APPRAISAL OF REFERENCE SERVICES IN TWO
PUBLIC LIBRARIES - THE FCT CITY LIBRARY WUSE
ABUJA AND NASSARAWA STATE LIBRARY, LAFIA
BY
ANTHONIA IFEOMA OKAFOR
REG. NO. PG/MLS/04/35432.
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA
June , 2012.
1
APPRAISAL OF REFERENCE SERVICES IN TWO PUBLIC
LIBRARIES –FCT CITY LIBRARY WUSE ABUJA AND
NASARAWA STATE LIBRARY, LAFIA
BY
ANTHONIA IFEOMA OKAFOR
REG. NO. PG/MLS/04/35432.
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
NSUKKA
JUNE, 2012.
2
APPROVAL PAGE
This project has been approved for the department of library and information
science, faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
By
……………………………………………………..
………………………………………………
SUPERVISOR
INTERNAL SUPERVISOR
……………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
EXTERNAL EXAMINER
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
……………………………………………………………..
PROF. S.A.EZEUDU
DEAN, FACULTY OF EDUCATION
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CERTIFICATION
This is to certify the research work ‘appraisal of reference services in public
libraries of FCT city library zone4 Wuse Abuja and Nassarawa state library, Lafia
has been satisfactorily carried out by Okafor, Anthonia Ifeoma, a post graduate
student in the department of library and information science and with
registration number PG/MLS/04/35432. The work embodied in this research
report is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any diploma or
degree of this or any library.
…………………………………………..
…………………………………………………
ANTHONIA IFEOMA OKAFOR
DR. MRS. N.E.E.ACHEBE
SUPERVISOR
…………………………………………
……………………………………………..
DATE
DATE
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DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to the Blessed Trinity.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My gratitude goes to the Almighty God whose mercy and loving kindness
sustained me throughout this program.
My gratitude also goes to my supervisor, Dr. Mrs. N.E.E. Achebe whose
patience and guidance made it possible for me to successfully carry out this study.
I also show my profound gratitude to Professor (Mrs) V.W. Dike, the
Departmental Post Graduate Coordinator and her committee members for their
constructive criticisms which further sharpened this research work.
I remain grateful to my provost, Professor Tijjani Ismail and his management
for the moral support.
Acknowledge is also the contributions by my friends, too numerous to
mention, my colleagues and roommates which made my studies an interesting
venture.
I would like to appreciate my Dad, and siblings especially Ngozi for their
moral and financial support throughout my studies
My heartfelt gratitude goes to my mother- Mrs. Theresa O. Ozoh [late] my
sweet mum for her kindness though she passed on before the completion of this
work. May her gentle soul rest with Christ. Amen.
Finally, I am also grateful to all those who supplied data for use in this study.
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Table of Contents
Title page-------------------------------------------------------------------------- i
Approval page--------------------------------------------------------------------ii
Certification page---------------------------------------------------------------iii
Dedication-------------------------------------------------------------------------iv
Acknowledgement---------------------------------------------------------------v
Table of content-----------------------------------------------------------------vi
List of tables---------------------------------------------------------------------ix
Abstract---------------------------------------------------------------------------x
Chapter One: Introduction
Background of the study-------------------------------------------------------1
Statement of the problem-----------------------------------------------------7
Purpose of the study------------------------------------------------------------7
Research question--------------------------------------------------------------8
Significance of the study------------------------------------------------------8
Scope of the study--------------------------------------------------------------9
Chapter Two: literature Review
An overview of the conceptual framework-------------------------------10
Importance of reference service in public libraries--------------------12
Reference service offered in libraries-------------------------------------15
Reference resources for reference services-----------------------------19
7
Barriers of reference service in libraries---------------------------------30
Strategies for improving reference services in libraries--------------32
Review of Empirical studies-------------------------------------------------35
Summary of literature review----------------------------------------------39
Chapter Three: Research Method
Research design---------------------------------------------------------------41
Area of the study--------------------------------------------------------------41
Population of the study------------------------------------------------------42
Sample and sampling technique------------------------------------------42
Instrument for data collection---------------------------------------------43
Validation of instrument----------------------------------------------------43
Method of data collection--------------------------------------------------44
Method of data analysis----------------------------------------------------44
Chapter Four: Presentation Of Data
Research Question 1---------------------------------------------------------46
Research Question 2---------------------------------------------------------47
Research Question 3---------------------------------------------------------49
Research Question 4---------------------------------------------------------50
Research Question 5---------------------------------------------------------51
Research Question 6---------------------------------------------------------52
Summary of findings--------------------------------------------------------55
Chapter Five: Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations.
Discussion and findings---------------------------------------------------57
Implications of the study-------------------------------------------------59
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Conclusions------------------------------------------------------------------60
Recommendations---------------------------------------------------------61
Limitations of the study---------------------------------------------------61
Suggestions for further research---------------------------------------62
Summary --------------------------------------------------------------------62
References------------------------------------------------------------------63
Appendix 1------------------------------------------------------------------69
Appendix 2-----------------------------------------------------------------74
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List of Tables
1. Respondents’ view on the types of reference services in the two public libraries…46
2. Respondents’ view on the Extent of availability of these reference services…………47
3. Respondents’ view on the Reference resources for reference services…………………49
4. Respondents’ view on the Level of adequacy of reference resources……………………50
5. Response on problems affecting the provision of adequate reference services in
the two public libraries………………………………………………………………………………………51
6. mean response on the Strategies for improving reference services……………………..52
7. Respondents’ Assessment of quality reference services……………………………………….54
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ABSTRACT
This study is an attempt to appraise the reference services provided in the
public libraries in the North Central Geo- Political zone of Nigeria viz: FCT
City library zone 4 Wuse Abuja and Nasarawa state library,
objectives which addressed types of reference services provided; extent of
availability of the reference services; resources employed for the provision
of reference service in the two libraries; level of adequacy of the reference
resources for reference services; problems affecting the provision of
reference services in the two public libraries and suggestions for improving
the reference services provided by the public libraries. Based on the six
research questions drawn from the objectives, a survey instrument titled
appraisal questionnaire was used to obtain information from the
respondents. The instrument had two parts “A and B”. Part “A” sought
information on the bio-data of respondents, while part “B” direct on the
quality, availability and adequacy of reference resources and services. An
observation checklist was also designed and administered to determine the
adequacy of reference service in terms of currency and quality. 217 copies
of questionnaire were distributed based on the population sample, 177
completed questionnaires were returned representing 81.5% response
rate. The data collected was analyzed using mean score, frequency count
and percentages and presented in tables where necessary. Findings of the
study revealed that most of the library staff lack the relevant skills needed
for effective reference service. Findings further revealed lack of convenient
access to the users of the public libraries and also the need for adequate
orientation on the use of library resources and services. Based on the
findings, the study recommended among others the provision of current
and up to date information sources, and training and re-training of library
staff.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
The library in a community provides a unique service that should be accessible to everybody.
Library is an institution that acquires, organizes, processes and disseminates information
materials in all disciplines to those that need them with little or no expense on their part.
The public library is a type of library from inception which has been regarded as a free
library set up to provide service to everyone. It serves the community; hence it is referred to as
peoples university (Adimora, 1999). Of all types of libraries, public library has the most
heterogeneous clients to serve. The services are directed at everyone including literate, nonliterate, students, teachers, farmers, industrialists, doctors, bankers, civil servants, businessmen,
poor, wealthy, able, and disabled peoples etc. The public library must aim to support the general
interest of the community it serves so as to contribute to the quality of life and add to the totality
of man’s happiness and awareness of himself, others and his environment.
The UNESCO public library manifesto issued in 1949, revised in 1972 and 1994 declares:
‘the public library is the local centre of information, making all kinds of knowledge and
information readily available to its users.”
The services of the public library are provided on the basis of equality of access to all
regardless of age, sex, race, religion, nationality, language or social status. Specific services and
materials must be provided for those users who cannot for whatever reason use the regular
services and materials for example, linguistic minority, peoples with disabilities or people in
hospital or prison. The same manifesto gave the key missions that should be at the core of public
12
library services as follows:- creating and strengthening reading habits in children from an early
age, supporting both individual and self conducted education as well as formal education at all
level, providing opportunities for personal creative development, stimulating the imagination and
creativity of children and young people, creating awareness of cultural heritage, appreciating the
arts/scientific achievements and innovations,, providing access to cultural expression of all
performing arts, fostering inter – cultural dialogue and favoring cultural diversity, supporting the
tradition, ensuring access for citizens to all sorts of community information, providing adequate
information services to local enterprises/associations and interest groups, facilitating the
development of information and computer literacy skills, and also supporting and participating in
literacy activities and programs for all age groups, and initiating such activities if necessary,
(Edoka, 2000).
Achebe (2005) notes that the study of ancient and medieval library leaves no one in doubt
about the value of public libraries in education. She listed some protagonists of public library
services such as Edward Edwards of Britain, Melvin Dewey of America and Antonio Pannizi of
Italy who at various times in the history of libraries worked tirelessly to establish their public
libraries for the purpose of bringing education and knowledge to the doorsteps of their people
thereby encouraging these people to read without necessarily going to school.
Olanlokun (1993) and Achebe (2005) were of the view that the first public library in
Nigeria was the Lagos municipal library which was a subscription library with branches in parts
of the country. These were followed by the Nigerian government public relation office library
located at Lagos, and the numerous reading rooms in the Eastern, Western, and Northern
Nigeria. The objectives of public libraries are thus: providing information needs of the
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community, support their educational efforts [both formal and informal], encourage purposeful
use of leisure, encourage and promote reading – habit especially among children.
This study focuses on reference service which is one of the services offered by public
libraries. The provision of reference service is an important function of a public library. Readers
are provided this service on requests. People have different reference queries that need to be
solved by the librarian. Hence it is generally a person –to –person service. In some cases,
reference processes involve interviewing the reader to enable the reference librarian articulate the
problem of the user clearly. Assistance is necessary in fulfilling functions, and a specific
administrative organization of qualified personnel must be provided.
Alokun (2003) was of the view that reference services involve assisting readers in
obtaining information from the library. Consequently, the main objective of reference service is
to find precisely the right materials to solve immediate problems. Reference service is also the
various library activities deliberately designed to facilitate easy availability of information Edoka
(2000).
Many public libraries were established in the last one hundred years in several parts of
the country and they give prominence to reference service. For instance the Lagos town council
library established in the early 1950s provided reference service to adult users who studies
mainly for public examinations. The Lagos municipal library opened its main and branch library
services to the public and provided children reference services. In the Western states of Nigeria,
mobile reference service and loan services were provided in the state capital in the 1970s even
though other cities and towns in the state had no access to such service. The regional reference
library was opened in Kaduna in 1963 and branches were opened in other parts of the region.
