Electronic resources utilisation guide during the COVID 19 pandemic era at Hamu Mukasa Library

Abstract

The study aimed at developing an electronic resources utilization guide during the Covid-19 Pandemic era at Hamu Mukasa Library, Uganda Christian University. The study objectives were to identify electronic resources databases in Hamu Mukasa Library, establish the relevance of the electronic resources databases used during the Covid-19 Pandemic era at Hamu Mukasa Library, examine the factors influencing the utilization of electronic resources databases during the Covid-19 Pandemic era; identify challenges experienced during the utilization of electronic resources databases ; and to propose an electronic resource utilization guide at Hamu Mukasa Library. It was a mixed method that employed a case study research design. The target population comprised of students, librarians, and teaching staff, totaling to 125 respondents. These respondents were purposively and simple randomly selected. Data was collected by use of questionnaire, focus group discussion .Findings of the research revealed that Google scholar, RESEARCH 4 LIFE, and AGORA are the major electronic resources databases used in Hamu Mukasa Library. The study also revealed that allowing access and retrieval of relevant articles, facilitating access to physically challenged persons, allowing remote access from anywhere at any time; providing hyperlinks to related additional resources; and enabling stimulus access to a large number of users are the major relevance of the electronic resources databases used during the Covid-19 Pandemic era at Hamu Mukasa Library. The study further revealed that readiness to adapt to change, availability of computers and ICT, availability of internet access, management support and awareness of the electronic databases available in the library were the major factors influencing the utilization of electronic resources databases at Hamu Mukasa Library. The study also revealed that network break-ups, poor IT infrastructure, password recovery error, the challenges related to internet connectivity, and less knowledge on the ICT skills limits the utilization of electronic resources databases at Hamu Mukasa Library. Basing on the above, it is concluded that there was increasing electronic resources utilization during the Covid-19 Pandemic era at Hamu Mukasa Library. The study recommended improving IT infrastructure; equipping skills and knowledge to library staff; and users have improved internet connectivity improvement and extensive training and publicity to improve the electronic resources utilization at Hamu Mukasa Library, and areas of further research were suggested.