CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The use of academic as a means of promoting learning in Nigeria has increased overtime. In this phase of globalization, so much emphasis has been given on equipping students with the right skills and competencies in order for them to gain competitive edge (Pascarella 2001).

For students to be active global players in the knowledge-based economy, where information is a commodity and where information is power, higher learning institutions are entrusted in producing a new breed of graduates. Students have to be actively engaged in the process of information seeking for research, assignments, and decision-makings.

Effective decision making, however, can only be achieved by having the right information, in the right place, in the right format, at the right time.

According to Breivik (1998: 2), stated that in this century, an ‘educated’ graduate will no longer be defined as one who has absorbed a certain body of factual information, but as one, who knows how to find, evaluate and apply needed information.” Emerging new sets of competencies are expected of students in higher learning institutions. Among them are information technology (IT) skill, critical thinking skill, communication skill, interpersonal skill and also information literacy skill.

The academic setting must be designed in response to the objective of producing students who are active information seekers. So much has been said on the need to have a paradigm shift in the academic setting from one that is teaching-based to that of learning-based.

According to Huba and Freed (2000), in the teaching paradigm, the individuals who learned most are the instructors as they are actively engaged in seeking new information, integrating it with what is already known and explain it to students. The learning paradigm, on the other hand, sees the role of instructors as facilitators and students are engaged in active information seeking activities rather than just passive receivers.

This phenomenon has prompted the introduction of new concepts such as problem-based learning, resource-based learning and evidence-based learning. Above all, the learning paradigm acknowledges the pivotal role of students as active information seekers, hence, propagating the concept of information literacy. The study in this regard wishes to examine the role of the academic library in promoting students engagement in learning using college of education as the case study.

1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Over the years the use of academic library in the Nigeria education sectors has been under continuous increase with the advancement in the growth of information communication technology (ICT) but there are some limitation to the ability of students to gain full access to information in most of the libraries; reason being that most of the library are not equipment with books with current literature, secondly the books in most of the libraries are very few; this made it difficult for most students to find exactly what they are looking for in most of the academic library in Nigeria. Finally there have been series of study on the role of academic library in promoting student engagement in learning but even a single study has use the college of education as the case study; this therefore form the gap in the literature for the above topic.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to examine the role of academic library in promoting students engagement in learning other specific objectives of the study include:

1.  To determine the effect of academic library on student academic performance
2. To determine the relationship between the use of academic library and the availability of information among students in college of education
3. To investigate on the factors affecting the use of academic library in college of education
4. To proffer solution to challenges faced by students in the use of the academic library in college of education

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives of study. The research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

1. What is the effect of academic library on student academic performance?
2. What is the relationship between the use of academic library and the availability of information among students in college of education?
3. What are the factors affecting the use of academic library in college of education?
4. What is the way forward to the challenges faced by students in the use of the academic library in college of education

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: the use of academic library does not influence learning processes

H1: the use of academic library influences learning processes

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study on the role of academic library in promoting student engagement in learning will be of immense benefit to the entire academic libraries in Nigeria, the federal government, the state government and other research students that wishes to carry out similar research on the above topic as the study will discuss the use of the academic library as means of embracing the Learning Paradigm, the factors affecting the use of the academic library. Finally the study will contribute to the body of the existing literature.

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

The study on the role of academic library in promoting student engagement in learning is limited to college of education in Nigeria. The study will cover the use of the academic library as means of embracing the Learning Paradigm, the factors affecting the use of the academic library

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

ACADEMIC LIBRARY: is a library that is attached to a higher education institution which serves two complementary purposes to support the school's curriculum, and to support the research of the university faculty and students

LEARNING:  is the act of acquiring new or modifying and reinforcing existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in synthesizing information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of experience