The divisional libraries in the Eastern parts such as Onitsha, Enugu, Awka, also gives
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prominence to reference services to their clients. More recently, the various state library boards
give prominence to reference services even though most of them were poorly funded (Olanlokun,
2003). Some reference services offered to clientele are as follows: Inter–Library loan service,
user education service, Current awareness service, reprographic service, computer literature
search/online searches, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) etc.
Inter – library loan service occur when a library do not have some materials needed by
users and instead of discharging the user, the library will seek for that particular material from
another library to make sure that the user get the appropriate material he/she needed so as not to
be stranded. Having identified their areas of needs and requests, the borrowing and lending
process can also take advantage of the internet for both requesting and delivery of inter-library
loan materials. The essence of a library engaging in inter-library loan is to enrich its collection
and provide improved and qualitative services to users.
User education service is another type of reference service offered to user of the library. In
this case the reference librarian acquaints the users on how to use the library and the resources in
the library. User education is instruction given to readers to help them make use of the library. It
is concerned with the whole information and communication process and one part of this
involves the total interaction of the users with the library. Generally, the reasons for user
education centers on issue of acquainting the users with the library building itself, staff, library
tools etc. the absence of this is why the users easily get frustrated when the time come for them
to use the library.
Current Awareness Service; this service involves displaying of new accessions in the
library over a period of not less than one week for users to browse through. Periodic exhibition
are also held on topical issues for academic and research interest.
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Reprographic service involves making available materials that may not given out on loan
in print [photocopy and printing] and non-print [CD-Burning, Scanning] formats. Authors like
Abel, Gogdil and Zaka (2002) stated that whatever be the future, the services of information
provision will continue to be an essential instrument of human welfare. Similarly, Margeston
[2002] also recognizes the importance of dynamic access to information. Edoka (2000) on his
part avers that the entire human and material resources in the library are put in place at a
considerable expense for the overall purpose of effective services to the library users.
Nasarawa state library in Lafia was established in 1997 after the caving out of the state
from plateau. It stands as the only public library in that state. The towns that surrounded lafia
where this library was located are Awe, Obi, Nasarawa, Eggon, and Doma. The library as at the
time visited has a total number of eight staff amongst who are two qualified librarians, one Paraprofessional with NCE diploma in library science, two library assistants, one attendant, and two
security guards. The library have a total of 3241 volumes of books, 218 journals, 125 newspapers
and some of their materials are outdated. They have readership of mainly students pursuing
WAEC and JAMB, civil servants, job seekers, etc. Their hours of service were from 8.00 to
4.00pm on daily basis excluding weekends.
The Federal Capital Territory city library (FCT) Abuja is the only public library in the
whole of FCT comprising of six area councils – Kwali, Gwagwalada, Buwari, Kuje, Abaji, and
Abuja municipal area council (AMAC). It was inaugurated in June 1995 by the then first lady of
the Federal republic of Nigeria Dr Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha after witnessing the sufferings of
the people in FCT and its environs as regards reading centers and leisure. The main reason for
establishing the FCT city library is to cater for reading and research needs of all residing in the
six area councils of the FCT which includes - civil servants that are undergoing in-service
16
training and others that are on their own, students of law school, graduates and undergraduates of
tertiary institutions, people looking for employment, secondary and primary students and other
who may wish to use the library at leisure. The FCT library situate at no. 2 Gwani crescent along
UBE headquarters Abuja, very close to IBB way, Wuse zone 4, Abuja. The library was a
bungalow with a fenced compound. The library was directly opposite inland bank complex at
zone 4 Wuse. The FCT library has a total of three thousand four hundred and ninety-two books
[3492]in all from their statistics, one hundred and nine (109) reading chairs, and twenty-five
reading carrels, total number of five staff (5) out of which one is a qualified librarian while three
are clerks and one security man. The library attends to about 300 readers on a daily basis. The
FCT city library hours are 8.00am – 10.00pm Mondays to Fridays, and 8.00am – 4.00pm on
Saturdays.
Hours to spend on daily basis and the readers to be attending to in the library forced the
staff to embark on shift but no form of incentive was granted to them. The reference service and
other professional works in the library are taken care of by the librarian only, and all the works in
the library are done manually because only one qualified librarian was attached to FCT library
and the library as the time of the study was not automated.
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Statement of the problem
Public libraries are established to support teaching, learning, research and recreations by
procuring resources and services designed to meet the latest information needs of all
professionals in their various organization and beyond. There is need for public library to
provide services and resources that will effectively meet the information needs of their users.
The two libraries under study provide reference service to their users but what is not known is
the adequacy of the services rendered.
Furthermore, casual observation made by the researcher revealed that most of the times,
users do not make use of the reference section of the public library as they ought to, their reason
for not using the reference section is not known as well. Exhaustive search of the literature
reveals that no previous researches has been conducted on this with respect to the two libraries
under study and answers to these questions will certainly fill the gap in our knowledge of the
appraisal of reference services provided by the two public libraries.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to appraise the reference services available in the FCT City
library Abuja and Nasarawa state library Lafia. The specific objectives of the study include to1 Identify the types of reference services provided in the two libraries
2 Determine the extent of availability of the reference services of these two libraries
3 Determining the resources employed for the provision of reference service in the two
public libraries
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4 Ascertain the level of adequacy of the reference resources for reference services in the
Public libraries.
5 Identify the problems affecting the provision of reference services in the public libraries
6 Suggest strategies for improving the reference services provided by the public libraries.
Research Question
In an attempt to achieve the purpose of this study, answers will be sought for the
following:
1. What are the types of reference services provided in the two public libraries?
2. To what extent are these services available in the two public libraries?
3. What are the reference resources available to provide reference services in these two
public libraries?
4. What is the level of adequacy of these reference resources provided by the two public
Libraries?
5. What are the problems faced by the two public libraries in providing adequate reference
services?
6 What are the strategies for improving the identified problems?
Significance of the Study
The findings and outcome of this study will be of great benefit to the Following: Library
administrators, researchers, unemployed qualified librarians, staff and users of the library etc.
It is hoped that the findings of the study will be useful to the library in the sense that
management of these public libraries and other public libraries apply standards of reference
19
services to serve users. This will enable them provide the required materials which they will use
to improve the services provided to the users.
Result of this study will help researchers [students and teachers] in the field of
librarianship by providing information they need for their own researches.
The study is also significant, as it will provide avenues for employment because the
management will now understand that library has sections / departments, which are being headed
by professional librarians, and that reference librarian should head the reference department and
this will encourage creation of this position for which qualified librarians stand to gain.
Finally, it is hoped that the result of this study will ginger the Federal Capital Territory
library board and Nasarawa state library board provide adequate budget to the reference section
of the library for improvement of materials and services.
Scope of the Study
This study is set out to the appraisal of effectiveness of reference resources and services with
respect to the two public libraries – the FCT City library Abuja and Nasarawa state public
library, Lafia. It is conducted to assess their performance and to improve future services.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature is replete in reference services particularly in public libraries. Therefore, in
order to provide a direction and justification for this study, this chapter intends to review related
literature on the appraisal of reference service under the following headings:
An overview of the concept of reference service
Importance of reference services in public libraries.
Reference service offered in public libraries
Reference resources for reference services in public libraries
Barriers to effective reference services in public libraries
Solutions to problems of reference services in public libraries
Review Empirical studies
Summary of literature review
An overview of the concept of reference service
The purpose of reference service is to allow information to flow efficiently from
information sources to those who need them.
Adeyemi (2005) saw reference service as that part of library system which is charged
with the responsibility of aiding readers in the use of resources and books within the library wall
as distinguished from the withdrawal of books and other materials for use at home. The service is
provided by professionals whose primary task is to identify exactly what the reader wants and
provides same using one or a combination of reference books or tools. Essentially, reference
21
services are used by reference librarian to select and evaluate materials for reference collection.
A reference librarian should try as much as possible to give help to the users especially where a
user feels perplexed or confused, a reference librarian should approach him/her and say, ‘May I
help you’. The effort to locate information may require an extensive search. For example, one
may be required to trace origin of a particular concept or compile a documentation list or get a
document on inter-library loan.
Nwegbu (2005) stressed that provision of reference services goes beyond the actual use
of reference books and the daily routine of responding to user’s queries. It covers
anything/everything necessary to help the reader in his/her quest for information, education, and
knowledge. She further, itemized the scope of reference service to include: the selection of an
adequate and suitable collection of reference materials, the arrangement and maintenance of the
collection for easy and convenient use., suggestion as to the materials to be used for special
purposes, instructions to individual or groups in the use of reference books and reference
methods, constant work in answering individual questions and helping individual readers to find
some elusive facts, or in correcting some wrong method of research on the part of an
inexperienced reader, promoting the library within the community, marketing library services
that come there. Certain distinctive features of reference service have been identified which
make reference service unique to some extent, they include the following: the willingness and
ability of the librarians to provide reference aid, staff devoted exclusively to reference work,
reference collections stored on open shelves in rooms planned as reference quarters, and ready
guides to library resources such as dictionary catalogue, precise scheme of classification (Kaplan
1964, Olanlokun 2003).
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Lawal (2000) maintained that the reference department serves as link between the library
and its immediate clientele be they public, community or groups of specialist users. The main
aim is to provide a wide range of services and facilities which will enhance exploitative use of
the literature through the concepts of assistance and self direction.
Reference service according to Kumar (2006) is the personal assistance given by librarian on
individuals in search of information for whatever purpose as well as various library activities
deliberately designed to facilitate easy availability of information. This information is the
knowledge of facts which must be systematically organized, and subsequently given out or
disseminate for application where necessary, in order to advance learning.
Importance of reference services in public libraries
Reference service is the process of establishing contact between the reader and his
documents in a personal way. His documents mean every one of the precise documents needed
by him at the moment. It further means establishing the contact without any loss of time.
Reference service is a new and important aspect of library science.
Kumar (2006) was of the view that reference service helps the users to get right kind of
documents and information at the right time, thus saving their time. It assists the researchers to
avoid duplication of work and helps them in the introduction of new ideas. It makes information
available to decision- makers to take decisions. Thus reference service attempts to fulfill the
objectives of the parent body. A satisfied user serves as a friend of the reference service. If the
service is poor, then it will create a poor image of the library.
Olanlokun [2003] quoting Ranganathan, (1961) stressed that only lately have librarians
learnt that their duties do not only end, merely in storing and cataloguing information and
23
literature that their most important successes are to be achieved by an active policy of bringing
information and literature to the notice of those in need of them. Availability of information
resources in the library implies not only open shelves but minimization of all other barrier
between reader and books. This implies that availability goes with accessibility to the users.
