INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILL AS A DETERMINANT OF THE OF ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGUE BY UNDERGRADUATES IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN OGUN STATE.

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the influence of Information and Communication Technology skill on the use of Online Public Access Catalogue by undergraduates in private Universities in Ogun State A total of four research questions were developed from the research objectives. The study adopted descriptive survey research design, the population of the study was two thousand, three hundred and thirteen (2,313), of which two hundred and thirty-two (232) undergraduate students in private universities in Ogun state were selected using simple random proportionate sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection is the questionnaire. Face and content validity of this study was carried out by three experts in Library and Information Science, TASUED. Thirty copies of the questionnaire were administered on undergraduates of Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State. The result shows Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for: Information and Communication Technology skills of undergraduate r = 0.81; Use of OPAC r = 0.90; Out of the 232 questionnaires administered 209 were returned, collated and found useful for the study. The findings of the study revealed that the level of Information and Communication Technology skills of undergraduates in private Universities in Ogun State is high. Majority of undergraduates in private Universities in Ogun State do not use Online Public Access Catalogue. Majority of undergraduates in private Universities in Ogun State do not have a purpose of using Online Public Access Catalogue. The challenges faced by undergraduates in private Universities in Ogun State, is unfamiliarity with the OPAC system. The study concluded that despite high ICT skills among undergraduates in Ogun State's private universities, the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) is underutilized due to students' lack of understanding and promotion by academic libraries. It suggests a need for proactive education on OPAC usage. The study recommends that more awareness should be created by academic libraries for undergraduates to familiarize each other with Online Public Access Catalogue and how best to make use of it for their academic activities.