Assessing Students` Comfort with Using Smartphones to Locate or Access Information Resources

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to explore the comfort of using smartphones to access information resources at academic libraries. The study looked at whether there is an availability of e-resources that undergraduate students can access using their smartphones. The design of this study was a case study method with quantitative methodology to guide the researcher to thoroughly arrive at conclusions. The population used comprised 947 undergraduate students from the department of library and information science around October 2022, and systematic sampling was used to find the sampling students, which consisted of 383 using Adam's (2020) sample size determination in a quantitative approach and based on a 99% confidence level. The data collected using questionnaires was coded and entered into the SPSS package for analysis. The study has shown that the majority (274, or 73%), of the respondents had smartphones, which they are surely using to access e-resources. The study revealed that most respondents were very excited about the access to library electronic resources via smartphone at Bauchi State University Library, and this accounted for the following responses, i.e., agreed 240 (64.3%) and strongly agreed 85 (22.8%) that they feel at ease utilizing their smartphones to access library electronic resources while they are in the library. This study discovered that the university library has accessible electronic resources available which can be access through smartphones by the users. It is interesting to know that in this study, the majority of the undergraduate students have their own smartphones, and they are comfortably used to accessing resources.