Accessibility of library resources may be conceptual, bibliographic or physical. If acquired books
and journals are conceptually accessible to the user, it means that he can understand them and
they are probably relevant to his or her needs. Bibliographic accessibility pertains to the
provision of effective means of identifying needed materials and locating them, whether in
Nigeria or abroad. Physical accessibility connotes the ability to lay one’s hands physically on the
materials, once bibliographically identified and located. In view of this, the view of Ranganathan
is well appreciated as he points out the relationship between books and the readers.
According to Ranganathan
1
Books are for use
2
Every reader his / her book
3
Every book its reader
4
Save the time of the the reader
5
The library is a growing organism. Nwegbu and Ezema, (2009).
The availability of materials in the library does not mean its accessibility and utilization. Thus, it
is possible that an information source may be available in the library but cannot be accessed and
used by the users. Not all the people that comes to the library to make use of the resources there ,
knows how to locate the materials they need from the shelves, and that is why it is necessary to
have someone that is trained on that job to help them.
24
Ifidon (1997) noted that reference service in both academic and public libraries can be the
need to instruct users on the use of library collections. Another reason for emergence of
reference service is the ever increasing notice of the function of libraries as an active
participation in the process of education. This idea of public library being the peoples university
is at the core of the philosophy of public library, particularly, to those who are not familiar with
the use of books and libraries. Reference service is important in introducing and guiding the
people into the world of books and retrieval of information through reference service, the
essence of public library will be justified to the public who sponsor it.
Katz (1992) believes that reference service in libraries is essential and has mounted with
the years because according to him, there is now greater need for the public library to serve as
the intelligence of the community. Any time the news media do not issue the complete fact, the
public library can be relied upon for true and detailed information. He also of the opinion that
reference service is very much needed in the libraries due to the size of scientific literature. The
chief reason for the increasing dependence of research workers upon librarian, refer of course to
outstanding proliferation of scientific literature since the second world war. All of us have seen
the fearsome statistics that prove this point, and it is now quite evident that the volume of
pertinent literature in any single field, except possibly in most narrow specializations, has
outstripped the capacity of the individual research man to cope with it unaided.
Aboyede (1983) noted that intensive use of books and other library resources is vital to
any program of development either at the personal level, or at different social or national level.
She also acknowledge the need for reference when she stated that no matter how reputable a
library’s collection is, if it is not used intensively, it might as well be regarded as mere
decorations or frozen assets. Reference service ushers users into their needed information.
25
Aboyede is also of the opinion that reference service is indeed the culmination of all library
activities aimed at facilitating the use of the library and its resources. She goes further to say that
the performance in reference service can lift or bring down the image of the library as a whole.
Reference service offered in libraries
Reference service offered in libraries according to Everest (2008) take different forms,
but central to them is the provision of assistance to individuals seeking information. He further
said that ‘singular role which underlines the various forms have remain stable over the years. The
success of implementing reference service requires the ingenuity of the librarian, who is now
made a cyborg, he/she is everything to the user… a councilor, an adviser, a teacher and a
specialist. Some of these various types of assistance could be answering of reference query
which according to Edoka (2000) is the person to person ‘interaction’ relationship that exists
between a patron and librarian.
Answering reference questions- this has been the traditional function of reference and
information services unit in libraries. Under this traditional pattern, a patron comes to the library
with his information need usually in form of a question. The reference librarian consults the
relevant information source for a probable answer and hands over same to patron (Ifidon, 2008).
Another type of reference service is user education services. Amaeshi (2003) saw user
education service as ways of making library patrons to learn how to make effective and efficient
use of the library and its resources. This can be done through the acquisition of skills in
identification, location, retrieval, and exploitation of information. The reference librarian through
user education acquaints the clientele on the resources in the library and uses of those resources.
Reference service is the process of establishing contact between the reader and his documents in
a personal way. It further means establishing the contact without any loss of time for him.
26
Reference service is a new and important aspect in library sciences. Amen (2004), explain that
“user education aims to provide knowledge and skills necessary for user to find his.
According to kumar (2006) library orientation is a form of instructional teaching on how to use
the library for the first time in academic environment. In such a case they obviously require
instruction in the general use of the library. As a result of that, library users at their own
convenience approach the reference and information service staff for further instructions. These
range from explanation of filling system in the public card catalogue and directing them to the
appropriate section of the library for a given enquiry through how to make a profitable use of
chemical abstracts to the giving of talks on bibliographies on various fields. Beyond these,
libraries that have or are contemplating online services are faced with the additional
responsibility of educating their users about techniques for online bibliographic searching. This
historic relationship, therefore, casts the library staff as interpreter of the catalogue, assisting
users to locate items and teaching them how to use the online public access catalogue (OPAC) –
the automated version of the manual card catalogue by themselves for information and referral
service.
Commenting on the service of the reference section, Cahill kay (2007) identifies
information and reference service (I & R). He says that oftentimes, reference librarians identify
community resources and agencies with special service or information that library users or
information seekers ask for. From time to time, these users can be referred to these agencies for
the purpose of satisfying their information need. Igbinosa (1984) stated that “an I & R service
involves simple information giving (supplying direct answers to questions) complex information
giving (eliciting and determining some reference tools to use) and referral (directing and / or
escorting to agencies)”. Jackaman (1985) explained that, referral alone would usually be
27
regarded as a last resort by a library. Aina (2004) agreed with the point that referral services done
is the situation whereby a reader might be directed to another library or an alternative source of
information, such as professional organizations, research institutes and individual specialists,
which can meet the requirements of the reader. This he said is called referral service in which a
reference librarian is to maintain a list of referred institutions and experts.
Stating the services rendered by reference unit of libraries, Aina (2004) has the following
points to make:-reservation of library materials is another essential practice which is very
common in libraries. Such documents according to him cannot be lent out like other books;
hence they are kept in a restricted area where they could be loaned out for a limited period.
These documents are placed in a special location called reserved collection room. Access to such
documents can only be two hours within the library. Complete guide are provided for such
documents in the reserve collection.
Provision of seating and study facilities are very essentials. To him, “library is normally
expected to provide seating facilities for its readers so that they can consult and read books of
interest to them”. He further highlights that readers who intend to use the library for research,
libraries must provide study carrels to them. The carrels are generally in a schedule place far
from other reading disturbing place. In addition to this, libraries should provide equipment and
facilities necessary for viewing and listening the relevant information carriers, overhead
projectors, microfilm and microfiche readers should be readily made available. Specifically,
equipped rooms with air conditioners and adequate reading facilities should be provided.
Facilities nowadays often include tea / snacks areas to encourage long stay in the libraries.
Bibliographic verification. Aina (2004) asserts that bibliographic tool is used for the
purpose of verifying the correctness and completeness of the use of information. He further says
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that it provides information about publications. To achieve this, the reference librarian consults
and searches both manual and electronic versions of standard bibliographic work. The
bibliographic tools for this verification include: catalogue bibliographies, abstracts and indexes,
yearbooks, travel guides, gazettes, dictionaries, almanacs and encyclopedia. The fact about
publication, date of publication, and the price of items etc.
Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI). This is a user package reference service
mainly for researchers. In some places, it is likened to current awareness service [CAS] which
according to Ozioko and Amuchazi (2008) “…libraries use website for offering current
information”. This is done by keeping researchers aware of current developments in their areas
of specialization. “It could also take the form of providing the researcher with the table of
contents of a journal that has just arrived or a recently published article or citation on a predetermined topic, relevant to the targeted users”. SDI is a system which alerts a user that
material/document of interest to him /her has been received in the library or information centre.
The method employed by the librarian according to Everest (2008) is that, he will first and
foremost determine the research interest of users and possibly call the files. Once, the file of the
researcher is taken, when materials arrive, the librarian cross-check with the researcher’s profile
already taken, matches same with the document and the researcher is immediately informed that
a document in his area has just arrived and is available for use. In some cases, the documents are
delivered to the researcher concerned.
Inter-library loan. Closely related to bibliographic verification is inter-library loan and
document delivery. No single library has in its collection, all resources that can be demanded of
them. In this regard, they appreciate the need to look for co-operation libraries or information
centers in order to provide services to their clients. Having identified their areas of needs and
29
requests, the borrowing and lending process can also take advantage of the internet for both
requesting and delivery of inter-library loan materials. Periodical articles can be transmitted
instantly. Also the libraries can enjoy the services of commercial documentary service. The
essence of a library engaging in inter-library loan is to enrich its collection and provide improved
and qualitative service to users.
Computer and Tele-communication. Popoola & Salisu (2009) are of opinion that with the
use of computer and telecommunication in information handling we can now have access to
electronically retrieve information even through database. These databases contain two types of
information – (a) bibliographic information such as books, research reports, journal articles etc.
(b) non-bibliographic information like statistic etc in order to get the information that a user
needs out of the database that he is searching, the librarian searches several database.
Appointments are usually booked for this purpose, and in some cases, it involves a careful
reference interview and an online session.
Reference resources for reference services
Reference resources are the reference materials or reference books that have special
characteristic in the treatment of the contents.
Ozioko and Amucheazi (2008) stated that reference books are designed to be looked up
for specific information. A reference book may also be defined as a book that does not lend itself
to continuous readings. Perhaps, a combination of these two functional definitions with internal
characteristics of a reference book may be more acceptable. In theory, a reference book is an
intellectual work that is designed to be looked up for specific information; that is not meant to be
read through Practically, any book can be a reference book provided the information contained in
it is well organized and easily accessible physically (Kurma, 2006).
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Reference books that contain the desired information itself are secondary sources of
information. This is because they contain information that interprets and provides opinions on
developments reported in primary sources of information. They are compiled to provide ready
and reliable information on any given subject. These includes: encyclopedias, dictionaries,
handbooks, and tables. These books are also called basic quick reference (BQR) books because
they are used by the reference librarian to respond to quick queries from library users. Albeit,
reference books are also statistics books, diagrams, tables or maps with or without abstract,
annotations, bibliographies and other features. These books are not also borrow- able but are
rather meant to be used by students within the library. There are two types of reference sources
which are printed and electronic sources. The sources are discussed below:Printed reference resources
The following are the basic reference materials available in a reference section of e
library according to Nwalo (1997), Ozioko and Amucheazi (2008).
Encyclopedia: A general encyclopedia is a quick reference work that deal with anything
under the sun of course such a work does not exist. Thus, by no means, it is the whole world of
knowledge that has been claimed to be covered by this encyclopedia. It is not possible because
encyclopedias define their scope and provide content according to the scope specified. There are
various types of encyclopedias:Subject encyclopedias e.g. encyclopedia of Religion and ethics, encyclopedia of Human
biology, and the encyclopedia of library and information science, among others. Encyclopedias
are secondary reference sources, just as other BQR sources; they are expansive to produce in
terms of manpower and money.
