CHAPTER SIX – RESEARCH FINDINGS
6.7 Library usage
This section presents findings of the study on the levels, adequacy and change of usage of research libraries in Kenya. It also summarizes the factors that influence the usage of research libraries in Kenya.
6.7.1 Levels of library usage
Findings from interviews with the librarians indicate that, on average, about 200-400 users visit the case libraries each month. The librarians pointed out that this number varies greatly depending, for instance, on the calendars of the academic programmes some of the institutions are offering. The levels of use, they said, are also influenced by events being held in the institution; more people use the library when the parent institution is hosting a conference or seminar. Further, the librarians generally agreed that the levels of usage have changed. However, there was no consensus regarding the nature of that change. While some said that the change was positive because the levels of usage had increased, others said that the usage had actually reduced implying that the change was negative.
Some respondents pointed out that the levels of use had increased in their libraries after they introduced computers with utilities for data analysis and free access to the Internet in the libraries.
Some of the librarians said that the usage had decreased since the Internet connection at the institutions stopped working (in one case library, the Internet had not been working for almost three months at the time the interview was conducted). The usage of another library had also been affected by an improvement in a university library which had now taken up students who hitherto used to visit the research institution.
On the other hand, sixty (37%), of the researchers said they visit the library once a week while forty two (26%) said they use the libraries daily. Fig 6.13 represents the library usage. Further, sixty three (39%) of the researchers use the libraries for less than one hour on each visit while fifty seven (35%) use the libraries for two to four hours on each visit. Thus 120 (74%) of the researchers use the libraries for four hours or less on each visit. Only six (4%) of the researchers use the libraries for more than eight hours but not more than ten hours on each visit. Fig 6.14 represents the time spent by the researchers on each visit to the libraries.
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Fig 6.13 – Library usage by researchers Source: Researcher
Fig 6.14 – Library usage in hours Source: Researcher 6.7.2 Adequacy of usage
Fifty (31%) of the researchers said that their usage of the libraries was adequate; forty two (26%) said it was satisfactory. Strangely, another forty two researchers (26%) said it was inadequate.
Twenty one (13%) said this usage was very inadequate. Only seven (4%) said it was very adequate.
Fig 6.15 represents the rating of library usage.
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Fig 6.15 – Adequacy of library usage Source: Researcher
6.7.3 Change in usage
Ninety nine (61%) of the researchers said that they have increased their library usage, thirty six (22%) decreased while twenty seven (17%) maintained constant levels of usage of the libraries in the past three or so years. Fig 6.16 represents this change in library usage.
Fig 6.16 – Changes in the level of library usage Source: Researcher
The findings also reveal that most of the researchers only use the library when they are undertaking programmes of study. Consequently, the level of usage varied depending on whether one was
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studying for a qualification or not. This fact was also corroborated by the librarians who said that most of the researchers used the library more when they are undertaking some studies or when they are writing research reports or proposals. While 107 (66%) of the researchers said that they see their level of use changing, fifty five (34%) said they would maintain the same levels. Fifty six (52%) of those who said that they would change their usage said that they increase it while fifty one (48%) said they would decrease it.
Researchers who are currently undertaking studies said they would reduce their levels of use upon graduation. Similarly, those who hoped to begin studies indicated that they would increase their library usage. Again, some of the researchers who are currently studying said that they would be going back to their countries or institutions and so would not be able to use the library. Some of the verbatim responses are hereunder:
Those who will increase usage:
1. “I will need to use it more when I start my Master‟s”;
2. “I will go back to college and will require more reference thus use the library more”;
3. “I will be doing more research and publishing hence use it more”;
4. “I have just learned how to use electronic resources and will increase usage to learn more”;
5. “I now have a lot of class work; I'll use it more when I have more time”;
6. “I will be writing my dissertation so I will use the library more”;
7. “Next year, I'll be back in school so I'll use the library more”;
8. “More project funding hence more need for information updates”;
9. “Likely to spend more time in the library as I build my research career”; and 10. “New research project, need for new information”.
Those who will reduce usage:
1. “I am leaving the country soon so won‟t use it at all”;
2. “I will leave Nairobi after my course so I will no longer use the library”;
3. “I am completing my studies so I will not come to the library more often”;
4. “I will have more responsibility at work leaving me with little time to use the library”; and 5. “I am on transfer so will not use the library well”.
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Critically, some researchers said that they would reduce physical library usage and instead use the Internet and other related ICTs more. Hereunder are some of their verbatim responses:
1. “Internet in the office will provide me with the necessary information”;
2. “I will be able to get more information digitally and will not need a library”;
3. “With technological advancements, physical library use will reduce”;
4. “With technology I will not need to come to the library more often - fibre optics”; and 5. “I am likely to increase usage of Internet-based resources”.
6.7.4 Factors that affect library usage
The librarians agreed unanimously that research libraries in Kenya are generally underutilized. As indicated earlier, they said that users basically come to the library when they are writing a proposal or report or when they have an assignment which requires heavy reference. The libraries supporting training programmes are normally filled by students especially during examinations. Some of the factors that the users identified as affecting usage include an inadequate collection, intermittent Internet connections, inadequate ICT tools and infrastructure (limited number of power sockets, limited Internet points for libraries that do not have WiFi, few public workstations for those who do not have their own equipment), short opening hours, crowded reading spaces during the peak seasons (examinations), poor customer care, lack of awareness of what the library offers, inaccessibility of the physical library for those who work or live off-campus, and poor image of the library as being a mere depository of obsolete unusable materials managed by disinterested and unmotivated individuals. On the other hand, the librarians said that understaffing and obsolete collections are the two most serious factors affecting library usage negatively. Other factors include competition from the Internet and a poor reading culture. Fig 6.17 shows these factors as well as how serious a problem the librarians deem them to be.
It is noteworthy that the other factors identified as very serious or serious revolved around ICT tools in the library. These included low Internet bandwidth, few computers, lack of ICT skills and software issues (lack of or problems with data analysis software).
The users suggested that the libraries should expand the reading areas, as suggested earlier; establish branches in research centres to ease pressure on main libraries; and embrace ICTs to provide library services to the researchers wherever they are at anytime. A researcher who has not been coming to a
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case library recently had this suggestion: “I have stopped going to the library but I have not stopped reading; I read on my mobile phone and computer. If the [library] is to get back users like me, they have to bring the services online”. But he admitted that not all users are like him. For instance, many users may not have access to similar ICT tools or the skills to use them effectively. Nonetheless, he emphasized that users like him, regardless of how many they are, should not be ignored. The researchers also suggested that the librarians should market the library services and products more aggressively and utilize public relations best practices to make the libraries more hospitable.
Generally, users would like to go to a library which meets their information needs in a comfortable setting which facilitates some level of privacy during study. One user put it this way: “I‟d like a little bit of a radius around me”.
Fig 6.17 – Factors affecting library usage as identified by librarians Source: Researcher
It was also suggested that new employees should be inducted in the library more effectively than the common familiarization tour. It was proposed that new research officers should spend at least one full day in the library during orientation. Some users also suggested that a national campaign should be conducted to nurture a reading culture in Kenya. They suggested that the relevant authorities and institutions should combine efforts and resources to support such a campaign. They asserted that as long as the poor reading culture still exists, libraries, not just research libraries, will be underutilized.
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They also proposed that such a campaign should also involve family units so that people can begin to consider libraries as possible sites for family outings. “We take our children to watch and play games rather than to the libraries; when they grow up, they cannot be expected to be good readers,”
one participant quipped.