BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Information managers may leverage the ever-evolving Internet platform and technical breakthroughs in the field of information management to come up with new ways to acquire, store, manage, and disseminate information (Opeke et al, 2011). To this purpose, university libraries are constantly on the lookout for innovative technologies to improve their user services. Digital repositories are a new platform that libraries are incorporating into their portals to provide extra digital materials and services (Savolainen, 2009). This will need extra funding and resources to complete the design and deployment of institutional repositories.
Institutional repositories, often known as digital libraries, are used to deliver services that help users complete tasks by engaging with systems and observing their interactions (Oyewusi et al, 2010). Users, offered material, and the system on which they are done are all important components in the scenario of such services.
Digital information resources are the most recent advancements in the field of information for academic institutions and resource centers. Bhattacharya, U. (2007) defines digital information resources as information-bearing material in digital form, which includes local and distant databases, CDs and DVDs, and electronic publications such as e-journals, e-books, and Web resources.
Many academic institutions throughout the world have used e-resources as critical infrastructure for better service delivery to their consumers. Digital libraries or repositories, which are defined as "organizations that provide the resources, including specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities," are included and given special attention in this study (Digital Library Federation,1999).
Digital repositories are establishing their existence in many academic and research organizations in the same way that libraries have become trademarks of a university. It appears to be a'must have' at universities and research facilities (Oyewusi et al, 2010). In a study of 1152 information professionals, 70 percent said they had built and implemented digital repositories, while 22 said they planned to do so.
Since a result, it is a fact that the number of digital repositories can only grow, as many people believe that repositories are becoming more important. Digital repositories will undoubtedly become more common at African universities since they are linked to webometric rankings, which serve to raise the exposure of African institutions' research.
DSpace (2), an open access proprietary software that is not only useful for archiving and disseminating research-related documents but also offers excellent utility features such as reuse and metadata storage that are in line with requirements for modern repository usage, is used by "KUBANNI," the Ahmadu Bello University repository.
Several approaches have been used to address this problem, with traditional studies focusing on assessing the value of information technology to the organization and the determinants of that value with the goal of helping firms "better deploy and manage their IT resources and enhance overall effectiveness." The technique proposed by Davies (1989) and Davies et al., to analyze the factors of IT adoption usage by individual users, is of importance to this study (1989). Delone and Mclean (1992) were forerunners in this thought, focusing on the use of utilization as a proxy metric for information system performance.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Academic institutions that provide information materials and services online to reach their growing user base wherever they are have carved out a significant role for digital information resources (Savolainen, 2009). The services encompass anything from e-resources to digital libraries, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter (Opeke et al, 2011). Digital resources and digital repositories in the library realm face several obstacles. They include technological, legal, organizational, and use issues. Understanding the obstacles that users have while interacting with or using digital libraries is one of the most difficult challenges (Opeke et al, 2011).
In recent years, these concerns have emerged as key study areas. Usage research is necessary to discover and assess if various user groups are on board and able to use products and services on an institution's digital platform, and if usage is optimal among the communities for whom it is designed (Savolainen, 2009). Usage research probes current roadblocks and sheds light on the link between effectiveness, efficiency, and happiness on key user characteristics (Oyewusi et al, 2010). The findings of such a research provide a solid foundation for determining the best strategic strategy for improving access to content in a repository and overall contribution to the organization's goals in its drive for maximum online exposure.
1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this research is to analyze the usage of the academic repository KUBANNI by the students of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and its effects on students’ academic performance.
The specific objectives are;
1. To have an overview of the KUBANNI academic repository.
2. To establish the effect of academic repository on academic performance of the students of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
3. To investigate the challenges to the digital repository usage in Academic institutions.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Over time, there has been an increase in research into the use of information systems. This research follows this path in order to gain insight into how students at academic institutions use the digital repository and how it affects their academic performance. Conclusions will be drawn after the results have been analyzed. These findings will be important to Library Management, University Management, and the university community at large on a number of fronts: They will inform library management about the extent to which digital resources on the libraries' digital platforms are being used in the university by various user groups. The existing barriers to different user groups accessing these resources. The findings of the study will provide important information and suggestions to the founders and managers of future Academic repositories being established in Nigeria, as well as to the new field of knowledge.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The research sample was drawn from the Ahmadu Bello University main campus in Zaria. The e-resources are online and accessible online worldwide by all the students based in all the campuses, researchers and academic staff of the university wherever they maybe.
The actual users of the e-resources are all the university students, lecturers and academic staff.
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
REPOSITORY: This is a place where or receptacle in which things are or may be stored.
ACADEMIC REPOSITORY: This is a specifically designed digital repository used by universities to store their documents.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Academic Performance: This is referred to as the result of a task given to student in an academic environment.
1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows;
Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding. Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.
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