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The new encyclopedia Britannica 187th ed. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica 2004, 34
vols. It was first published in 1968. It consists of 3 parts: micropedia, macromedia and
propaedia. It has 32 volumes on the whole. This is one of the best general encyclopedias in the
western world. Currently there is a 12-volume Micropaedia, which has over 65, 000 entries if
shorts, factual and ready- reference materials alphabetically arranged. It performs reference and
index functions to users. The other part of the set is a 18-volume. Micromedia wiyh lone articles
of between 25 and 100 pages each. It educates library users who require in dept information. The
two sets are held together by two-volume index called the propaedia. The propaedia is the outline
of knowledge and guide to the two sets of the New Encyclopedia Britannica.
Encyclopedia Americana, New York: Grolier, 2001, 30 volumes. This is also a general
encyclopedia. It was first published between 1829 and 1833. It has 30 volumes with about
100.000separate articles, which cover scientific and technological subjects, social sciences, the
humanities and the religions of mankind. This encyclopedia aims to serve a wide range of
readers. Major articles are divided into numbered sections to facilities the location of desired
information. All the articles are alphabetically arranged word-by-word rather than letter-byletter.
Dictionaries: - a dictionary is usually defined as a list of unconnected items arranged in
an alphabetical order. Only two features of a dictionary that is; the meaning and correct spelling
of words usually come to the mind of the user whereas there are other features. Examples of
dictionary are:
The oxford English dictionary:-the aim of this dictionary is to trace the history of English
language through definitions and quotations; it illustrates the variations in the meaning, and the
use of words. There are about 5000.000 definitions supported by2.5 million quotations. It is
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probably the best English language dictionary. Dictionaries are also secondary reference sources.
Essentially, there are other subject dictionaries such as the oxford dictionary of quotations as
discussed below:
The oxford dictionary of quotations: -this is an English dictionary which is a typical
example of common and popular dictionaries students use in their studies, which is a selection of
writing and sayings from the past and present drawn from every aspect of culture. It contains
about 17,500 quotations from roughly 2,500 authors. Others are: library and information science
dictionary, acronyms, initialization and abbreviations dictionary, chamber’s biographical
dictionary, English-Italian dictionary, dictionary of antibiotics and related substance etc.
Roget’s Thesaurus of English words and phrases: - the thesaurus is a collection of words and
phrases arranged according to ideas rather than alphabetically, it is a treasure house of language
as its name implies. It is invaluable for finding an apt, accurate, rendition and elegant expression
of ones thought. Here, all words dealing with the same ideas are grouped together regardless of
their spelling and grammatical function. It is the opposite of a dictionary in that it offers words to
express a given meaning. This book is useful to students interested in poetry and elocution.
Book of quotations: they are set to provide quotation on set of subject or by certain
authors. They are also set to give sources of quotations through their indexes. They are
frequently used by writers and speech makers to prepare their works. Examples: home book of
quotation: speakers’ quote book and golden quotes. Some books of quotation are not different
from the dictionary of quotations because they also deal with sources of quotation.
Translators: these are also aspects of secondary reference books because they provide
secondary sources of information. Students use certain some special terminologies used in the
arts as a field of study while some contains list of general abbreviations used in scientific
33
literature. By nature, translator entries are arranged in alphabetical sequence but it may differ
from the original in the sequence of the entries. It is used on the principles proposed on unison
which states that the name of the translator should appear on the title page of a book translated
and not on the original document from which translation was made.
Concordances:- concordances index most quotation passages of a famous author or book
in terms of every sentence used. Only unimportant words are omitted. They are comprehensive
and easy to use. Examples are: - Bible concordance, oxford Shakespeare’s concordance.
Alexander Cruden’s complete concordance to the Holy Bible. Printed and revised 2002 is a very
good example of concordance.
Information Almanac and Yearbooks: - they provide information on basic business data,
cross word, daily living [postages, taxes, metrics, distances, sports, and celebrity birthdays],
history, statistics, science and world affairs. Current events including business and the economy,
the courts, violence, disasters, education, energy entertainment, and culture, environment, health
and medicine, international affairs, government and politics, people, places and things, religion,
science etc are the major grounds covered.
The International Yearbook Statesman’s who’s who:- It is an annual publication and it
contains over 10,000 biographies and addresses of prominent individuals from al over the world.
The book is divided into three parts: part one includes abbreviations, introductory articles and
national international organizations. Part two deals with the organization of foreign ministries of
great powers, population, gross domestic products and average annual growth rates from each
country of the world; while part three covers bibliographies, diary of events and the general
index.
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Whitaker’s Almanac: - this is the British counter part of the world almanac and book of
facts. It places considerable emphasis on Great Britain European governments. For instance, it
has more entries on British royal and peerage as well as her government and public officers.
Other features include an education directory, list of leading newspapers and periodicals,
legislative data, Commonwealth of Nations and their activities, major foreign countries, list of
series of upper civil service including Church of England, stipends for dignities. This is an
individual source of information for student’s research in British and other European
governments, salaries of civil servants and educational institutions both high and low.
Europa world yearbook:- it appears in annual-two-volume editions. Volume 1; contains
international organizations and the first part is an alphabetical survey of countries of the world
from Afghanistan to Jordan. Vol.2 contains countries from Kenya to Zimbabwe. It is an
authoritative reference work, providing detailed information on the political, economic, and
commercial institutions of the world. BQR 7-8 Provide factual information and knowledge.
These again, are useful sources students should learn to acquire skill in information literacy.
World learning:- the latest possible information is contained in this book. Continuous
revision is through the world press and educational journals as well as contact with official
sources all over the world ensures the accuracy of the entries. Areas covered include
organizations, educational institutions, libraries, research institutes, learned societies and
museums.
Directories: a directory is a list of persons or organizations systematically arranged,
usually in alphabetical or classified order, giving addresses, affiliation etc. for individuals. It
gives addressed, officers, functions and similar data for organization. The following are
examples of the different types of directories.
35
Government directories e.g. Nigerian National Telephone directory
Instruction directories e.g. Directory of African Universities
Professional directories e.g. Directory of membership
Personal and institutional affiliation of the Lagos and Enugu state chapters of the
Nigerian Library Association [NLA]. These directories list members of NLA in each branch of
the states chapters. Though they contain similar information and are useful to researchers and
students who may learn the skill of producing one. Most often, the title of the directories are
deceptive as they may bear different names not exactly reflecting the term ‘directory’.
Directories usually contain telephone numbers and addresses of business and government
organizations across the country of interest. For example, the National Telephone Directory of
Nigeria and the Nigerian National Telephone Directory. These are exceptions as they ear the
name directory in their title. Directories are arranged alphabetical by business name and place
address. Other features are company advertisements, rates of local postal services, international
postal services and air parcel rates.
Bibliographies: A bibliography is defined as a list of books arranged according to some
permanent principle. It is a systematic listing of human communication essentially designed for
the study of book and the science of transmission of literary documents. A bibliography is of
several kinds viz: systematic or enumerative, descriptive, textual, historical, analytical or critical.
Typical examples are: - [a] Bibliography of African Anthropology. 1937-1949 by W. D.
Hambly. Books about Nigeria.5th ed. By John Harris. [b] Analytical bibliography of writings on
Modern English Morphology and Syntax of Gustav Scheurweghs.
Indexes: an index is a reference source that analyses a document by name and subject. It
is a directional aid to material, which have been published in serials form within a given period
36
on given author with sufficient bibliographic details to identify it on a specific page or pages on
which the term is to e found. Examples of indexes are:
Nigeria periodical index- This is a reference material that would assist in achieving better
bibliographic control in Nigeria and to improve services to the academic and research
community. The index covers more than 79 journal titles, published twice yearly in Nigeria.
Vertical file index- This is otherwise called ‘fugitive materials’. These are newspaper cuttings
magazine- clippings, pamphlets, prospectuses etc. it is also subject index to select a group of
pamphlets. It is issued monthly except August. Each entry includes the standard, bibliographical
information and a short descriptive note on contents.
Abstract – an abstract is a form of current bibliography in which books, which contribute
to periodical, are succinctly summarized. These books are accompanied by adequate
bibliographical descriptions to enable the publication or articles to be traced. Abstract can be a
book, an article from periodical or other materials. Examples are: - (a) Nigeria Universities
Dissertation Abstracts (NUDA). (b) The Chemical Abstract. (c) Science Abstract.
Readers’ guide to periodical literature: this is a cumulative author/ subject index to
periodicals of general interest published in the United States. The main body of this index
consists of author and subject entries of periodical articles arranged in alphabetical sequence.
Tables are compared favorably with textbooks, because they are convenient form to present data.
Typical examples are tables on density, melting point, atomic weight, boiling points and
reactions. These are very useful to science students especially those in physical sciences and
technology, example- International critical tables. New York McGraw Hill and table of constant
and numerical data. Oxford pergamme.
37
Gazetteers- A gazetteer is a geographical reference material used to find lists of places,
mountains, rivers, population, specifics on where a place is located and spelling and
pronunciation of place names: examples of gazetteers are:- (a) Chamber world gazetteer (b)
Webster’s new geographical dictionary.
Atlases – Atlases are guide reference book of cartographic information. They provide a
summary of topographic knowledge in a country or continent on small – scale maps. Their
content is arranged in a logical manner for consultation, which is facilitated y all indexes.
Examples are: - (a) the time atlas of the world- this atlas covers the economic and political
aspects of states and territories of the world. The atlas has the Dutch, French and German
editions. (b) Another type is the shepherd historical atlas.
Handbooks / manual- these are ready reference sources which give quick information
about established knowledge. They are also instruction books used by teachers and students.
They provide instruction in on how to do things. Handbooks and manuals in the science give
basic information in science and technology. They contain data, procedure, tables, graphs,
symbols, diagrams and illustrations. Scientists and technologists, teachers and students use
handbooks for teaching and to establish knowledge, learning and research. These books come in
different titles which are related to a specific subject area or specialty. The scope of the
handbooks is narrow because they deal with one subject area at a time. Some examples are – (a)
Nigeria handbook. Revised edition. (s) Handbook for African writers. (c) Manual for theory and
practice of counseling and psychological by Gerald F. Corey. (d) Book of chemistry. A ready
reference book of chemistry and physical data. Daeveland, Ohio: chemical Rubber (2001). (e)
Manual for the handling of applications for parents, designs and trademarks, Amsterdam. (f)
38
Manual for writers of term papers, thesis and dissertations (2001) rev. ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Periodicals – periodicals and serials are used interchangeably. They are publications
which are issued in successive parts usually at regular or irregular intervals. They include
newspapers, newsletters, magazines, and journals, annuals such as yearbook, memoirs,
proceedings and transactions of societies. Periodicals supply current information on a given
subject and serve as primary source of a material on a new subject. Types of periodicals are
commercial trade. Learned and House Journals. Such as First Bank shareholders journal and
patents. Patent is a document that states the right granted by a government to an interior. This
document, because it contains many lists of such inventors and their right, is very useful to
students for research and study in academic libraries.
