Challenges of Students in Accessing Information in the Library: A Brief Review

The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges that students are facing in using the library. Information retrieval skills are of paramount importance for one to be able to access information resources in different formats in the library. This paper focuses on the different challenges that the students face in accessing information in the library. The findings of the study reveal that there are challenges such as for example, lack of proper knowledge on how to use information retrieval skills, insufficient user education, lack of computer knowledge, Information Communication Technology (ICT) in accessing information in the library. The study recommended that information literacy skills training be compulsory for first year students so that they will be able to advance to higher level and become information literate. Library Education should also form part of the university curriculum. ICT specialists who are focused on library issues are of paramount importance. *Address for correspondence: N.P. Mahwasane Library Department, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, 0950, South Africa E-mail: khangweni.mahwasane@univen.ac. za INTRODUCTION According to Hawkins (2001: 54) and Ranganathan (2015), “the rise in electronic information resources freely accessible through the internet has disrupted this relatively efficient system in a number of ways. There is no clear and defined role for libraries with regards to the selection, preservation, and provision of the digital resources accessible through the net. ” Additionally, students and faculties need to learn how to evaluate these information resources, and this is far more difficult to do with resources on the Web than with those in a traditional library. Hawkins (2001: 54) and Maben (2015) further asserted that “in the past, the very fact that a book or a journal was held by a library represented a conscious set of decisions about the validity of the information. Moreover, with information on the internet the features that render the library worthwhile are not completely there. There is no arranged cataloguing, there is no dedication to preservation, and there is no backing technique to assist you to attain the complicated or misplaced resources. ” Emmanuel and Sife (2008: 140) indicated that “Recently the library has proposed a universitywide formal and systematic IL programme. The programme aims at creating awareness on a wide range of information resources; equipping users with skills for determining their information needs; providing users with the ability to locate and retrieve relevant information; enabling users to evaluate information and its sources; and facilitating users’ understanding of ethical and legal issues surrounding information use. ” According to Emmanuel and Sife (2008: 137) and Telwell (2015) “ICTs in libraries have greatly simplified acquisition, organization, storage, retrieval, provision and usage of information. In some, ICTs have improved provision of library and information services by overcoming time, distance and other barrier. Despite their tremendous potential, ICTs have also brought new challenges that must be overcome in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency of libraries in developing countries. ” The introduction of new technologies has attached importance to library services by offering recent methods of gathering, storing, retrieving and providing information adding to the problems that the library already has. Lack of awareness of the library services is also identified as a challenge to the students because they need to be aware of the services so that they will be able to know and use it to their advantage (Emmanuel and Sife 2008; Anyaoku et al. 2015). ACCESSING INFORMATION IN THE LIBRARY 217