UTILIZATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARY RESOURCES BY SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OWERRI URBAN

1.1 Introduction

A school library is an indispensable unit in any school regardless of its educational philosophy, thus an organized collection of books (reference books and for home reading) placed in a school under the care of a teacher librarian for teachers and students. School libraries are very essential in primary and secondary education. They are established and maintained to serve and support the educational activities of the school. As an educational support service, school library adds value to classroom instruction, upgrades the intellectual scope and depth of teachers, and provides enabling environment for students to further their search for knowledge.

The International School Library Association (ISLA, 2012), maintains that school libraries are libraries found in pre-primary, primary, secondary schools and colleges geared towards ensuring the academic growth of these schools. School libraries are collection of books and related materials which are organized, managed, and maintained by qualified staff (National Policy on Education, NPE, 2014).

The proper utilization has enabled students to seek knowledge in books in order that in the process, they may become efficient and enthusiastic readers and also the integration on the use of the use of audio encourage them to become adapted to the use of audio visual. It also creates room for relaxation and enjoyment. As the school has a need for students, so far as their minds are concerned to develop the abilities to think, contemporary library media programmes have approached this task through concerted and articulated efforts design not only to provide students with an appreciation of literature, but also to teach and how to locate, retrieve and evaluate the work of information contained in the graphic, recorded and printed records in the belief that such skills are essential for survival in a rapidly changing world.

One cannot talk of the effective utilization of library resources without considering the role of the teacher libraries. The teacher-librarian in other words known as the library media specialist promotes access to a broad range of information and ideas, in order to assist students in acquiring the knowledge and skills that will help equip them not only to locate but also evaluate and use information effectively and thereby, becoming information literature. Their services and tasks contribute directly to the development of these skills. These include collection development, organizations for retrieval of materials and information, information guidance services, materials production, student instruction and instructional development services.

School libraries are more concentrated on the physical object collected rather than their intellectual contents i.e. (stressing, cover over content). All too often they regrettably also provide instruction in every conceivable skill and in every form of information sources available. In individual students fundamental mental processes, including their developmental aspects are often neglected and the implication for both teachers and students helping the young develop the ability to think about how they are using information to solve problems are frequently ignored. These and others are among the militators to effective utilization of library resources by secondary school students.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Brief Historical Background Of Federal Government Girls College, Owerri And Its Library

Federal Government Girls College Owerri was founded on the 11th of November 1973 by the federal Government of Nigeria. It is situated along Owerri/Okigwe road. The school enjoys a staff disposition of 166- which is made up of 47 males and 119 female staff both academic and non academic.

The school library started off immediately with the school. It is situated north west of the school compound. The library has just one librarian, one library officer and four library assistants. They organize library orientation to new students once every year. This is done to show the students the types of materials in the library and how to effectively use them. The books are arranged according to subjects in the shelves. there is also a reference section where reference materials like encyclopedia are kept.

There is no audio-visual studio set apart for keeping audio-visual resources, rather they are scattered in different rooms and laboratories. The schools audio resources include audio tape recorder, piano, flute and other sound producing instruments. Their visual aids are charts, maps, specimens and models which are centered mainly on Biology and Chemistry, Computer and some other equipment used in carrying out experiments in the physics and chemistry laboratories. The school librarian is Mrs. Rose Mary Enwerem. The source of information was through personal interview of the librarian and school documentation.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed the nature of the existence of our school libraries sows that there is non-utilization of the library resources. This is to say that storing of information materials in libraries, no matter how relevant without utilizing the materials by users amounts to library defeat.

This is attributed to some factors such as time usage of the library, reasons for going to the library, resources used by students, resources that are of high demand by students. The study will therefore, identify and ascertain the effect of all these variables and proffer solutions to them based on what the findings would be.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the utilization of school library resources by secondary school students of federal government’s college, Owerri. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To determine the extent to which the students use of library resources satisfy their information need;
2. To determine the purpose for students’ utilization of school library;
3. To identify the resources available for students use and know the satisfaction they derived;
4. To determine the particular period students visit the library; and
5. To investigate the problem that hinders effective utilization of information resources in the library by students.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• At what period do students visit the library?
• What are the reasons for students’ use of the library?
• What are the resources available in the school library for use by students and what satisfaction do they derive?
• To what extent are students of the library satisfying their information needs?
• What are the impediments to the utilization of library resources by the secondary school students?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant factor inhibiting the utilization of library resources by the secondary school students
• H1: There is a significant factor inhibiting the utilization of library resources by the secondary school students

1.7 Significance of Study

The study will go a long way in providing basic information to school principles and education board on the need for the development of school library resources that will appeal to both the educational and recreational needs of students. The result of the study will reveal the general state of school libraries and their resources and the students’ views and attitude towards the use of the library.

One of the significance of this study is that the teacher librarian would be able to put forward proposals to their principals for the betterment of library and information services to the students of their schools. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations of the study will contribute immensely to the improvement of the management and utilization of school libraries resources in Imo State.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the problems of the utilization of school libraries resources by the students of secondary school in Imo State specifically by students of Federal Government Girls’ College Owerri. This research focuses on student's attitude and view concerning visiting the library the resources. The target of the study is to identify basic problems and proffer solutions to them.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
3. Lack of Initial Cooperation from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.

1.10 Definition of Operational Basic Concepts

Audio-Visual:

It is an information material that is not dependent on reaching tools rather that through the sense of sights as visual resources. (Jonathan Crowder 2000).

Library Resources:

Books and printed materials meant to convey information to the clientele (Madu 2003).

Resource Center:

Room that houses the information material be it printed or non-printed materials for clientele use (Edward; 1993).

Collection Development:

It is the provision of well equipped information laboratory that can serve as a basic resource for students who require ongoing exposure to a wide range of different ideas (Mancall, Aaron and Walker 1999).

Library Policy:

Guide line and standard on how the operations and services of the library should be carried out (Onwubiko and Uzoigwe 2004).

Teacher-Librarian:

It is a professional who is shouldered with the responsibility of supervising the services and operations in the library. he may be a teacher who acquired the training of a librarian (Onwubiko and Uzoigwe 2004).