Electronic reference resources: Machine readable reference resources are sources
available in Computer Disc Read Only Memory (CDROM) according to Madu (2008) as
follows:
Bibliographies. – a systematic and enumerative bibliography with which librarians and
library users are most familiar, which gives clear information about the author, publisher, place
of publication and cost of book are in CDROM. It is a small plastic disc of 4.72 inches (120mm)
in diameter. The CDROM is estimated to hold 550 million characters of information. This is
equivalent of 1,500microcomputer diskettes of floppy disc or two hundred 1000- pages of books.
Directories: Ulrich’s international periodicals directory. Encyclopedias. New encyclopedia
Britannica and McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of science and technology. Indexes: the readers’
Guide to periodical literature.
39
CDROM sources are a popular electronic format for reference services. For two reasonsthey can store a large amount of information in a small amount of space. Secondly, they offer
Boolean searching, thus assisting the user in finding additional material that might not be so
easily located in a print format. CDROM are a good choice for references with a limited
audience. They take up less space and yet provide the needed access.
Commercial database sources: Online commercial databases comprise author’s format.
They include such commercial networks as Dialog locally mounted databases, and access to
databases from remote locations. The advantage of online commercial data source include make
the databases available to outside users. It can handle large bibliographic and full text databases
.it allows the user to search several databases at one time; qaas is possible on Dialog OCLCs first
search.
Internet source- the internet is a medium for information dissemination. Much of the data
available may not be seen in terms of the needs of the traditional library user. Nevertheless, there
is an interesting amount of information available electronically which is considered to be of
value which library users are exploring. Internet sources have become an important way to
transmit information to users for a number of reasons. It is a source of the most current
information and can be updated quickly. It is easy to use and does not require any additional
equipment beyond the PC and modem. It can add graphics, photographs, sound, video and
animation to a web site. Libraries can use the internet for offering the following services: (a)
library OPAC – the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) of the library can be placed on the
library wed site and users can have access to the library databases from any part of the world. (b)
Internet – library users can use internet and e-mail to contact the library for getting reference
information. Libraries can also keep reference database online through the internet. (c) Current
40
awareness service- libraries can make use of the library web sites for offering current
information, like list of new arrival of books, current contents of journal article, book reviews
etc. The internet has an unlimited reference information sources available on the Net. Internet
Yellow pages, online dictionaries, digital encyclopedias, manuals and handbooks, digital maps,
Online travel guides, patents, almanacs, standards, quotes, collections,, online glossaries and
biographical sources.
Web-based reference sources are useful because they add value to the library services.
They also widen the scope of reference services. They assist the library professionals to speed-up
the delivery of information as well as improve the quality of library services.
Barriers to reference services
Lack of funds for the purchase of reference books according to Kumar (2006) has been
the most important factor which has impeded the growth and development of reference service.”
in the work of Kantumoya (1992), insufficient funding of libraries rather than a lack of demand
appears to have been the issue in the service of the reference section.
In the same vein, Abifarin (1996) stated “the library profession in Nigeria continues to suffer the
agonies of inadequate funding” Boman (1999) equally explained that, “problems encountered by
library authorities include inadequate funding, lack of indigenous materials, and non-compliance
with the legal deposit law”.
Nzotta (1994) affirmed that in adequate funding can be a major problem even though education
tax fund (ETF) has been a major source of funding, “but this is not enough, as inadequate
funding for all types of libraries, in turn reflect on the holdings in the reference collections.
41
In the work of Fabunmi (2004) it was stated that “the nature of library staff inhibits
effective service and that most of the staff went through the traditional form of training but could
not welcome innovation.
Kumar (1982) in this aspect wrote, “Lack of staff has been the most important factor
which have impeded the growth and development of reference service”.
Abifarin (1996) commented that, “the library profession in Nigeria continues to suffer the
agencies of inadequate and shortage of trained staff. Hence, non- professionals work in reference
desk. In line with the above, Kumar (2006) further revealed that, “non-professional work in the
reference desk and their response to the users is usually not encouraging”.
Popoola & Salisu (2009) advised that “training and retraining of reference staff” is
important since some took up the library job without knowing the involvements.
In this issue, kantumoya (1992) made us to understand that “inadequate supply of reading
materials rather than lack of demand appears to have been the issue”. Kantumoya equally wrote
that, libraries are stocked mainly with foreign literatures that are both out of date or irrelevant to
the information needs or interest of the people that are expected to read them”. In her
contribution, Kumar (1982) in the same vein stated that, “the reference collection is extremely
poor”.
Related to this problem, Popoola & Salisu (2009) stressed on poor communication facilities
in the Nigeria. “The telephone services are poor. The NITEL’s and NIPOST’s service are
discouraging. Delivery of goods from one point to another takes months no matter how short the
distance may be. The time lag between deliveries of goods from distant foreign countries to
Nigeria is a discouragement to prompt service required of reference section”. This indicates that
delivery of reading materials from overseas to Nigeria pose a serious problem.
42
Popoola & Salisu (2009) are of opinion that library users depend on reference service of
reference librarian. This they said that most library users depend on reference staff for every bit
of information no matter how rudimental and this is because most library users in Nigeria never
had contact with libraries before. This according to them is particularly common with the
undergraduate students and soothes reference staff on duty instead of concentrating their efforts
on in-debt searches go into answering “easy obtainable pieces of information” that involve no
search at all, short of specific miscellaneous question. This service that occupies precious time
does not give reference staff time to plan their strategies for effective service. Furthermore, they
said that users are unnecessarily selfish in the way and manner they make use of library
resources by either tearing pages of sheets of books or journal they consider most useful or steal
the whole document.
The oversea based author / Tyranny of distance is another problem facing reference service in
Nigerian public libraries. Faries (1994) said that, “major barriers to reference service are the lack
of time and resources at the local level”. Jackaman (1985) advised that, “Priority should be
given to public over administrative task.
According to Popoola & Salisu (2009) the publishers of these resources are not home based.
Their materials according to them are difficult to come by as a result of distance. The materials
arrive without current information (absolute in nature) coupled with the distance and the fact that
the authors are not home based.
Strategies on how to solve the identified problems:
To ameliorate these problems, Amah (1987) posited that, ‘the procedure for the reference
service depends on the needs of the patron and how to effectively handle them.” Method of
handling to clienteles should be improved.
43
Alegbeleye (1983) made us to understand that, “the skill and expertise with which reference
librarian handles reference users is one of the most explicit ways by which we can demonstrate
the hairy – chested masculinity of our profession”. Amah (1987) warned that, “handling the
clientele is one of the most important aspect of library services anywhere”. In this aspect,
Jackaman (1985) pointed out that, “there should be the provision of skilled assistance to enable
the user to exploit the provision of the library”. Amah (1987) in his own constitution persisted
that, “the most important element in equipping a reference assistant with experience is using the
right tool and providing the right book at the right time and in its right way”. This is because, at
the reference desk the library staff comes into direct contact with the clientele and answer
reference questions of varied nature. Thus, it becomes imperative that professional librarians are
assigned to the reference desk.
Orientation of students / instruction on library use, developing curriculum on information
searching skill: Mohammadi, Moghaddam and Yeganeh (2008) stated that user education is a
vital criterion if library users are to be familiar with library materials and their applications.
Apart from professional, Ezeala (2009) suggested organizing “seminars / conferences… for both
experienced and young reference staff which will keep “themselves abreast of current reference
and information practices.
In solving these problems, Bellow (2001) recommends the following:
Introduction of user education. Library orientation enables the library users know the way
of using the library effectively since they are taught how to make use of library catalogue during
orientation.
44
Amah (1987) affirmed that it is hoped the introduction of the “use of library” should be a
core course in Nigerian Universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics which according to
him is “a step towards solving this problem”.
Olanlokun (2003) opined this by stating that” user education is a critical variable in efficient
reference service”. He further said that it enables the user to know the information resources
available, their organization or classification as well as how to use retrieval tools. This is because
most of the library malpractices committed by users is as a result of ignorance.
There should be constant and continued education for library staff to update their knowledge
on reference service, and as new staff are employed or posted, this should be done regular.
The funding authorities should provide enough funds for expanding the library in terms of
reading spaces and purchasing of more reference services equipment and employ more qualified
staff if the libraries are to justify the traditional role of providing materials in support of teaching
and research of the institutions they are established to serve.
Again the reserve section of the library should be expanded, this will help to reduce
mutilation at the same time make the books available to more user.
Appropriate punishment should be meted out library offenders. Users should know the
punishment for all the library crimes and they should range from paying fine, warning, and
withdrawal from using the library, but this should be done with caution so as not to defeat the
original purpose for which the library is established. Also librarians should be in the Student’s
Disciplinary Committee (SDC) since they will be in a better position to determine the
appropriate punishment to be meted on a particular offender.
Every library should improve the staff supervision and welfare package. The package should
consist of hazard allowance that is, for accosting library offenders and general cleaning up of the
45
library. Also an efficient staff should be recognized as and when due so as to motivate staff for
optimum performance.
Various punishments for each library use malpractices should be fully enumerated or spelt out
in the library guide who every library users must possess, once they are registered in the library.
Hassan and Emmanuel (2004) proffered the following recommendations:
Teaching users during library instruction to change their selfish attitude, funding the libraries
adequately to enable them to acquire adequate and relevant books for their users, generating
plant should be procured and installed in every library, to supply light in case of Power failure,
photocopying machine should be acquired for each library so that users could photocopy,
relevant pages thus reducing mutilation.
Review of Empirical studies.
Problems of reference sources and services vary from library to library but there are some
problems that cut across some of them. These includes …obsolesce of resources, finance, power
supply, and human resources etc.
Abdusalami (2000) conducted a study of user education: a function of reference services of
the library. Questionnaire were designed, marked and supplemented by personal interviews.
After analyzing data collected using simple frequency distribution tables and percentages, it was
discovered that the program was bewildered by many problems under the inclusive of obsolesce
of resources, human resources, and inadequate funding etc. It was finally recommended that
materials in the libraries especially reference section should be updated by acquiring current
reference sources. Abdulkadir (1990) states in this regard that the central focus of any
educational institution is its library. It is the hub of the system in which both students and staff
46
and others resort for academic nourishment. Thus an updated library contributes in no small
measure and paves way for academic excellence therefore; the materials in the library are
expected to be up to date and available at all time. In addition, he advised that library should also
try and start acquiring the Guinness book of records which cover events in all works of life but
vision 2010 covers all sectors of the Nigerian economy, whether, industries, commerce,
ministries, military, library and information science.
Popoola and Salisu (2009) equally carried a study on library [information] resources and
services as a predictor of the teaching effectiveness of social scientist in Nigerian Universities.
