Role of Library for Students in Higher Education
Author: Ali Hussein Ahmed
December 2021
Zamzam University for Science and Technology
The main library of the university
Abstract
A library is a crucial component of the growth of every community, and in recent ages, libraries have played a crucial role in the development of entire countries. In a library, one develops the habit of reading, writing, and analyzing. It implies that libraries are crucial to a person's growth. It is vital to adapt the ways that people learn and experiment with new methods as the world evolves and new technology is created on a minute-by-minute basis. One of these novel strategies is libraries. The purpose of the library and how students use the university library were investigated in this study. The purpose of this study is to find out how libraries are used by students and how they use them as learning resources. The study reveals the library's obvious role in the educational process and highlights its palpable impact on student achievement. 44 percent of the students from six different colleges who were polled claimed they spent an hour reading at the library. Similar to this, 39% of individuals use libraries twice weekly. The majority of students are curious about learning more, and they study books from their faculties.
INTRODUCTION
The Latin word "libraria" (which means "place of books") is where the word "library" originates. Its etymology is the word "liber," which meaning "book." An example of a library is:
• A space where books are stored.
• A collection of literary works or records held for borrowing or reference
• A building designed as a book and other material storehouse
• A structure that holds a collection
Definition:
A library is a collection of printed or other types of information resources that have been arranged and made available for reading or study. (From the Britannica).
A library is essential to the growth of any community. Libraries produce environmental knowledge and influence the local community. A habit of reading, writing, and analyzing is formed at a library. It implies that the library is essential to a person's development. Since a library is seen as a crucial component of a university education, its position in higher education is far more significant than it is in primary and secondary school. The library network is absolutely necessary for academic and research endeavors. The library is a crucial component for any educational program to be successful (Bhagvanhai H. Chaudhari, n.d.). The Kothari Education Commission (1964-65) underlined that it is more harmful to overlook libraries and give them poor priority. The key element that fosters teaching-learning and research activity is the academic library. It plays a crucial role in achieving the goals and objectives of higher education.
As the world changes and new technology is created minute by minute, it has an impact on how learning is done and leads to the discovery of new methods. Among these fresh approaches are libraries. Academic libraries and internet libraries both exist. Both the teacher and the student require access to a library where they can find books to read, just as they both need textbooks to teach or learn. The role of the library is not limited to student learning; it also aids in teaching and changes how society views certain topics. University students have great need of getting library that facilitates their education and brings up their knowledge. As indicated by Foo (2002), academic libraries now take on the key role of providing a competitive advantage for the university and they are positioning themselves to be the learning and research centres of universities. Therefore, the traditional role of academic libraries to support teaching and learning only is being challenged. Campbell (2006) argued that academic libraries are complex institutions with multiple roles. They provide not only books and space for students to study, but also provide services for facilitating research activities, such as bibliographies, reference services and information literacy classes.
In short, Library gives the resources and encourages the thinking process, creativity, inquisitiveness and makes the learning more fruitful. The function of library is to offer textbooks, references, periodicals, research conducted till date on various subjects to students, teachers and researchers.
On the contrary to that, academic libraries are experiencing another threats as a result of altering in intellectual communication. Researchers now have more access to online materials at low or no cost, and online resources are more insured than libraries. There are digital libraries those are displacing former libraries. On the other side, digital and Google are becoming the first e primary provider of information to researchers Chiemeke (2007) conducted a research study on the perceptions of postgraduate students and results showed that universities students visit the Internet more often compared with the academic library facilities to fulfill their research needs.
The goal of this study is to investigate how students use libraries and how they incorporate them into their learning resources. The study uncovers the library's evident function in the learning process.
In other words, the library provides the resources, promotes critical thinking, creativity, and curiosity, and helps learning be more successful. The purpose of a library is to provide students, teachers, and researchers with textbooks, references, journals, and current research on a variety of disciplines.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This quantitative research is conducted in the main library of Zamzam University. Written questions were distributed among number of students from six different faculties of the university. The main aim of the research is to define how library have positive role for student’s learning from those different departments.
