seeking a better alignment of their perspectives in the online library context. This study adapted and applied the instrument developed by Zimmer which assessed attitudes and practices of librarians in the USA on privacy rights and protecting patron’s privacy in the library. The study found that between librarians and students in Ghanaian universities, there was a need for greater control over their personal data; and a need for ethical responsibility on the part of data collecting online library agents; both groups expressed dislike for state censorship and corporate monopoly over their personal data. However, despite their positive attitude about the strong role of librarians in guaranteeing their personal data, a significant number of them demonstrate little faith in librarians to actualize the protection of their personal data. Lastly, privacy attitudes and concerns of academic librarians were noted to align with that of university students in Ghana. Among others, it was recommended that Ghanaian academic librarians integrate privacy education and awareness creation in their universities, emphasizing the need to make informed online decisions and exposing potential repercussions of their decisions while using online library and digital resources.
This study sought to explore the role academic libraries can play in connecting industries to research outputs emanating from universities and research institutions in Ghana. This study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed methods design. Purposive and disproportionate stratified sampling were used to select a sample size of 196, which included researchers, academic librarians and industrialists. The response rate was 78%. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview guide and questionnaire. Narrative analysis of qualitative data was employed, while quantitative data from the questionnaire was analysed descriptively (frequencies, means, standard deviations) and inferentially (ANOVA) using SPSS version 21. The significant finding indicates that academic libraries can play a key role in the effective transmission of research outputs to industries, hence, the need for a stronger collaboration among researchers, academic libraries, and industries to ensure high productivity, leading to national development. The study recommended the use of the Academic Libraries Transfer of Research Outputs to Industry (ALTROI) Model to ensure effective collaboration among researchers, academic libraries and industries as far as the proper use of research outputs is concerned.
This study assessed an information literacy skills course that has been running over two decades at the University of Cape Coast. The study established the usefulness of the course using data from questionnaires administered to 278 final year students mandated to conduct research projects at the end of their four-year programme. The results showed that irrespective of students’ competence in IL, they are sometimes confronted with information behaviour challenges in accessing relevant information for academic work. Based on this revelation, it is recommended that advanced hands-on training be introduced to enhance students’ skills in using search strategies to ensure low recall and high relevancy in the information retrieval process.
This study surveyed librarians' and students' attitudes, perceptions, and concerns on privacy in Ghanaian universities with the aim of seeking a better alignment of their perspectives in the online library context. The study adapted and applied the instrument developed by Zimmer that assessed attitudes and practices of librarians in the United States on privacy rights and protecting patrons' privacy in the library. 1 The study found that, between librarians and students in Ghanaian universities, there was a need for greater control over their personal data and a need for ethical responsibility on the part of data collecting online library agents; both groups expressed dislike for state censorship and corporate monopoly over their personal data. However, despite their positive attitude about the strong role of librarians in guaranteeing their personal data, a significant number of them demonstrate little faith in librarians to actualize the protection of their personal data. Finally, privacy attitudes and concerns of academic librarians were noted to align with those of university students in Ghana. Among others, it was recommended that Ghanaian academic librarians integrate privacy education and awareness creation in their universities, emphasizing the need to make informed online decisions and exposing potential repercussions of their decisions while using online library and digital resources.
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