The research work was carried out to investigate library information or reference resources
mostly used by social scientist, as well as to determine the information services used by social
scientists and ascertain the extent to which the level of use of information resources and services
among the social scientists would be used to predict their teaching effective in thirteen federal
government funded Nigerian universities. Stratified random sampling with equal allocation
method coupled with self- developed questionnaire was used to collect data from 650 academic
social scientist from the universities, out of which 570 responded giving a response rate of 87.7
per cent. It was also found that the utilization of library information resources and library
services contributed 49.8 per cent and 38.5 per cent, and the researcher recommended that
academic social scientists in Nigeria Universities should endeavor to use the reference resources
and services to improve their teaching effectively.
Ezeala (2009) in the survey on the effectiveness of library resources and services of
Agricultural research institute in Nigeria, the researcher made use of questionnaire, structured
interview and direct observation to seek information on the assessment of user satisfaction with
the electronic sources, the user’s satisfaction on the library services and the overall assessment of
47
the services. The findings of the study show that agricultural research institute libraries in
Nigeria are ineffective in supporting their institution’s research mandate. This ineffectiveness has
resulted from gross under funding of the libraries by the parent institutions and failure by the
management to give the library the status it deserves. It was also observed that the problem of
under funding has adversely affected the resources and services of the library. The low research
and publication productivity of agricultural research officers may be attributable in part to the illequipped libraries. The researcher therefore, opined that since the obvious has been stated, the
agricultural research institute libraries should seek new ways to support the budget allocation
given them; by so doing, justify their very existence and upgrade their status.
Olanlokun (2003) in his paper titled “practice reference services in libraries: the Nigerian
perspective. The study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of reference service in Nigerian
libraries. He made use of questionnaires on the assessment of user’s satisfaction on the library
services offered to them. Major findings were ineffectiveness on the library management in
providing necessary resources that are current to be used by the clientele, also it was gathered
that the staff were not friendly to library users the way that will encourage them to relate their
needs to them as professionals on information management. He suggests that the management of
libraries should vote more funds on the procurement of library materials especially journals and
other current reference materials in the reference section.
Ibrahim (2000) carried a survey study of reference resources and services in federal college of
education Okene. A total of 500 respondents formed the sample population for the study. The
methods of data collection were questionnaire and observation. One hundred (100) copies of
questionnaire were administered to each of the five schools – school of vocational and technical
education, school of languages, school of sciences, school of arts and social sciences, and school
48
of education. Data collected were analyzed using frequency tables and percentages. In the study,
it was found that the resources for the reference services are mostly out of current and the current
ones were not enough to those that need them. It was also gathered that the staff handling the
reference service are few to compare the enormous task on their desk. Recommendation made
was to increase the number of staff handling reference service, again it was suggested that the
authority should budget enough fund for them to acquire enough reference materials.
Edem and Lawal (1996) conducted a study of user education programme a type of reference
service in twenty-two university libraries in Nigeria. Questionnaires were designed, marked and
supplemented by personal interviews. After analyzing data collected using simple frequency
distribution tables and percentages, it was discovered that the programme was bewildered by
many problems namely; lack of qualified staff, poor attitude, inadequate funding and poor
evaluative methods. Consequently, they suggested that the programme be overhauled entirely to
accommodate more time, streamline theory and methodology and increased manpower to cover
teaching and practical exposure. They finally recommended an aggressive user education
programme in the universities for one semester duration,which should carry a compulsory status
for all first years’ students and taught by only professional academic librarians. This studies
though comprehensive, should have involved the students for confirmation of findings, a the
students are the direct beneficiaries.
On the user education as a whole, Nnadi ( 2004 ) in partial fulfillment for an MLS degree of
the university of Nigeria Nsukka surveyed the user education programmes of 5 universities in the
South Eastern Nigeria, with a sample of 319 library users and 26 librarians drawn through
incidental sampling. Separate questionnaires were designed for the 2 different groups. Using
simple frequency tables data were analyzed, which revealed that library orientation and
49
instruction were the mostly used and that the course had a structure. Nevertheless, lack of funds
is its major impediment. Consequently he recommended for improved funding, the delineation of
students into faculties and the introduction of Information Communication Technology in the
libraries
Summary of literature review
In an attempt to emphasize on the relevance of appraisal of services in public libraries, it has
been observed that considerable literature exists on library services. However, most of this
literature has been concerned with academic libraries very few focused on public libraries in a
Special sense especially in the Nigerian situation. Again, very few authors carried out studies on
the assessment of library services.
Of all the literature reviewed, most of it is theoretical. Nonetheless, the few empirical ones used
the psychometric approach. The review has also traced the metamorphosis of the concept of
reference service from its narrow perspective of library orientation to a more holistic
comprehensive term, information literacy. However, the changes did not affect the cardinal aim
of reference service, which is centered on effective use of library resources for academic
excellence, which was prompted by the increasing complexity of public library.
User education and interlibrary loan services were found to be the most widely used type of
reference service in public libraries while the use of bibliographic verification Selective
Dissemination of Information (SDI) trailed behind. Studies also revealed that current information
materials and qualified librarians were mostly needed in reference sections of the library for
quick references to be made.
50
In making a summary of the literature review, the following conclusions can be drawn: most of
the literature reviewed focused on one or two library services and not the whole services. Some
studies dealt specifically with the effectiveness of resources and services, while others based on
the effects of public libraries in social development.
Reference service was seen as any assistance given to library user by the reference librarian
which aids easy access to information he/she needed in the library.
Reference services offered in public libraries were highlighted which includes – answering
reference questions, user education, provision of seating and study facilities, bibliographic
verification, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), inter- library loan, etc.
Reference resources for reference services in libraries were also discussed such as –
encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, yearbooks, journals, atlases, etc.
Barriers for effective reference services such as lack of funds, lack of trained staff,
inadequate supply of reading materials, poor communication facilities, the library users
themselves, tyranny of distance were as well discussed. It also proffered some suggestions for
improvement such as introduction of user education, training and retraining of staff, and funding.
There have been some previous related studies carried out in the area of reference service in
Nigerian libraries especially in academic libraries. Some of these studies were in this research
work. It is important to note that there has not been any current in-depth study or research work
carried out on the appraisal of reference services in Nigerian public libraries especially in
Nasarawa state library, Lafia after carving out the state from plateau in 1997 and federal capital
since the transfer of the National capital from Lagos to Abuja (Aguda, 1976). In the course of
the review, the researcher observed that little or nothing has been done on the appraisal of
51
reference services in these public libraries, thus creating a vacuum which this study intends to
fill.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODS
This chapter specified the procedures used in carrying out the study under the following subheadings: research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling
techniques, instruments for data collection, method of data collection, validation of the
instrument, and method of data analysis.
Research design
The design adopted for this study is a descriptive survey. This design is chosen for this study
because a descriptive survey research is fact-finding in nature. It focuses on selective dimension
of a phenomenon and measures them in a systematic and precise manner, (Eboh, 2009). It is
appropriate for this research because this study is set out to identify and describe the appraisal of
reference services in two public libraries by users in Nasarawa and Federal Capital Territory
[FCT] both in North Central Geo -Political Zone of Nigeria. The survey was chosen because the
study needs a large sample size. The choice of the design was informed by its successful
adaptation in empirical studies on utilization of public libraries by ( Madu, 2008), Ajayi and
Adetayo,( 2005), and Omehia and Obi and Okon, (2008).
52
Area of the study
The area of the study is Abuja in FCT and Lafia in Nasarawa state all within the North
central Geo- political zone of Nigeria. North central is made up of six states – Nasarawa, Benue,
Kogi, Niger, and Kwara states. Although Abuja is treated as stand alone state, in terms of
location it falls within the North Central Geo-political zone. It falls within latitude 7degree 25’N
and 9degree 20’N North of the Equator and longitude 5degree 45’ and 7degree99’ and it consists
of eleven districts carved out from some states in the North Central, namely: Niger (6), Plateau
(4), Kogi (1). The Lafia public library takes care of people residing in surrounding towns of
Eggon, Obi, Awe, Doma, and Nasarawa etc. while that of FCT Abuja takes care of the six area
councils of Kwali, kuje, Gwagwalada, Bwari, Abaji, and Abuja Municipal Area Council
(AMAC) etc. The two public libraries have general scope in terms of readership .
Population of the study:
The target population of the study is made up of all the registered reference users in FCT
City Library Abuja and Nasarawa State Library, Lafia. The population of users in the two public
libraries is 1089. The breakdown of the population shows that there are six hundred and fifty
(650) registered users in FCT City Library Abuja and four hundred and thirty nine (439) users in
Nasarawa State Library Lafia
Sample and Sampling Technique
Sample size of respondents used consisted of (217) two hundred and seventeen reference
users, which was 20% of the total population of reference users in both libraries, the total being
(1089) one hundred and eighty-nine registered users. This is based on the recommendation of
Uzoagulu, (1998) that for a population of many hundreds, a sample of 20% should be used.
53
Simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents of the study, it was
adopted for data collection and this was done to avoid bias in the distribution of the
questionnaires to the respondents according to the library under study. To ensure that
respondents in the two public libraries are fairly selected, population proportionate to size
technique was used to determine 20% sample size for each of the two public libraries which will
give 130 for FCT City Library Abuja and 87 for Nasarawa State Library Lafia. .
Instrument for Data Collection
The researcher developed two instruments used for data collection for this study. One is a
questionnaire titled “Appraisal of Reference Services Questionnaire (ARSQ). The ARSQ is
divided into sections A and B. section A consists of 2 items that sought for data on demographic
characteristics namely location, and group, while section B is made up of 6 items designed to
elicit responses on the quality, availability and adequacy of reference services. The items in
section B were developed using a modified four point rating scale. It is a close- ended structured
questionnaire in that respondents would be provided with optional answers from which they can
make their choice (s). They will be required to tick (\) in the boxes provided. The other
instrument is an observation checklist titled “Appraisal of Reference Services Observation
Checklist” (ARSOC). The ARSOC is divided into two parts. Part A sought to collect data on the
adequacy of the resources available in the reference section of the libraries while part B collected
Data on the Currency of the Library resources. (See Appendix two).
Validation of the instrument
The instruments were validated by lecturers from the Department of Library and Information
science and one lecturer from the faculty of Education who is an expert in Measurement and
54
Evaluation in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. As a result of the validation, some amendments
were made on the questionnaire. Some items were dropped and some new items were included,
the structural layout of the questionnaire was modified. (See Appendix one).
Method of Data Collection
The researcher used two weeks to administer the questionnaire with the help of two library
assistants. Within these period observations were made using the observation checklist.
Clarifications were also made on problems encountered by respondents.
Method of Data analysis
The mean score was used in analyzing the data collected based on the research questions
stated in chapter one. The data was analyzed using frequency tables, mean score, percentages
based on the research questions used in this study.
