Abstract

Author(s): Tofi Simon Ternenge

The study investigated availability, accessibility and use of internet services in medical library for research by medical science undergraduate students in College of Health Sciences, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Five (5) objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study. The study adopted survey research design, the population of the study was 490 medical science undergraduate students registered with the College of Health Science medical library. The sample for the study was 220 medical students who were sampled using simple random sampling techniques. Two (2) instruments were used for data collection titled “Checklist on Availability of Internet Services in Medical Library for Research (CAISMLR)” and “Availability, Accessibility and Use of Internet Services in Medical Library for Research Questionnaire (AAUISMLRQ)” which was validated by three experts who are professionals in their respective fields. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using Cronbach Alpha method and a reliability coefficient of 0.729 was obtained. Data was collected and analyzed using frequency counts, simple percentages and mean scores to answer the research questions.Findings of the study revealed that, there are several types of internet services available in medical library for research by medical science undergraduate students such as World Wide Web, Email, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), newsgroups, internet chatting, search engines, among others. Findings also revealed that, except for Bulletin Board Services and Gopher, all internet services presented by the medical science undergraduate students are available in medical library for research to a great extent. Also, it is revealed from the findings that, the medical students to a great extent access and utilized the available internet services for research in medical library. Findings further revealed that, lack of computers in the library, poor internet connectivity, lack of computer skills, low internet bandwidth, irregular power supply, among others were the problems militating against effective use of internet services in medical library for research by medical science undergraduate students in college of health sciences, Makurdi. It was recommended that, internet services such as Bulletin Board Services (BBS) and Gopher should be made available in medical library for research by medical science undergraduate students; medical library should give more education to users on the available internet services for better use of the services by the medical students among others.