Results
The respondents are all from six faculties of agriculture, medicine, lab, public health, animal husbandry, and nursing and midwifery which comprises 26% agriculture, 44% medicine, 12% lab, 7% nursing and midwifery, 9% public health and 2 % animal husbandry. 253 of the respondents 53% of them were female and 47% were male as shown the below table:
Gender Percentage
Male 47
Female 53
Table: 1 Sources: Primary data
All respondents were in the four academic years of the university: first year 9%, second year 15%, third year 44% and fourth year 32% respectively.
The below table indicates that the student’s level of reading was tested. As well as the number of hours they spent in reading were evaluated. The table shows the result in percentage. 39% of the respondents answered that they go to the library to read two days in a week, while 36% visit the library to read one day in a week. Similarly, students showed a good number of hours of reading. 44% read one hour in the library and 33% of them read 30 minutes respectively.
Number of days of library visiting in week Percent Hours spent in reading Percent
One day 36 Less than 30 min 33
Two days 39 30 min to an hour 44
Three days 20 More than one hour 23
More than three days 5
Table: 2 Sources: Primary data
The table below highlights the favorite books that students prefer to read and their answers indicate how the library may shape the learning of university students. 65% read books about their faculty, while 18% read general books. This proves that students are more interested in reading about related books of their faculty. All students from different faculties of the university have the relative capacity of reading as the study shows. They were asked in the month, how many books they read and their responses were as 46% read one book in a month and 42% two books in a month.
Type of book Percent Number of books you read in a month Percent
My faculty books 65 One book 46
General books 18 Two books 42
Motivational books 13 None 12
Novel books 4
Table: 3 Sources: Primary data
As the above table reports, students select books they read criteria of faculty it may related. The table below shows that 47% of the students have criteria for selecting their faculty books, while 44% picked books up criteria for what knowledge they may get from. The majority of the students go to the library in their free time as the study answered. 57% of the students focus on library visiting in their time, while 36% visit in beak time.
Criteria for selecting books in the library Percent Time of library visiting Percent
Related to my faculty 47 Break times 36
General knowledge 44 When getting chance 57
Finding in assignment 7 When lecture becomes boring 2
Other things 2 Else times 5
Table: 4 Sources: Primary data
This table was tested in the material used in information gathering from library books and their motivation for library visits. Almost all students make notes when reading books. 57% of the students make notes during their reading and 17% use white paper for collecting information. This proves that the procedure of gathering information is part of student’s learning. The respondents have positive respect for reading. They were interrogated about the stimuli of compelled to read and 38% is their curiosity about reading and lecturers played 27% of the motivation.
Obtaining information from library books Percent Motivation of library visiting percent
Note Making 57 Interested in 38
Screening 14 Lecturer 27
Use paper 17 Friend 12
None 12 Other 23
Table: 5 Sources: Primary data
In this survey, participants were asked that they borrow books from the library as to read beyond the library. Their answer was passionately positive. 56% of the participants borrow books from the library and students make their friends to go to the library.
CONCLUSIONS
This study looks into how students use the university library and how reading there benefits them. Likewise, participation in and use of the library were tested to gauge one's level of reading. The results of the survey indicated how important a part the library plays in students' education. The study also shows that university students are prepared to use the library throughout their study sessions. The respondents to the survey indicated that using libraries helped them learn. The results of counting the days that students visit the library provide accurate information on how the library contributes to their learning.
Additionally, the vast majority of students proposed improving the library's services. They advised expanding the number of books from the university's many faculties that are available in the library. The majority of respondents stated that they require books published in Somali. Additionally, they asked for training sessions on research writing, citation, and library service facilitations such as bringing precedent dissertations and rules.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank the respondents of the survey for their perception and feedback. Thanks also go to Zamzam University for allowing me to conduct such a study in the university library. I hope this study will ignite student performance and help libraries universities and their staff advance the facilities of the library.
References
Aamir Rasul1 and Diljit Singh (2010) The role of academic libraries in facilitating postgraduate students’ research Bahria University Islamabad Campus, E-8, Naval Complex, Islamabad, PAKISTAN
Bhagvanhai H. Chaudhari (2017) The Role Of Library In Higher Education
Boucher, Julie J.; Lance, and Keith Cur (1992) the Roles of Libraries in Education.
https://www.infosciencetoday.org/library-science/the-role-of-libraries-in-education.html
Rajat Ari (2017) Importance and Role of Libraries In Our Society
Sirje Virkus and Silvi Metsar (2004) General Introduction to the Role of the Library for University Education.