A four- point modified scale, was to determine mean scores of respondents’ perception of
expected and desired services. The values assigned to the different scaling statements are as
follows:
SA / HA / VA = Strongly Agree / Highly Available / Very Adequate
4
A
= Agree / Available / Adequate
3
D / LA
= Disagree / Less Available / Less Adequate
2
SD / NA
= Strongly Disagree / Not Available / Not Adequate
1
On a 4 – point modified scale, criteria mean was obtained by adding the values in the scale
[4+3+2+1] and dividing by 4 to obtain a mean of 2.50 [10/4]. Any item ranked from 2.51 and
above was regarded as positive therefore accepted while any one from 2.50 and below was
55
regarded as negative therefore rejected. The score given to any item was computed by adding the
values of the ratings by the respondents.
As for the percentages, the formula used is
N x 100
and the criteria mark is 51%
P
Where N = number of respondents and P = total population of respondents and 100 is the %
e.g.75 respondents will be 75
100
177 X 1
=42.4%
Since the criteria make is 51% then 42.4% is rejected as it is below the accepted area.
56
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter deals with the presentation of data collected. The data collected were
presented and analyzed using mean scores, percentages and frequencies. A total of 217 copies of
the questionnaire were distributed to the respondents and 177 copies were returned and found
useable, thus 82% return rate. Data for each research question was analyzed in order to ease
comprehension of respondents’ responses.
Research question 1
Respondents view on the types of reference services in the two public libraries?
The thrust of this research question was to find out the library services that are provided
in the two public libraries. Data were collected using questionnaire item 2 in section B of the
[ARSQ] and the analyses are shown in table1:
Table 1: Types of Reference Services in the Two Public Libraries.
Categories of reference services
Nasarawa state library lafia
Not available
FCT library Abuja
available
available
available
User education
/
/
Document delivery services
/
/
57
Not
Computer literature searches
/
/
Current Awareness Services
/
/
Selective Dissemination Information
/
/
Photocopying and printing services
/
/
Internet browsing service
/
/
Inter- library loan services
/
/
Abstracting services
/
/
Bibliographic verification services
/
/
Indexing services
/
/
The response from the above table indicates that Nasarawa state library, Lafia provides the
following services –user education, document delivery services, computer literature searches,
current awareness services, selective dissemination of information, photocopying services,
internet browsing services, internet – library loan services, abstracting services, bibliographic
verificationservices and indexing services. While FCT library Abuja provides all excluding
indexing services.
Research question 2
To what extent are these services available in the two public libraries?
The data for this research question were collected using research questionnaire items
3[section B].
Table 2: Respondents’ view on Extent of availability of reference services in the libraries
S/N
58
Response given
HA
A
LA
N
N
FX
Mean
A
Decision
I
User education services
81
94
2
-
177
610
3.45
A
Ii
Document delivery services
12
30
70
65
177
340
1.92
R
Iii
Computer literature searches
13
33
45
76
177
315
1.78
R
Iv
current awareness services
8
21
77
71
177
315
1.78
R
6
25
59
87
177
304
1.72
R
43
76
41
17
177
519
2.93
A
[CAS]
V
Selective dissemination of
information [SDI]
Vi
Photocopying and printing
services
Vii
internet browsing services
1
18
69
89
177
281
1.59
R
Viii
inter – library loan service
80
74
8
15
177
573
3.24
A
Ix
Abstracting and indexing
66
73
17
21
177
538
3.04
A
Services
(HA = Highly Available; A = Available; LA = Less Available; NA = Not Available; N =
no of respondents; Fx = Summation)
To ascertain the extent of availability of reference services in the two public libraries,
table 2 above shows that the registered public library users agree that user education services
[3.45], photocopying and printing services [2.93], inter – library loan services [3.24] and
59
abstracting and indexing services [3.04] are available for them as their means are above 2.50.
While Document Delivery services [1.92], computer literature searches [1.78], Current
Awareness Services [1.78], Selective Dissemination of Information [1.72], and internet browsing
services [1.59] is not very popular among the reference services in the two public libraries as
their decision was below the criterion mean.
Research question 3
What are the reference resources available to provide reference services in the two
libraries?
Table 3: Respondents’ view on the reference resources available in the two libraries
Nasarawa state library
Reference resources
Available
Encyclopedias
/
/
Dictionaries
/
/
Atlases
Journals
Not available
FCT city library Abuja
/
/
Available
Not available
/
/
Yearbooks
/
Gazetteers
/
/
/
Bibliographies
/
/
Newspapers
/
/
Biographies
/
Thesis
/
60
/
/
The researcher was able to find out that some reference resources that are available in the
two public libraries under study are outdated. The Nasarawa state library Lafia and FCT City
library Abuja had the following reference resources - encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases,
journals, yearbooks, bibliographies, newspapers, biographies are available, while gazetteers and
thesis are not available
Research question 4
What is the level of adequacy of these reference resources provided by the two public
libraries?
Table 4: Respondents’ view on the level of adequacy of these reference resources
NSLIB Lafia
Reference resources
FCTLIB Abuja
Adequate Inadequate
Adequate
Encyclopedias
/
/
Dictionaries
/
/
Atlases
Journals
/
/
/
/
Yearbooks
/
Gazetteers
/
Bibliographies
inadequate
/
/
/
/
Newspapers
/
/
Biographies
/
/
Thesis
/
61
/
The researcher grouped the resources available in the reference section into the above
classes and from the observation made, it was shown that the Nasarawa state library Lafia and
FCT City library Abuja had adequate copies of encyclopedias, dictionaries, journals, and
bibliographies, but there are few atlases, yearbooks, gazetteers,and thesis in both libraries.
Research question 5
What are the problems affecting the provision of adequate reference services in the
two libraries?
Table 5:Responses on problems affecting reference services in the two public libraries
S/N
Problems
Statement on problems
SA
A
D
SD
F
%
F
%
F
%
F
%
76
42.9
64
36.2
32
18.1
5
2.8
6
3.4
15
8.5
87
49.1
69
39.0
8
4.5
19
10.7
54
30.5
96
54.2
1
.6
16
9.0
72
40.7
88
49.7
21
11.9
38
21.5
64
36.2
54
30.5
affecting reference services
of public libraries
I
Some reference staff are
not skillful
Ii
Some reference staff are
not willing to help
Iii
The library environment is
not conducive for reading,
learning and research
Iv
The available space is not
adequate
V
The opening hours are not
convenient
62
Vi
Reading materials located
28
15.8
42
23.7
79
44.6
28
15.8
80
45.2
85
48
6
3.9
6
3.9
86
48.6
79
44.6
7
4.0
5
2.8
19
10.7
31
17.5
67
38
60
33.9
88
49.7
66
37.2
13
7.3
10
5.6
are not retrieved easily.
Vii
The number of reference
books are not enough for
users
Viii
The library do not have
electronic resources
Ix
Printers are not available in
the library
X
Photocopiers are not
available for users in the
library
The result presented in table 5 indicate that the major problems encountered in the
provision of reference services in the two public libraries under study are lack of skill on the part
of reference staff [79.1%], lack of reference books [93.2 %], lack of electronic resources
[93.2%], inadequacy of photocopiers for users [86.9%]. In both libraries, the respondents
rejected the notion that reference staff are not willing to help. Other statements are; the library
environment is not conducive; the available space is not adequate, opening hours are not
convenient reading materials located are not retrieved easily, lack of printers were also rejected
by the respondents
Research question 6
What are the strategies for improving the identified problems?
63
To answer the research question, mean scores of the respondents under study were
computed and analyzed. The mean score of 2.50 was used as the criterion mean.
Table 6: Mean responses on strategies for improving reference services of public libraries
S/N Statements on strategies for
SA
A
D
SD N
Fx
Mean Decision
improving the identified problems
I
Users of the library should be
113 61 3
-
177 641 3.62
A
118 59 -
-
177 649 3.67
A
98
70 8
1
177 619 3.50
A
116 49 8
4
177 631 3.56
A
110 60 7
-
177 650 3.67
A
29
44 56
48
177 408 2.30
R
34
39 59
45
177 416 2.35
R
informed of usefulness of reference
service
Ii
Current and up to date reference
resources should be provided in the
reference section
Iii
The users should be drilled on the
usage of these resources
Iv
The reference staff should be trained
and retrained to acquire skills
necessary to perform efficiently
V
The library should provide more
reading space for users
Vi
The library should provide
appropriate technology for accessing
electronic resources
Vii
The library should extend the
64
opening hours
The deduction from table 6 shows that in order to enhance reference services, the users
should be informed on the usefulness of reference services, library should make available
regular, current and up to date information resources, teach users how to access, evaluate and
make use of reference resources, train and retrain staff to acquire the necessary skills needed for
efficient performance and provide adequate technology for accessing electronic resources.
However, the statements on the provision of more reading space and extension of opening hours
are in the negative because their Means was below 2.50.
Table 7: Respondent’s assessment of quality of reference services
Very effective
Effective
Ineffective
(VE)
(E)
(IE)
Very ineffective (VIE)
S/N
Reference services offered
VE
E
IE
VIE
N
FX
mean decision
1
User education services
53
66
41
17
177
509
2.88
A
2
Document delivery services
15
35
48
79
177
340
1.92
R
3
Computer literature searches
8
18
67
84
177
304
1.72
R
4
Current Awareness services
7
18
68
84
177
332
1.88
R
5
Selective Dissemination of
13
33
57
74
177
339
1.92
R
information services
6
Photocopying and printing
83
71
8
15
177
576
3.25
A
7
Inter-library loan services
48
69
42
18
177
501
2.83
A
65
8
Abstracting and indexing
79
90
3
5
177
597
3.37
A
9
Internet browsing services
6
25
59
87
177
386
1.61
R
From the above table both libraries are providing user education very well because from
the responses gathered they are rated 2.88 which is far above the criterion mean of 2.50. they are
also performing well in photocopying and printing service 3.25, inter- library loan services 2.83,
and indexing and abstracting services 3.37 all above the criterion mean. While the document
delivery services is 1 92 below the criterion mean of 2.50, the same with Current Awareness
service 1.88, Selective Dissemination of Information 1.92, and internet browsing services 1.61
all far below the criterion mean of 2.50.
Summary of the findings:
The following findings can be deduced from this study. The two public libraries studied were
found in the north-central geo-political zones of Nigeria, located in Abuja FCT and Nasarawa
state. Out of the population of 1089 registered users of reference materials 217[20%] formed the
sample of the study. This study was carried out based on the six research questions. With the aid
of data collected and analyzed, these findings were made: The major problems encountered by
the users of the library resources and services in the public libraries are lack of skills needed for
the librarians to perform effectively, lack of up-to-date information sources, and inadequate
technology to access the on-line databases. Strategies for improving reference services in the two
public libraries under study include informing users about useful library resources and services
through organizing user orientation and instruction programmes to teach users how to utilize
66
maximally the library resources, training and retraining of staff for effective performance,
provision of adequate technology for accessing on-line databases etc.
