CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE USE OF CIRCULATION SERVICES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC LIBRARIES IN NORTH EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

The focus of this study was to examine the challenges association with academic library in the use of circulation services in federal polytechnic libraries in North east Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to find out the services provided to users by the circulation, to ascertain whether the users are satisfied with the services, to determine the problems encounter in the use of circulation unit of the library. The study adopted survey research. The population of this study comprised all registered library users and staff of Federal Polytechnics in North-Eastern States of Nigeria. Out of the 5 Federal Polytechnics in North-Eastern States, Muhammad Wabi library Federal Polytechnic Bauchi was selected randomly based on the Morgan sampling table. Then, from 950 library users in Muhammad Wabi library Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, simple random sampling technic was used to select 95 library users and among the library staff, simple random sampling technique was used to 43 staff. Out of this sample, only 78 and 36 respondents returned the questionnaire respectively.  Three research questions were used raised for the study. A survey research method was used for the study and Circulation Services Questionnaire (CSQ) of reliability coefficient of 0.78 was the instrument used for the collection. Data was analyzed using simple statistical methods (frequency and percentage). The major findings of the study revealed the most common services provided to the section is lending service, registration of the user, and inter-library loan and the service identified relevant to the need of users, inadequate funds are the major problem of the section, other problems are inadequate awareness, staffing, over population, lack of facilities and overdue cases. The strategy for improving the services in the section is library management support. Majority of the respondent are satisfied with the services of the section and the results of the findings show that the services are helpful to the research and learning activities of the users also, the challenges encountered in the section are inadequate staffing, lack of awareness and absence of online circulation service. This research concludes that the most common services provided by the library under study are lending service, registration of users and inter-library loan and majority of the responses showed that these services as significant to the need of users.  The study recommends that the more financial support is required to boost the activities of the section, there is a need to promote awareness the activities of the section among users, circulation staff needs to improve on their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, to more with the emerging changes, circulation services and other library services need to be automated.