ABSTRACT

This study investigated the various types ofonline information resources utilized in routine duties and services and their inhibitions to effective services delivery in public university libraries in South-East Nigeria. To guide the study, two research objectives, and two research questions were used. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 174 professional librarians who work in the university libraries in the South- East, Nigeria. Total census was used for the study hence there was no sampling. The instrument of data collection was questionnaire. Validated copies ofthe questionnaire were tested forreliability using CronbachAlpha statistic and the reliability coefficient obtained was 0.94 confirming its reliability. The 174 copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents through the help ofresearch assistants one from each state ofthe South-East Nigeria. 157copies ofthe questionnaire were returned representing 90% return rate. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean frequency count and standard deviation. The mean was used for answering the research questions. The resultshowed a high extent ofutilization ofthe routine duties listed, with a mean of2.70, yet having very significant and notable inhibitions to their utilization. Hence, the study recommends some solutions to the identified inhibitions/constraints to the utilization ofOIRs for effective services delivery in public university libraries in South-East, Nigeria. Some of the recommendations are; that public university library authorities (both state and federal) should combine efforts to raise the needed funds to put things in order to stop or reduce inhibitions to the utilization ofOIRs for duties and effective services delivery in public university libraries; to train and retrain librarians more on ICT concerns, acquire and fix properly all the tools necessary for OIRs connectivity in public university libraries among others.

Key Words: University, University library/Librarians, Utilization, Online, Information, Resources,