The use of academic library electronic information resource by selected undergraduates students at the University of Limpopo during coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

Academic libraries subscribe to Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) yearly to meet the academic information needs of their patrons who live in the digital era. In 2020, a lockdown was enforced in South Africa to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections. Consequently, higher education institutions were forced to close and later obliged to continue with teaching and learning through online means. Students had to attend classes online and were required to use online library resources to complete their academic tasks. Against the foregoing backdrop, the study investigated the use of EIRs at UL during the COVID-19 pandemic environment. The study was restricted to undergraduate students from the Faculty of Humanities and the librarians attached to the UL library as the target population. The study used both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. An online questionnaire was distributed to the students using the Google Forms questionnaire and was completed by 80 students. Three librarians participated in the study. One librarian participated in an unstructured interview whereas 2 librarians completed the prepared questions for semi-structured interviews that was sent. A majority of the participants (students) are extremely aware of the multiple EIRs that they could use during the lockdown. Library orientation and information literacy sessions helped the students to become aware of those resources. Most undergraduate students were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the services that are offered by the library during the pandemic. Unstable power supply and low internet bandwidth were mentioned as prevalent challenges students face when accessing EIRs. Librarians made electronic information available to undergraduate students despite the challenges such as system outages and internet connectivity. The study concludes that undergraduate students were using EIRs and librarians supported students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study recommends that EIRs should be marketed on social media pages, videos for bibliographic instruction sessions should be created and UL faculties should be encouraged to frequently use the institutional repository to upload theses and dissertations for the students to access with ease and convenience. Librarians should get formal training on how to virtually interact with the students using the university learning management system.