Use of Journals in Library and Information Science (LIS) by Librarians in University Libraries in Rivers and Bayelsa States of Nigeria

Journals are meant to publish results of original research and current developments as well as announce new discoveries within a specific discipline or field of study usually in successive parts indefinitely. Librarians, like other academics need to consult them in order to conduct research and publish research results. This paper discusses the use of journals in Library and Information Science (LIS) by librarians in university libraries in Rivers and Bayelsa states of Nigeria. The study was set to identify library and information science (LIS) journals which are subscribed to by the university libraries in Rivers and Bayelsa States, extent of use, challenges and measures to improve the use of the journals. Descriptive survey design was used for this study. All the 53 librarians in the three universities in Rivers and Bayelsa States constituted the population of the study. Questionnaire and observation checklist were appropriate instruments for data collection while frequency tables, simple percentages and arithmetic mean were employed as instruments of data analysis in answer to the research questions. It was found among other things, that many of the LIS journals were not subscribed to by the universities under study and that, librarians’ extent of use of LIS journals from the various libraries is very low. It was recommended among others that, more LIS journals be subscribed to by the libraries and that, journal authors and publishers should make them visible/accessible.