Assessment of the Management of Public Access Computers in Academic Libraries

(A CASE STUDY OF Kaduna State, Nigeria)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Education

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the management of Public Access Computers (PACs) in academic libraries in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The Objectives of this study include among others identifying strategies deployed in managing Public Access Computers (PACs). Five research questions were formulated to find out the purposes of providing PACs, strategies deployed in managing PACs and the level of skills and competencies of staff managing PACs in Academic Libraries in Kaduna State. Qualitative research approach was adopted, semi-constructed interview and Observation constituted the instruments for data collection, while descriptive method was used to analyze the collected data. Fifty two (52) staff consisting of System librarians, System analysts and e-library Assistance from seven (7) academic libraries in Kaduna State were selected as sample of the study. The findings of the study showed that access to the internet, electronic resources, library catalogue and training were the major purpose of providing PACs in the academic libraries studied. It was also revealed that there are inadequate public computers and majority of the staff managing PACs are librarians with high level qualifications in library science but of low level qualification in IT and computer management. The study recommended among others that the academic libraries in Kaduna State should acquire more public computers to be able to cater for the need of their users and give them equal opportunity to have access to the available computers, the academic libraries in Kaduna State should always apply some relevant PACs maintenance strategies and computers should be provided for access to all services of PACs to ensure standard, adequate and quality service which satisfy the need of users.