Search results

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of online e-resource marketing tools used by university libraries to market e-resources. The specific objectives of this study were to uncover the e-resources that are showcased by university libraries, find out instructions posted by libraries to facilitate access and utilization of e-resources, examine marketing tools used, examine how current and relevant marketing messages and test the functionality of the marketing tools used.

An exploratory research design was used to assess the effectiveness of e-resources marketing tools. The study population included all public university libraries in Tanzania. The sample was purposively selected to include all publicly funded libraries as they work under similar management environments. Data collection involved the evaluation of online marketing tools using a matrix checklist.

It was revealed that most university libraries use websites for showcasing e-resources. The commonly used social media for marketing e-resources is Facebook followed by Instagram while Twitter and Ask a Librarian are the least used. The results further show that only a few universities provide instructions on how to access and use e-resources. The findings indicate that universities had active communication platforms for marketing e-resources. Furthermore, less than 50% of marketing messages are active and current. It is recommended that marketing e-resources should be integrated into the library’s plans and strategies and this should be informed by library policies.

Given that, this study involved Tanzanian public university libraries, it is possible that the findings do not represent the same situation in all academic university libraries in the nation.

This study assesses the effectiveness of online tools used to market e-resources in university libraries in Tanzania. It reveals the e-resources that are showcased online, the instructions provided on how to access the e-resources and the functionality of the marketing tools. Unlike the previous research, which primarily focused on evaluating the Web-based tools in university and college libraries, this study focused on public libraries in the country. The results will not only contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of the functionality of the marketing tools but also provide actionable insights to decision-makers in libraries in marketing their e-resources.

This study aims to investigate the factors determining the readiness for uptake of open data (OD) in Tanzania. Specifically, this study intended to answer the question that sought to find out the factors that influence the implementation of OD in universities under study in a view to aligning with recommended strategies for optimizing the use of data in the open science era.

This study used a cross-sectional survey design whereby data were collected using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A sample size of 212 respondents was drawn from the sampling frame of a population of 1,846 researchers from the participating universities using both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from researchers while interviews were administered to decision-makers. These two groups were believed to have the necessary knowledge for this study.

The findings indicate low or lack of skills and awareness on issues related to OD among researchers and decision-makers. This study also reveals inadequate infrastructure to support open science initiatives including OD. Moreover, this study shows a lack of supportive institutional strategies and policies that trigger the implementation of OD initiatives in Tanzania. This study recommends that universities should uplift the level of confidence of researchers by ensuring all necessary factors determining the uptake of OD are in place before and during the implementation of OD initiatives.

This study was conducted during the time when researchers in universities are in an infant stage of adopting the concept from the developed world. In this regard, it is important to carry out a tracer study on establishing the OD phenomena after a number of universities have implemented OD initiatives in the country.

The researchers recommend the establishment of institutional policy and strategies to guide the implementation of OD among universities in Tanzania. Including awareness creation awareness through providing training among researchers and academics in universities. The results shed light to decision-makers on the understanding of the role of sharing research data in enhancing openness and validation of findings to increase the authenticity of results among researchers.

The authors have revealed the factors affecting the implementation of OD among scholars in universities. This study reveals the level of acceptance of OD initiatives and the factors that could trigger adoption of OD.

This paper presents factors that determine the readiness for the uptake of OD in universities in Tanzania from the researcher’s perspective. This study was conducted to fill the knowledge gap that sought to establish understanding of researchers about OD. The gap was established through literature and it was found that none of the presented studies researched on this phenomenon in Tanzania.

This study aims to evaluate Web-based tools that are potentially used by universities and college libraries to market e-resources in Tanzania.

This study evaluated Web-based tools that are potentially used to market e-resources in libraries in Tanzania. A sample of 52 universities and colleges was approved by Tanzania Commission for Universities and was purposively selected for this study. The evaluation was conducted with an established checklist to evaluate the websites with a view to identifying Web-based tools, which are potentially useful in marketing e-resources.

The finding of this study indicates that most libraries have websites linked to their institutional websites. The finding has revealed that social media are mostly used by public universities to market e-resources. However, only one university is using WhatsApp to communicate with patrons. The findings show that the majority of public university libraries display a list of e-resources on their websites. Moreover, the displayed e-resources of most websites are not up to date, and some of them are irrelevant. Also, most public universities provide guidelines on how to use the subscribed e-resources as opposed to their counterpart.

The study on the evaluation of Web-based e-resources marketing tools is new in Tanzania. The finding of this study will trigger efforts to adjust the way libraries market their e-resources online.

This study evaluated electronic resource searching competency among postgraduate students (PGS). Specifically, the study intended to identify online search strategies used by PGS in searching electronic resources, examine the mechanisms used by PGS to access electronic resources and identify the challenges faced by PGS when searching electronic resources.

An online survey was administered to 70 PGS who attended a training workshop on scholarly literature searching. A pre- and post-training assessment was carried out to establish their competence prior to and after the training.

The results show that during the preassessment, the majority of respondents indicated Google search and Google Scholar search engines were their primary sources of scholarly literature, and the majority used simple search strategies to locate scholarly literature. The results further show that, before the training, it was revealed that 50.5% of the PGS had never used subscribed databases such as EBSCOhost, Emeralds, Taylor and Francis, Wiley online library and Springer. After the post-training assessment, results indicated an increased level of using new techniques such as Boolean operation, phrase searches, truncations, search limit and subject directories. Access through local IP addresses was highly used compared to other mechanisms such as remote access authentication methods or discovery services. Students’ exposure to new strategies and search tools had significant improvement in searching scholarly literature.

This paper is the researcher’s original study and it has not been conducted before. The paper represents a true analysis of the search capability of postgraduates in areas of research.