Research literacy and use of digital reference services by law postgraduate students in federal universities in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

Digital reference services (DRS) offer postgraduate students the opportunity to get help with the use of electronic information resources on digital platforms. However, with DRS in place, it has been reported that Nigerian postgraduate students have not been maximising the use of DRS due to their research capabilities. Hence, this study investigated research literacy and the use of DRS by law postgraduate students in Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design. The population comprised 586 law postgraduate students in three federal universities in South-West, Nigeria. Total enumeration technique was employed and no sample size was taken. Data was gathered using an adapted questionnaire titled “Use of Digital Reference Services by Law Postgraduate Students in Federal Universities in South-West, Nigeria”. Indicate the title of the questionnaire and the author it was adapted from in the abstract. Are the original and adapted questionnaire having the same title? The questionnaire with three sub-sections namely demographic, DRS use (α=0.88) and research literacy scale (α=0.74) were validated using Cronbach alpha method. The data collated was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents used current awareness services (???? = 2.76) and selective dissemination of information (???? = 2.52). Also, the level of research literacy of respondents was revealed to be moderate (???? = 2.53). Furthermore, the test of hypothesis showed that research literacy (???? = 0.055; ???? > 0.05) does not significantly influence DRS use. The study concluded that research literacy is essential, though it does not necessarily influence effective use of DRS, it may contribute positively to DRS use. The study recommended among others that federal universities in South-West, Nigeria can better target orientation programmes and faculty seminars in order to sensitise and train law postgraduate students in the use of DRS as this could play a crucial role in empowering them to leverage DRS to their fullest potential, thereby enhancing their research capabilities and academic outcomes.