Abstract:
This study was carried out in order to assess the knowledge levels among university students on the use of Online Public Access Catalogue as a tool for searching and locating materials in the library’s collection. A case study of students in the department of Library and information Science at the University of Zambia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness levels among university students on the use of OPAC as a tool for searching and retrieving materials in the library’s’ collection. The research problems investigated in this study were to assess the levels of awareness among university students on the presence of OPAC in the University of Zambia main library. Further, this study was carried out in order to determine whether students use OPAC as a finding and locating tool for library materials at the University of Zambia. Additionally, the purpose of this study was to find out the user friendliness of OPACs interface. The basic design of this study was a case study of students under the LIS department at the University of Zambia. Questionnaires were used to collect data. An over whelming majority of respondents heard about OPAC from attending library related classes (48%) while a few heard about OPAC from library orientation (33%) at the begging of their first year and also from friends (14%). Secondly, while students were aware about the presence of OPAC, an over whelming percentage of 66% of them claimed to have known the usage yet when asked to elaborate many failed to fluently and accurately explain the intended use of OPAC. Thirdly, out of 100 respondents 51 responded positively about the usage of OPAC while 49 gave a negative answer by saying they do not find OPAC interface easily navigable. Based on the research findings this research recommends that UNZA library management should conduct awareness raising campaigns aimed at sensitizing all students on the use of OPAAC to search the library’s collection. The report further identifies that yearly orientation of first year students is an avenue that can be utilized for this purpose. Additionally, social media, flyers and library open days are also opportunities that the report identifies as possible spaces for awareness raising.
