Maintenance as a method for effective e-resources management in Federal Universities in south-south zone, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the maintenance of electronic resources in the federal  universities in South-South Nigeria. One research question was formulated to guide  the study and descriptive survey design was used.. A sample size of 614 comprising the 69 Professionals and 85 Para-professional Librarians, 10 IT personnel / System  analyst and 450 Post graduate students registered 2014/2015 session in the three federal universities in South-South Nigeria. A questionnaire of 8 items was used for data collection. Copies of the instruments for data collection were  administered directly by the researcher for each library under study. Out of total  number 614 copies of questionnaire distributed, 578 copies were returned and  analyzed using frequency, tables, percentages and mean rating. In major findings  revealed from the study that e-resource are preferred by users to print,  maintenance  of e-resources are vital to the survival of virtual libraries, librarians  are involved in planning for maintenance of e-resources, staff training and retraining is required to update knowledge and information on e-resources. Libraries should not depend on government alone for funds of e-resources. Based on these findings the following recommendations were made in order to enhance the maintenance of  e-resources. Library schools should be restructured to reflect ICT skills required, staff competency be observed in recruiting staff with technical skill, training and retraining of staff, and increase the vote dedicated to maintenance of e-resources. Implications for the study were enumerated and suggestion for further research made. Finally, it can be concluded that these problems can be overcome through proper maintenance of e-resources in the federal universities in South-South Nigeria.

Key Words: E-resources, Maintenance University, Libraries, Nigeria