The use of electronic journals for the dissemination of scholary information by the University of Natal and University of Zululand: a comparative study

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorOcholla, D.N.
dc.contributor.authorMgobozi, Margaret Nonhlanhla
dc.date.accessioned2009-07-27T13:20:16Z
dc.date.available2009-07-27T13:20:16Z
dc.date.issued2002
dc.descriptionSubmitted to the Department of Library and Information Science for the degree of Master of Library and Information Science, in the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2002.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe study investigates the use of electronic journals for the dissemination of scholarly information at the Universities of Natal and Zululand and attempts at determining the level of electronic journal use by the scholarly communities, and the perceived impact that these journals have on the community. Similarly, the role-played by the academic libraries in the provision of the journals has been explored. The scholarly community included the academic staff, the library staff and postgraduate students at the two universities. A survey research method was used to elicit information from the subjects. The population was sampled by use of stratified random sampling technique. Firstly, five academic faculties were selected, four from the University of Zululand, and three from the University of Natal. This was done by first drawing an alphabetical list of the academic staff in faculties by academic status. Secondly, The Deans were approached for permission to seek assistance of various heads of departments and heads of schools in distributing the questionnaires to postgraduate students. However, with postgraduate students it was not possible to secure a usable list as most of them are part timers and far away from campus. As a result as many questionnaires were distributed to postgraduate students before they were randomly selected for the sample. Ultimately, a sample of 10% was drawn from the population of 1969 postgraduate students. Regarding the academic staff a sample of 20% was drawn from each strata. The total population for the academic staff was 557. All professional librarians in the two university libraries were identified and included in the study. Data available in the university calendars and the figures obtained from the Division of Information Technology and Faculty Administration Offices was invaluable. Two sets of questionnaires were administered to the two groups, one to the academic staff and postgraduate students and the other one to the library staff. The sample frame was distributed as follows: 197 postgraduate students, 111 academic staff and 34 library staff. Data was analyzed by means of the SYSTAT Version 7.0 and Microsoft Exel for coding data. The results show that the level of electronic journal use by the two universities is still low, because, as a matter of verification. respondents found it difficult to select the type of journals they use most between electronic journals and printed journals. A large number (61 %) identified printed vi joumals. There is a slight difference between the various disciplines in the use and understanding of electronic joumals. It is reccmmended that the academic library should provide the facilities where users could access electronic joumals on their own as well as the marketing of the available services to the library clientele. There is a strong need of user education, more especially in the use of electronic joumals.en_US
dc.identifier.other265941
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10530/41
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Zululand
dc.subjectElectronic journalsen_US
dc.subjectScholarly periodicalsen_US
dc.titleThe use of electronic journals for the dissemination of scholary information by the University of Natal and University of Zululand: a comparative studyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
The Use of Electronic Journal for the Dissemination of Scholary Information - Margaret Nonhlanhla.pdf
Size:
4.01 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.8 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Information Studies