Influence of Access and Use of Non-English Collections on Research Activities of Postgraduate Students in Universities in South-West Nigeria
Tomi, J. B.; Gideon, A. B.; Prisca, O. C.; Halima, S. (2025).
Journal of Library and Information Management, Technology & Education , 2 (1), 112-127.
ABSTRACT

Background: Going by Nigeria’s colonial history, English language has been her lingua franca, hence the medium of communicating instructions in institutions of learning in the country. As a result of this, a great deal of library collections are written or presented in the English language despite having a significant population of users of non-English language collections. Consequently, this study intends to determine the influence of access and use of non-English collections on research activities of postgraduate students in universities in South-west, Nigeria. Three research objectives guided the study.

Method: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design with a population of 38,153 postgraduate students and a sample size of 380 respondents drawn from five selected universities offering postgraduate programmes in non-English specialties in South-West, Nigeria. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data collected.

Findings/Results: The study revealed that access to archival materials, manuscripts, historical documents, and online multi-lingual databases is low. Furthermore, the use of archival materials, manuscripts, and historical documents written in indigenous and foreign languages, rare or special indigenous collections, and online databases with multi-lingual collections to network and collaborate with scholars from different linguistic backgrounds is also low. This can be attributed to inaccessibility and unavailability.

Implications: The limited access and use of non-English collections hinder postgraduate students from fully exploring and leveraging linguistic diversity in their research. This underscores the need for infrastructural development and increased digital resources to bridge the gap in access and usage.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the need for improving access to non-English collections in university libraries to enhance research quality and foster academic collaboration among students and scholars from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Recommendations: The study recommends that the universities studied should invest in better infrastructure and digital resources to enhance access to archival materials. They should implement strategies to increase awareness of non-English collections among postgraduate students, explore collaboration opportunities with scholars from diverse linguistic backgrounds, and ensure proper subscription and accessibility of electronic resources for postgraduate students

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Tomi, J. B.; Gideon, A. B.; Prisca, O. C.; Halima, S. (2025). Influence of Access and Use of Non-English Collections on Research Activities of Postgraduate Students in Universities in South-West Nigeria. Journal of Library and Information Management, Technology & Education , 2(1), 112-127. https://www.jolimate.com/unimaidlis/published/113158067.pdf

Tomi James Babatunde; Gideon Adesina, Babalola; Prisca Oluchi Chuks-Ibe; Halima Shehu 2025. "Influence of Access and Use of Non-English Collections on Research Activities of Postgraduate Students in Universities in South-West Nigeria". Journal of Library and Information Management, Technology & Education , Accessed April 4, 2025. 2(1),112-127. https://www.jolimate.com/unimaidlis/published/113158067.pdf

Tomi, J. B.; Gideon, A. B.; Prisca, O. C.; Halima, S. (2025). Influence of Access and Use of Non-English Collections on Research Activities of Postgraduate Students in Universities in South-West Nigeria. Journal of Library and Information Management, Technology & Education , 2(1),112-127. https://www.jolimate.com/unimaidlis/published/113158067.pdf

Tomi James Babatunde; Gideon Adesina, Babalola; Prisca Oluchi Chuks-Ibe; Halima Shehu. "Influence of Access and Use of Non-English Collections on Research Activities of Postgraduate Students in Universities in South-West Nigeria". Journal of Library and Information Management, Technology & Education , Vol. 2 No. 1,2025. pp. 112-127. https://www.jolimate.com/unimaidlis/published/113158067.pdf


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