School of Postgraduate Studies Collections

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Browsing School of Postgraduate Studies Collections by Author "SAIDU, Ibrahim"

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    UTILIZATION OF SEARCH SKILLS FOR RETRIEVAL OF ONLINE INFORMATION RESOURCES AMONG ARABIC ACADEMICS OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ZARIA
    (2023-11) SAIDU, Ibrahim
    This study investigates "Utilization of Search Skills for Retrieval of online information Resources among Arabic Academics of the Federal College of Education, Zaria." In order to achieve this objective, five (5) research questions were formulated, among which are: What types of search skills are possessed by Arabic academics for retrieval of online information resources in FCE Zaria? What types of information search strategies are used for retrieval of online information resources among Arabic academics in FCE Zaria? A quantitative research method was adopted, and a case study research design was employed in the conduct of this study. The population of this study consists of twenty-nine (29) academics in the Department of Arabic at the Federal College of Education, Zaria. 2019/2020 academic session. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire. A total of twenty-nine (29) copies of the questionnaire were administered to Arabic academics at the Federal College of Education, Zaria, with a total return rate of 28 (96.6%). The data collected for the study were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency count, simple percentage, and mean. The findings arising from the studies indicated that the types of information search skills possessed by Arabic academics in Federal College of Education Zaria were the ability to think before searching, the ability to search a specific site, the ability to search by author, the ability to search by keyword, and the ability to keep it simple. The types of information search strategies used for retrieval of online information resources by Arabic academics in Federal College of Education Zaria were the use of search engine, the use of file search, and the use of phrase searching. Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that the majority of Arabic academics in FCE Zaria were not accessing and utilizing available information resources due to lack of information search skills and search strategies. This could be necessitated due to the lack of information literacy skills and problems associated with the current trend in ICT. Therefore, the study recommended that there is a need for training on how to access and make use of the available resources with different search skills and search strategies. In order to compete in the 21st century library market, the college should adopt global best practices and immediately create the college library website. This will enhance the college's teaching and research operations. The Federal College of Education Zaria College library should take a leading role in creating more training programs among Arabic academics on information search skills such as ability to narrow search, ability to use punctuation, ability to apply filters, ability to search by subject, ability to search by standard number, and ability to search by title. And the college library should organize workshops for Arabic academics on how to effectively search information resources with different types of information search strategies such as the use of Boolean operators, truncation, proximity search, parenthesis, and wildcard.