STUDENTS'AWARENESS AND USE OF ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGUE IN JOHN HARRIS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

The study examined Students' Awareness and Use of OPAC in John Harris Library, University of Benin. The purpose of the study was to ascertain student’s level of awareness of OPAC as an access tool to the library collection, to investigate the level of usage, determine the purpose students use it and to identify the constraints associated with it. The study adopted descriptive research of the survey type and a self designed questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect quantitative data. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency. Results from the study revealed that majority of students are aware of the existence of OPAC and it’s use in the location of materials in the library; although majority of the respondents had some degree of awareness of the existence of OPAC and what it is used for, majority do not make use of it; finding the location of required documents, retrieving a particular document, to know whether required documents are available in the library, to know the status of a particular document and because the OPAC is easier to use than the Card catalogue were the major purposes of using the OPAC and it also revealed that the major challenges they encountered in using the OPAC were the lack of OPAC knowledge, lack of enough computer systems, lack of orientation and awareness programmes, inability to use appropriate search term, lack of assistance from library staff,  poor or irregular power supply and lack of basic ICT skills to use the OPAC. This study was concluded on the basis that the users (students) of  the library were not making effective and efficient use of the OPAC services and that the John Harris Library has not provided enough means to facilitate the full utilization of the OPAC in the Library.