Collection development policy on library resources and users in university libraries in South-South Geo-political zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of collection development policy on library resources and users in university libraries in South-South Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. A collection development policy established ground rules for planning and budgeting, selecting and acquiring library resources. These documents provide a framework for coordinated collection development programmes for academic libraries for effective service to the academic community. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample of one hundred and fifty (150) library users from three university libraries namely: University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH) and University of Uyo (UNIUYO). The instrument used to collect data was titled: Collection Development Policy on Library Resources and Users Questionnaire (CDPLRUQ). Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.78 was established. Simple percentages were used to analyze the data collected from the respondents. From the findings, it was observed that problems such funding pattern, information explosion and inflation were some of the variables affecting the smooth collection development policy in Nigerian university libraries. It was recommended that, the university libraries should train the librarians on business and negotiation skill that will enable them to understand the integrity of licensing and negotiation involved in the subscription of resources. More so, there should be an increase in the internet bandwidth in order to improve the network access to resources on regular basis.

Keywords: Collection development, policy, library resources, library users, university libraries