Current awareness services for Kampala Library and Information Centre
Abstract
The study aimed at designing a Current Awareness Service System for Kampala Library and Information Centre. The objectives of the study were to; establish the different types of current awareness services offered, find out how current awareness services are offered, identify the challenges in accessing the current awareness services and design a system for accessing current awareness services at Kampala Library and Information Centre.
The study employed a case study research design while adopting both qualitative and quantitative research approaches in collecting data. Questionnaire, interview, and documentary analysis methods of data collection were used because of the nature of study. Simple random sampling method was used to select the 152 library users and purposive sampling to select the 4 library staff.
The research findings showed that library users visit the library on a daily basis, to get more information in their fields of study so there is a need for the current awareness services. The library users visit the library to consult about information the new information materials, and to use computers for research. The study findings showed that majority of the respondents agreed that the library rarely displays the new arrivals, a good number of respondents disagreed that there are emails sent to them notifying about the new updates in the library. Majority of library users access citation alert services.
The study findings revealed that Kampala Library and Information Centre use a variety of methods in offering current awareness services to users which include personal visit to the library, communication through word of mouth, library displays and library newsletters. Findings from the study revealed that most of the challenges the respondents faced in current awareness services were; delayed display of the new arrivals, irregular CAS delivery by email, absence of internet access to some users, increased costs to the library in providing CAS to users.
The study concluded that there was need to design a system that can support the current awareness services at KLIC. The recommendations for the study were; use of social media networks, use of notice boards, visiting the classes and inform them on the new updates, library visit hours, training of the library staff, and orientation of library users.