Scenarios in Accessing E-Resources in University Libraries: A View of Mmust Library by Moses Isutsa Shileche

Bsc. Library &Information Science Msc. Library and Infor. Scie. Student
.

Presented at the 1st Regional Conference for Western & Nyanza KLA Chapters on 14th -15th Oct. 2010 at Imperial Hotel

E-learning, Open University Education, Vision 2030 and Mobile phones require a lot of data transfer which has put information handlers, learners, lecturers and financiers in institutions of higher learning in a dilemma of sticking with the print media or embracing e- information. Access, management, staff and users skills, funds, licenses, infrastructure are evident challenges. This paper details scenarios as seen elsewhere and compares with the situation at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology Library, using purposive and snowball methods in an explorative design by indulging in an in-depth face to face interview of fifteen respondents selected from PhD, Master and Degree students. Findings are tabulated and evaluated using Moon stats and output in a pie chart. Probable recommendations are given.

Abstract

Key words
E-learning, E- resources, Access, University Libraries, Information

University libraries are to be at the forefront in championing access and use of e-resources, Advances in research and publication of e-resources in Kenyan Universities is wanting, leaving lecturers and students to rely on publications available from other regions expensively. In this age of open university, which is the appropriate way forward for handling eresources issues in university libraries.

Statement of the problem

Hypothesis
There are no challenges faced by clientele in accessing and using e-resources in MMUST library

Research Objective
Understand the SWOT of libraries in e-learning & e-resources Understand the skills and competencies e-resources users have or lack Explore the readiness of university libraries to support Open University education to achieve vision 2030.

Introduction
Information handling is changing in the following manner
nature of information information infrastructure needs access collection storage communication use

Information handling led to

numerous research studies on the use of electronic resources by Students, Librarians, Researchers of institutions of higher learning with a view of unlocking the challenges that are faced by both the creators, managers and consumers.

Findings of numerous researches

the inverse of challenges facing print medium of information resources management, is the case with electronic resources where not a single solution suffices

Assumptions
There are teething issues, both the authors, information officers and clientele must work in tandem acceptable answers to the challenges electronic resources pose must be found

Serious challenge of e- resources

The electronic content tends to be much more unstable than the static nature of printed media.

licensing, digital rights management, plagiarism, medium of storage access policies on how resource can and can't be used, sourcing of funds and support, exponential growth electronic aggregators, investment in e-resources is growing, no standard mechanism to archive the digital content or provide persistent access, challenge of identifying, evaluating, procuring, implementing, integrating, supporting, utilization tracking, renewing or cancelling e-resources subscription , managing an ever increasing budget for e-resources

Other challenges

Background information
Association of Research Libraries reported member libraries spent
12.9% - 1999-2000 3.6% in 1991-92 1999-2000 academic year, nine libraries spent more than 20% of their materials budget on electronic resources five spending more than $2 million

authors who have made observations

Majid and Tan (2002); Ibrahim (2004)) attributed to lack of awareness, to electronic resources such as library OPACs, e-books, subject gateway projects have revealed differences in use. Kennedy (2004) Cohen; Calsada (2003) raised pertinent issues such as the management of web sites lists, the provision of a unified search interface to the librarys research databases and e-journals and inclusion of URLs web sites in the librarys catalog Kennedy (2004) also proposed the inclusion of web pages to the Library catalogue as a solution to the maintenance of increasing web sites links. Campbell (2000) discussed the key political and strategic issues needed for the future development of Australian subjects gateways Chisenga(2004) looks the challenge of large number of public libraries lacking computer connectivity 30 years after the first commercial computer was made available , unreliable power supply, lack of ICT experts and inadequate supporting infrastructure. Sihanya(200?)Looks at the prospects and challenges posed to a storage , retrieval , and distribution more efficient in view of the fact that the librarians is to enhance access while observing copyright. Amina(2006) makes her contribution by looking at the greatest challenge of spreading awareness and encouraging the use of the resources acquired, access to the internet and subscription required for resources are historical barriers to progress which bring about a digital divide between developed countries and developing ones.

Some websites
http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/createchange/live rpool/context.html http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/chicago /075125.html http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub99/secti on2.html

The Digital Millennium copyright act of 1998

December 1998 looks at the challenge of fair use as shown in the section 1201(d) of the act contradicted by nature of computers and internet which make other illegal soft copies inadvertently during the process of transmission not permitted by the act.

Research Methodology
Type of non-probability unstructured (indepth ) interview used purposive and snowball. : The reason for choosing purposive for this research was that, the University has a student spectrum composed of Doctorate (PhD) , Masters, Degree, Diploma and Certificate levels of whom there are no discrimination or advantage on who should or should not use electronic resources.

Research Findings
The data collected shows the five most important key words (themes) as given by the respondents
Computer Google Information Internet Virtual Library

Table 1 The frequencies of five most important terms as mentioned by the interviewees filed.
INTERVIEWEE
Interviewee 01-100 interviewee 101-200

COMPUTER GOOGLE INFORMATION INTERNET V.LIBRARY

interviewee201-300 Interviewee301- 400 interviewee 401-500 interviewee 501-600 Interviewee601- 700 interviewee 701-800 interviewee 801-900 interviewee 901-1000 interviewee 1001-1100 interviewee 1101-1200 interviewee 1201-1300 interviewee 1301-1400 interviewee 1401-1500

TOTALS

71 32 63 14 45 76 87 28 79 50 61 42 23 54 35 760

15 14 13 12 11 40 29 28 27 16 15 14 03 12 11

31 42 33 64 15 56 57 38 39 30 31 52 13 24 85

35 34 13 42 11 30 59 58 67 96 85 54 03 12 51

21 22 13 14 15 16 07 18 19 00 01 52 23 44 15

260

610

650

280

Chart Showing gross percentages per term as mentioned by all respondents

V.LIBRARY 11% COMPUTER 30% COMPUTER INTERNET 25% GOOGLE INFORMATION INTERNET V.LIBRARY GOOGLE 10% INFORMATION 24%

At Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST)Virtual Library effort has been made to meet the information needs of the users through an open approach in terms of sharing knowledge, provision of free internet access facilities, user studies programmes, staff support and infrastructure creation coupled with an ICT master plan running from the 2003-2013. Provision of standalone catalogues in the library Wireless internet connectivity (wi-fi)5 km radius Provision of seamless access via IP registration

 provision of links to e-resources from the university wide website Provision of a newsletter that highlights new issues relating to among others e-resources Staff training both in house, workshops, conferences and formally in colleges. Organising book and e- resources selection days on campus User profiling to identifying and meet personal and special needs Reference work (Ask A Librarian)

MMUST V. Lib conti

Conclusion
challenges include access and delivery of electronic information resources wide variety of electronic resources , citations , databases, full text articles, e-books, online databases, electronic resources , rights management , complexity in finding and support , exponential growth , cost of resources, number of licensing models, no standard mechanism / policies in dealing with electronic aggregators archiving content , identifying , evaluating , procuring , implementing , integrating, supporting , utilization, tracking, renewing , or cancelling as well as managing increasing e-resources budget. That students are less aware of e-resources Their skills and competencies are low for them to deal with issues that surround e- resources, a great challenge to realization of an open university in Kenya. Its highly recommended that libraries to receive more funding probably 30% of gross revenues received by universities Put in place infrastructure, a course for existing librarians, employee more librarians, expand libraries and internet bandwidth to libraries to be able to support an efficient venture of open universities adequately.

Responses