Abstract:
The study set out to examine students’ use of document section in the college library of
FCE Zaria, Nigeria. The library users who are students of the institution seem not making
talent use of the projects, theses and government publications kept under supervision of
the document section of the library. Therefore, the research main objectives were to find
out what type of collection(s) available are the students aware of, to examine in detail
how the available collection(s) are been used by the students and to find out what
challenges encountered in the utilization of the collections(s) by the students. A case
study design was adopted for the study using interview and observation as vital
instruments for data collection. Thirty Five (35) sampled students were interviewed and
observed and data collected were analyzed using frequency count and percentages of
responses. Results revealed that total number of sampled respondents (100%) indicated
their awareness of projects in the document section, 4 of 35 (11.4%) respondents
responded been aware of theses, where as government publications were not known by
the students scoring 0% response. In another result, 100% response of 35 respondents
was gained for students using projects for their research work and selecting their research
topics from a catalogue available in the section. None of the students was found using
internet for selection of project topic (0% response). The students indicated their way of
conducting selves’ projects by recopying others research works with 31 of 35 respondents
representing 88.6%. The study also found that 35 (100%) respondents reported lack of
enough seats in the document unit and a 2hour sharing formula per students daily
imposed for access were among problems the students faced. Lack of electricity was not
that a big challenge, 10 of 35 (29%) respondents indicated. The paper concluded on the
note that the library users lack the talent in using projects kept in the document section of
the college library. Hence, the researchers finally recommends for effective user
education program by the college library, so that the students are guided in their use of
the collections in the document section of the library
