PROJECT REPORT – EVALUATION OF THE RESOURCES AND SERVICES AVAILABLE AT THE MTN FOUNDATION DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES
This study was conducted to evaluate the resources and services of the MTN Foundation Digital Libraries in Nigerian universities. This is with the aim of finding out their problems and strategies for enhancing their effectiveness and relevance to education and research for staff and students of the universities.
Six objectives and six research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted in carrying out the work. Convenient sampling technique was used. A total number of four hundred and fifty (450) respondents were used for the study. The instruments for data collection were questionnaire, interview and observation checklist.
Four hundred and fifty (450) copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the staff and students in the two universities in Nigeria and three hundred and ninety-five were returned representing 87 % return rate. The following statistical measures were employed for the data analysis: frequency table, simple percentage and mean (×). The findings revealed that the relevant means of awareness of the MTNFDLs in the universities were infrequent and that the resources/databases available at universities are useful and current. However, the researcher observed that only free databases were current at one of the universities.
The findings also revealed that insufficient power supply, poor performance of the generator, low bandwidth, system breakdown and limited time allowed using the libraries are some of the challenges facing MTNFDLs. Based on the findings, it was recommended that awareness workshop for staff and students should be constantly organised by the NetLibrary in conjunction with MTN Foundation; MTN Foundations should constantly require feedback from the Net Library and the universities to ensure sustainability of the project; the parties should persevere on one another to ensure compliance to the contract agreement and the issue of power supply should be taken seriously as the effectiveness and relevance of the resources and services of digital libraries primarily depend on constant electricity supply. Students should also lodge their complaints about inefficiency of the resources and services of the digital libraries to the university authorities. Finally, there should be constant evaluation of the digital libraries to show the true state of the libraries at any point in time.
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