In Ghana, studies by Sulemani and Katsekpor, (2007), and Dadzie,
(2005) were among the few that touched on usage of databases. A most
recent study was by Kwafoa et al. (2014) on database usage in the
University of Cape Coast but this was on faculty and administrators.
They reported that even though (92%) of the faculty members was aware of
the existence of online academic databases they did not know that these
data bases were being subscribed to by the university library on behalf
of the university. In addition, 83 out of 217 respondents, even though
they were aware of the existence of these databases did not use them.
This study is to throw more light on the current situation of access and
usage of databases, particularly by students and also contribute to the
available literature
2.4 Uses of Electronic databases by Lecturers in University Libraries
Islam and Habiba (2015) conducted a study on using pattern of internet
and e-databases.The study revealed that most of the respondents use
e-resources for learning purpose and e books were on top in their
choices.
Rajeev (2015) carried a study on use of internet and
Electronic Information Resources by lecturers and students of Punjab
49.2% of the respondents use Medline/ Pub Med to access e-resources
which is followed by Ebsco with 29.5%; where as 21.3% used the Health
Science Library Network.
Omotayo (2006), Sharma (2009), Borrego
et al, (2007) and Ibrahim (2006) have all reported that e-journals are
the most used among the arrays of available electronic resources.
As reported by Omotayo (2006), 22 (8.98%), 67 (37.35%), 102 (41.63%),
34 (13.88%) and 20 (8.16%) of the total population of 245 used
electronic journals daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly and occasionally
respectively. Majority use e-journals monthly, while 52% of total 19
population in Borrego, et al., (2007) stated that they use electronic
journals exclusively or mainly.
According to Sharma (2009), the
second highest preference in terms of e-resources usage after e-journals
is the Web and e-mail with 30 (57.69%) and 41 (78.84%) among teachers,
whereas 23 (76.66%) and 18 (60.00%) among research scholars use them
respectively. This is supported by Madhusudhan,(2008) that 67.64% of
research scholars of Faculty of Science and 69.23% of research scholars
of Engineering use e-journals for research work whereas 35.29% of
Sciences use e-journals to update knowledge and 23.7% of Engineering use
these for study. Tiefel (2004) stated that most library users are
unaware of the quality and variety of information available. He further
pointed out that students are often satisfied with materials that an
experienced librarian would find inadequate and /or inappropriate. It
was identified that discipline hasa major influence on usage patterns
and preferences, and that faculty members in science tend to use the
internet more intensively than Faculty members in the Humanities or
Social Sciences (Lazinger et al.., 2003). Age also plays an important
role in usage; the younger the student and Faculty members are, the more
they use electronic sources (Bar-llanet al., 2003). It has also been
reported that men are heavier users of the Internet and make most use of
the more complicated services. Bar-llaet al.., (2003) also found that
gender and academic rank have only a minor influence on the usage of e-
sources and the Internet. Madhusudhan, (2008) conducted a study to learn
about the use of the Internet by the research scholars of the
university of Delhi, India. It revealed that majority of the scholars
70% used the Internet daily for academic purposes, they summarized their
findings as follows: using e-journals and data bases. It also indicated
that 98 percent of users preferred the Internet e-mail facility, 96%
were using the World Wide Web, 4% the least used the FTP Internet
service, some faced information retrieval 20 problems through the
Internet and 73% of users faced very low bandwidth when surfing the web.
Madhusudhan (2008) carried out a study on the use of electronic
resources by lecturers, students and research scholars of universities
and research organizations. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of the
respondents feel that the use of the UGC-Infonet e-journals has created
high dependency value on their research work and they needed current
article alert services and electronic document supply services.
Madhusudhan (2008) determined the use of e-databases, users' skills in handling e-resources, and the purpose of their use by research scholars of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India. The findings revealed that electronic resources have become an integral part of the information needs of research scholars. That the e-resources could be good substitute for conventional resources, if the access is fast, and more computer terminals are installed to provide access to e-resources.
Stephen (2012) examined the knowledge and use of electronic information resources by faculty at the University of West Indies. The findings showed high level of awareness (80%) of electronic resources made available by the library; but low use of the library specific resources; 83% of respondents acquired skills to use electronic resources through self-teaching, and they still expressed a need for training. The highest use of electronic resources was for communication (86%), followed by research (77%), support of teaching activities (74%) and for administrative purposes (41%).
