This study examined “impact of library information resources on student performance in SSCE public secondary schools Zaria.” Nigeria. It identifies the Concepts of Public School Libraries, extent of Availability of Public Senior Secondary School Libraries, type of Resources available in Public Senior Secondary School Libraries, extent of Utilization of Public Senior Secondary School Libraries and their resources, influence of Library Resources on Student Performance, performance Differences between Schools with and those lacking Libraries in SSCE. The research method used in this project study is survey research method. In a survey method, questionnaires are the main instrument for data collection. Frequency tables and percentages are the main tools used for data analysis. Results of the analysis showed that 40% and above is the rate in percentage of availability of school libraries in public schools in Zaria Kaduna state, this means that almost all public senior secondary schools in Zaria Kaduna state do have libraries. According to the study text books, Machine-readable materials¸ Newspapers and Journal materials, Relevant books, graph, chart and slide, films, filmstrips and transparencies¸ motion picture and related projection equipments, pamphlets, Computer assisted instructural materials¸ Dictionaries and encyclopedia are available in public secondary schools in Zaria, Kaduna state. The extent of utilization of public secondary school libraries by both teachers and students is just sometimes. Causes of performance differences between schools with and those lacking libraries includes; Absence of libraries in government/public secondary schools, Non availability of library resources in government schools, Availability of libraries in government schools, when they read library information resources for the exams, Students perform poorly in SSCE when they don’t read library information resources for the exams, Availability of a good library and library resources is a bridge to student high performance for the SSCE, Absence of library use and library resources in a school can lead to poor performance for the SSCE, Enough library resources, help students to score high in their SSCE, Schools without libraries perform poorly than a school with a library. Recommendations were proffered and some of the recommendations are: That more public senior secondary school library should be established to complement teaching and learning thereby increasing students’ performance. available libraries should be well stocked with current and relevant resources in addition to what is attainable in the libraries to enhance teaching, learning experience. The students, even the teachers should be encouraged to make good use of the libraries always by the incorporation of library periods on the time table. The study also recommends that more school libraries should be established especially for senior students, the use of school libraries and their well stocked information resources should be encouraged.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION1.0 Background of the StudyEducation is the key factor in the development and advancement of a society. Eachindividual in a country should be considered as an asset because it is due to the overallcontribution of human resources that a nation can progress and advance. To integrate eachindividual in the process of development and advancement of the nation, suitable education andtraining is very important. Since education and training of an individual is a lifelong processevery nation must be aware of this fact, if proper directions are to be given to its people. As Toensure that people get a lifelong education, libraries should be made accessible and libraryresources and services should be made available at all places, to all sections of the society(Adefarati, 2002).According to Adefarati (2002) a school library is a library within a school wherestudents, staff, and often, parents of a public or private school have access to a variety ofresources. The goal of the school library is to ensure that all members of the school communityhave access to books and reading, to information, and to information technology. The schoollibrary is also a unit in the school which complements teaching activities. It provides an enablingenvironment for study and teaching. This proper usage will as well reflect in the students’performance which is the goal for establishing the school system. As important as the schoollibrary is, it only remains a monument if its resources are not being put to proper usage. Themain role of school libraries is to provide information resources to support academic exercise.Huge resources are spent on the acquisition of resources, but not been utilized. Therefore thisstudy intends to assess the impact of library information resources on students’ performance.
Appleton (2006) posits that the usefulness of any school library depends on the maximumutilization of its information resources by students; otherwise it is as good as wasted. Similarly,Campbell (2006) found out that users use the library for many and varied reasons namely; toprepare for examination; for leisure; recreation for serious academic work, to see friend andpeople and so on. He concluded that school libraries are as good as wasted if their informationresources are not properly used by students. The setting of public examination is highly skilled and professional which involves notonly the setting of questions and devising activities of testing the achievement of acomprehensive range of curriculum objectives, but also of ensuring that many differentexaminers and script markers work to the same standard. The standard of achievement has to beestablished not only for each subject of paper, but care has to be taken to ensure that the levelsexpected in one curriculum subject are comparable with those of all other subjects (Appleton,2006). The Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) is the final examinationwritten by students in Nigerian secondary schools at the end of their six years education insecondary school. The SSCE is important for two major reasons. First, the SSCE is a requiredexamination before the award of the senior secondary school certificate. Also, the SSCE ismandatory for admission into any Nigerian University, Polytechnic, Mono-technic and Collegeof education. The SSCE is conducted by two different examination boards: the West AfricanExamination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO). Students havethe choice of either writing the two exams WAEC and NECO or just one of them, all these is toweigh student performance or learning outcome (Jantti, 2011). Jantti (2011) noted that, in a
period of economic turmoil, resource scarcity, and the ability to demonstrate the value gainedby utilizing library information resources is becoming increasingly important. Students have unprecedented choice over where and what they may study andimportantly the source, content and format of learning materials and their use and caneffectively bypass the Library. Jantti elaborated further by saying, these wide ranging choiceshave in effect repositioned the student from being an active though still highly dependentlearner, into a consumer of information. For these reasons, it is more important than ever forlibraries to demonstrate to students and stakeholders the value of using the library’s informationresources.
