TITLE:
User Education Practices on Utilization of Electronic Resources at the Kenya Revenue Authority Library, Nairobi
AUTHORS:
Lydiah Wanja, Ben Wekalao Namande, Fredrick Mzee Awuor
KEYWORDS:
User Education Practices, Library, E-Resources, Librarian
JOURNAL NAME:
Technology and Investment,
Vol.13 No.1,
February
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: This paper is slightly adapted from my master’s
thesis. It addresses the first objective which was to determine the types of
user education practices on the utilization of electronic resources at the
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) library. The purpose of this paper was to assess
how user education practices are planned, organized and implemented at the KRA
Library in response to the challenge of orientation, training and instructing
users on the use of information sources and services. User education is a
life-long process that has no end. While seeking information services of a
library, users need education to effectively
use library resources, facilities and services. This ensures that users
are aware of the available resources and how to access them to support their needs. However, electronic resources in
organizations may not be fully utilized as a result of inadequate user
education practices. The ultimate goal of
librarians and libraries is to educate users to discover their information needs, encourage and motivate them to use
library resources and services. The user is the most important component
in a library or information system and is
the last link or receiver of information in the communication cycle. The descriptive research design was used while both quantitative and qualitative
approaches were used in this study. The census technique was applied to select the sample
size from the study population. The study established that the types of user education programmes practiced at the KRA library
include library orientation and bibliographic instruction among others.
It recommends for extension of user education programs, frequent user surveys
and integration of user education with collaborative library activities.