CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education is a vital process through which a country develops its human resources. This view is supported by Romanus (2013) who asserted that the main function of academic institutions in Nigeria is the development of human resources through teaching, learning and research. This function is carried out at the different levels of academic institutions in Nigeria which include universities, tertiary institutions and colleges of education.
In other for academic institutions to be able to carry out their function effectively, the influence of library services cannot be over looked. The library according to Hornsby (2010) is a building in which collections of books, CDs, newspapers, etc are kept for people to read, study or borrow. This indicates that the library is a store house for information resource. Sabo (2005) claimed that knowledge discovery, accumulation and dissemination is what placed the advanced countries at the top, by their control of social and human capital information, economic development and improved conditions of living. The library exists for the sole purpose of accumulating and disseminating knowledge.
The level of academic activities including research in any tertiary institution is directly a function of the quality and quantity of library resources available in the institution’s library, their accessibility and utilization by both staff and students. Libraries provide staff and students with information resource for teaching, learning and research. The library resources could be either in print or non-print or both. Library resources include textbooks, journals, abstracts and indexes. Others include newspapers and magazines, reports, CD-ROM, databases, videotapes/cassettes, diskettes magnetic tapes, computers and microforms (Oyewusi and Oyeboade, 2009).
Popoola and Haliso (2009) have noted the need for both staff and students to use the library in order enhance efficiency in teaching and learning as well as improve their publication output. In Nigeria, tertiary institutions like other academic institutions are provided with libraries to ensure regular and adequate supply of information resources and services. The functions of such libraries would be among others to acquire and organize library resources in retrievable formats and create suitable learning environment in which staff and students are provided with varieties of such library resources and services for learning and research.
Library services play an important role in the academic performance of students. Romanus (2013) asserts that with the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) into library services, electronic resources such as CD ROM databases, computers and other online resources are now found in some tertiary institution libraries. All these resources are channelled toward providing information to the library users in line with the courses offered in these institutions which are mainly engineering, sciences, management and for general interest reading. These resources are very essential in the attainment of academic institution’s overall objectives which usually revolve around the development of national human resources.