ATTITUDE OF POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN AND AL-HIKMAH UNIVERSITY TOWARD THE UTILIZATION OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

ABSTRACT This paper examined how postgraduate students of the University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University perceive the use of the electronic resources in their respective academic libraries. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed the way research is conducted in the higher learning institutions, and electronic resource like e-journals, e-books, online databases, and institutional repositories, and digital libraries have become essential instruments in academic research. Although they have their advantages, postgraduate students do not usually exploit these resources because of the lack of awareness, insufficient ICT proficiency, a lack of internet access, and the differing degree of attitude to digital resources. The research design was the descriptive survey study. The sample used in the study consisted of registered postgraduate library users in the 2024/2025 academic session that totals 754, the sample was adopted using simple random technique and, two hundred and fifty-four (254) was the sample size adopted using Krejcie and Morgan. The data were obtained with the help of the structured questionnaire and analyzed with the help of the descriptive statistics. Results indicated that the respondents knew that there was availability of electronic resources, accessibility of online journal, the role of librarians in helping students with electronic resources, e-resources like electronic journals, e-books, databases and the way they could access electronic resources on a remote basis through the university portal. The results of the research showed that the use of electronic resources among postgraduate students was moderate and high particularly the use of e-journals that are ranked highest. Availability of internet connection also promotes the use of electronic resources, level of computer literacy influences the use of electronic resources. Electronic resources are efficient in time-saving and are handy to postgraduate students. The key problems that were observed were the lack of internet connection. The research finds that enhancement of postgraduate students attitude and their use of the electronic resources needs specific user education, better ICT infrastructure, more awareness campaigns, and long-term institutional support. The paper suggests frequent training sessions, better internet connectivity, perpetual resource marketing, and the enhanced easy-to-use systems as they will foster the effective use of electronic resources.