PERCEIVED EFFECT OF AWARENESS AND USE OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS BY LIBRARY USERS FOR RESEARCH EFFICIENCY IN MARGARET LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceived effect of awareness and use of open access journals by library users on research efficiency at Margaret Lawrence University. Three hundred and twenty-nine library (329) users were selected for the study. A specifically designed questionnaire was administered to gather information about the awareness and use of open access journals by library users for research efficiency at Margaret Lawrence University. The collected data were analyzed using the mean () and standard deviation (SD) to answer research questions. The results revealed that library users at MLU are much aware of open access journals and, to a high extent, use open access journals. The study also revealed that MLU library users face a lot of challenges in using open-access journals to promote their research efficiency. It was then recommended that there is a need to accept and acclimate to the changing model of scholarly communication with particular reference to open access journals, and university management should support library users by developing an intrinsic drive for knowledge creation and publishing research output through internet subscriptions for use of open access journals.
Keywords: Awareness, Use, Open, Access, Databases, Library, Perceived effect, University, Margaret Lawrence, Delta, Nigeria,
Electronic

本研究旨在探讨玛格丽特·劳伦斯大学（Margaret Lawrence University）图书馆用户对开放获取期刊（Open Access Journals）的认知与使用情况对其研究效率的感知影响。本研究共选取329名图书馆用户作为研究对象。本研究采用专门设计的问卷，收集玛格丽特·劳伦斯大学图书馆用户关于开放获取期刊的认知、使用情况及其对研究效率影响的相关信息。研究人员采用均值（Mean）与标准差（Standard Deviation, SD）对收集到的数据进行分析，以解答预设研究问题。结果显示，玛格丽特·劳伦斯大学（简称MLU）的图书馆用户对开放获取期刊具有较高的认知度，且在较大程度上会使用该类期刊。研究同时发现，MLU图书馆用户在利用开放获取期刊提升研究效率的过程中，面临诸多挑战。据此，本研究提出如下建议：应顺应学术传播模式的变革，尤其需重视开放获取期刊的适配与应用；大学管理方应通过开通开放获取期刊的网络订阅服务，培养图书馆用户的知识创造与研究成果发表的内在动力，为其提供针对性支持。
关键词：认知度（Awareness）、使用情况（Use）、开放获取（Open Access）、数据库（Databases）、图书馆（Library）、感知影响（Perceived effect）、大学（University）、玛格丽特·劳伦斯（Margaret Lawrence）、三角洲（Delta）、尼日利亚（Nigeria）、电子（Electronic）