Influence of Students' Characteristics in the Use of Library Resources in Colleges of Education in Edo State, Nigeria

The effectiveness or success of any library in achieving its stated goals is measured by the users’ ability to effectively make use of its resources. Thus, assessing the use of library resources by students has become a major focus for most library scholars. In this light, several scholars have noted the low utilization of library resources by colleges of education students. This survey examines the influence of student’s characteristics on the use of library resources. The population of the study consists of students of Colleges of Education, Ekiadolor and Igueben in Edo State. The School of Vocational and Technical Education, School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Languages and School of Sciences were selected for the study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample size from each of the four schools in proportion to the actual size of the group in the total population. A sample size of 372 students was used for the study. Questionnaire on Assessment of Use of College Library Resources (QAUCLR) is used for data collection. The data analysis techniques used are Analysis of Variance, t-test, and Chi square. The analysis of the data collected indicates among other things that the academic level of students does not affect their use of library resources. The study recommends that male students should be targeted in an effort to improve the use of library resources and teachers should engage the students with serious assignments that could encourage them to use the library regularly.