67
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter which is the concluding part of this study discusses the findings, proffers some
Recommendations and concludes by suggesting some areas for further study.
DISCUSSION
Research question 1
From the findings , the public libraries under study provided the services listed but not without
some hindrances as shown on the latter tables by the responses of users not all of them are
adequate even though they are available. This is in line with Katumoya (1992) which made us to
understand that inadequate supply of reading materials rather than lack of demand appears to
have been the issue. He also wrote that libraries are stocked mainly with foreign literature that
are both out of date.
Research question 2
As indicated in the responses, public library users all agreed that user education service,
reprographic services , interlibrary loan services, and abstracting and indexing services were
available in the library. Other services such as internet browsing, computerized literature
searching, document delivery services, current awareness services etc were not available.
Research question 3
From the observation made by the researcher, there is quite a good number of reference
books but most of the books were out dated. This corroborates with the findings of Okoro
[2006] which posits that non availability of current resources in the public libraries is a major
problem not only to the users but also a big challenge to the information provider. Nonetheless,
the researcher also observed that the journal titles were recent.
68
Research question 5
From the findings of the study, as reported by the respondents, in the research question five. The
following factors were deduced:
Lack of skills on the part of the staff, lack of access to electronic resources, lack of necessary
technology for accessing on line, and inadequacy of printers and photocopiers for users in the
public libraries.
These are indications that serious attention should be made in these libraries to correct these
identified problems. The reason for under utilization and sometimes non-use of library resources
are attributed to non-availability of support facilities, poor maintenance culture and lack of skill
on the part of the staff.
User orientation and instruction on the use of the library and resources becomes crucial here
because the users need the ability to select the right information sources to use and discriminate
among the selected, the best that is applicable to a particular search as Mohammadi,
Moghaddam and Yeganeh [2008] opined in chapter two. The librarians are in the best position
to train the users to access, evaluate, and make use of information sources better and more
carefully than others. On the other hand lack of access to electronic resources could also mean
that users have limited access to the e- journals or on-line databases as the researcher observed
in an interaction with a user during the course of distributing the questionnaire that sometimes
did not allow persons without the password to view the full texts of their contents.
Anyoku [2008] supported this finding when she reiterated on the future prospects for the library
In the era of ICT by suggesting that librarians should subscribe to e-journals with restricted
access by paying the necessary fees and keeping the passwords for their users. The lack of the
necessary technology to access the on line resources could again be linked to poor maintenance
69
culture and lack of support facilities. The reprographic services are available in both libraries but
the researcher observed that often they are grounded with only one photocopier working at a
time, this situation wastes the users time. The same is obtainable with the internet facilities
though it’s not the libraries fault but the network either fluctuates, fails entirely when they are
mostly needed or there is no electric supply to power the internet server. Idowu [2008] supports
these findings when he listed the problems of ICTs as Epileptic’ Electric Power Supply,
Government’s Attitude, cost of ICT peripherals, telecommunication facilities, internet
connectivity, resistance to New Technology, lack of maintenance culture.
Research question 6
Research question 6 sought to find out the strategies for improving reference services in
public libraries. From table 6, it was observed that all but two of the items as strategies for
improving reference service were rated positive. The rating were above the criterion mean of
2.50
. Such strategies are: the user should be informed on the useful library services,
library
should make available regular, current and up-to-date information resources, teach users how to
access, evaluate and make use of information sources, train and retrain staff to acquire the skills
relevant to work in public library environment, they will in turn teach the users on how to make
optimal use of the library resources. This will invariably save the time of the user and promote
informed decision making process, informing the users on the resources available through
marketing or any other means were also part of the suggestions made by the respondents to
improve on the reference services of the public libraries.
Implications of the study
The findings from this study implies that the effectiveness and efficiency of reference service
70
depends on how favorable its inputs are.
This can be illustrated with this simple equation. OP=f(IP)
Where (i) OP=output
(ii) f= function of
(iii)IP=input.
(Therefore OP is a function of the input)
It invariably means that where the aggregate input ( staff, facilities etc.) are favourable,, the
output (effective and efficient services) will invariably be favourable conversely where the
aggregate input is not favourable, yhe output will also be unfavourable. The bottom line is that
management of the libraries should strive towards making the input favourable so as to ensure
that reference service to users meet up its desired objectives..
This study also has implication for models to be adopted in appraising reference service as
it has been able to prove the effectiveness of the illuminative model. Thus with this model, this
could not have been possible without this methodological blending or marriage. Thus making
this model effective for any library that wants to undertake an appraisal of reference service
Conclusion
The following major findings have emerged from the study:
The existing staff of the reference section should be trained and re-trained on the job so that
they can be able to come up with efficient service delivery. The inability of staff to
attend conferences and workshops also impede the effective use of modern methods in
the reference service programmes
Reference resources for effective reference services were inadequate. Reference resources
such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, yearbooks, gazetteers, bibliographies are in short supplies
and outdated. These also discourage effective reference services
71
Reference services offered were also not adequate coupled the fact that some of the staff are
not friendly to the users in the way they answer their reference queries
On a general note, reference services to the users were found to be ineffective and therefore
needed an overhauled.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following, recommendations were made:
1. Current and relevant information resources that support teaching, research and practice
should be provided for the users as this will aid informed decision making.
2. Users should be properly oriented, and instructed on how to use the library resources for easy
identification of materials needed in the library especially the reference section.
3. Sponsoring the library staff to workshops, conferences and trainings will help encourage
them to acquire the necessary skills needed to perform effectively and efficiently in their work.
4. Public libraries should endeavor to acquire and maintain their ICT infrastructures as these
have great potentials in this information age. This will foster patronage and improve library
services.
6. Finally, public libraries as a matter of urgency should make plans to market the library
services through posters, fliers, bookmarks etc thereby bringing to the knowledge of current
and prospective users the services and resources available in the libraries.
Limitations of the study
This study does not claim conclusiveness hence its limited area of coverage which is not
unconnected with time barrier and financial constraints. Therefore the researcher is challenging
for further studies that could have a large coverage for confirmation of the results which lead to
generalization.
72
Suggestions for Further Research
Some of the research findings could be followed up in subsequent studies. For purpose of further
research, the following have been suggested:
1.
Similar studies on the appraisal of reference services on other public libraries in
Nigeria
can be conducted.
2.
Further research could be carried out to determine the impact of marketing of
library
services on the use of public libraries.
Summary
The study appraised the reference services in two public libraries in the North Central GeoPolitical zones of Nigeria viz: FCT City Library Abuja and Nasarawa State Library Lafia.
Objectives were formulated and research questions drawn from the objectives. Consequently, the
objectives of the study were achieved and the research questions answered. This research
questions guided the study both in literature review and data collection. Data collected were
analyzed using tables, percentages and mean scores. Based on the findings of the study, the
researcher concluded that:
1.
Public library users in the two libraries studied are not satisfied with the reference
services in both libraries,
2.
Public library users often are ignorant of the services provided in their libraries.
73
3.
From the observation made, the researcher noticed that most reference information
materials are outdated , and again that the section is mostly empty because the staff are
not skillful enough and the users do not actually hunger for the services rendered there
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79
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
Dear respondents,
I am a postgraduate student of library and information science, university of Nigeria,
Nsukka. I am presently conducting a research on “Appraisal of reference services public libraries
of North central: FCT Abuja and Nasarawa state library Lafia.
The questionnaire is part of the study, and therefore designed to collect relevant information
that will help the researcher carry out the study successfully.
Kindly provide objective responses to the questions as your responses will be used purely
for academic purposes.
Thanks for your co-operation.
Anthonia Ifeoma okafor
PG/MLS/04/35432
80
APPRAISAL OF REFERENCE SERVICES QUESTIONNAIRE [ARSQ]
The questionnaire is divided into sections A and B. section A seeks to collect background
information on demographic characteristics. Section B seeks information on the quality of
reference services.
Note: SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, D – Disagree, SD – Strongly Disagree
SECTION A: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
Please tick [\] in the appropriate box
1.
2.
Location
Group
[
]
FCT City Library Abuja
[
] Nasarawa State Library Lafia
[
] professional users
[
] undergraduates of tertiary institutions
[
] graduates seeking employment
[
] students in secondary schools
[
] others specify
81
SECTION B
1. How often do you use reference resources?
a.
Daily
[
]
b. Weekly
[
]
c. Monthly
[
]
d. Quarterly
[
]
e. Never
[
]
2. What are the reference services provided in this library?
User education services
[
]
Document delivery services
[
]
Computerized literature searches
[
]
Current Awareness Services [CAS]
[
]
Selective Dissemination Information [SDI] [
]
Photocopying and printing services
[
]
Internet browsing
[
]
3. What is the extent of availability of these services?
S/N Reference services
less
Highly
Less
available available
i
User education services
ii
Document delivery services
iii
Computerized literature searches
iv
Current awareness services [CAS]
82
Not
available available
v
Selective Dissemination of
Information [SDI]
vi
Photocopying and printing
services
vii
Internet browsing services
viii
Inter – library loan services
ix
Abstracting and indexing services
x
Bibliographic verification services
4. What is the level of adequacy of the reference services provided by the two public
libraries
Very
S/N Reference services
adequate
i
User education services
ii
Document delivery service
iii
Computerized literature searches
iv
Selective Dissemination of Information
v
Current Awareness Services
vi
Photocopying and Printing services
vii
Internet browsing services
viii
Inter-library loan service
ix
Abstracting and Indexing services
83
Adequate Inadequate Very
adequate
5. What problems do reference services of these public libraries encounter?
S/N Statement on the problems affecting reference services
I
Some library staff are not skillful
ii
Some library staff are not willing to help
iii
The library environment is not conducive for reading , learning
SA A
D
SD
and research
iv
The available space is not adequate
v
The opening hours are not convenient
vi
The closing hours are not convenient
vii
Reading materials are not located and retrieved easily
viii
The number of books and journals in the library are not
enough for users
ix
Most of the reading materials are out-dated
6 How would you rate the overall quality of services in the reference section?
Very Effective
[
]
Effective
[
]
Ineffective
[
]
Very effective
[
]
Appendix 2
Assessment of reference services observation checklist
84
Part A: Adequacy of reference resources
Reference service
FCTLIB Abuja
Adequate
Encyclopedia
Dictionary
Journals
Newspapers
Magazines
Yearbooks
Thesis
Bibliographies
Maps
Part B:
Currency of reference resources
85
Adequate
NSLIB Lafia
Adequate
Inadequate
Reference resources
FCT LIB
NSLIB, Lafia
Abuja
Reference resources
current Not
current
Encyclopedia
Dictionary
Journals
Newspapers
Magazines
Yearbooks
Thesis
Bibliographies
Maps
86
current Not
current