A Field Research Report Submitted to the Faculty of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Award of Bachelor of Science in Library and Information Management (BSc-LIM) of Mzumbe University, Tanzania
This study examines the level of awareness and use of Open Access scholarly publications carried at Mzumbe University Main-Campus. The main objective of this study is awareness and use of Open Access scholarly publication by undergraduate students and study was guided by five (5) specific objectives. The study employed a case study design and a mixed research approach. The study involved a total of 83 respondents from the Faculty of Science and Technology who were obtained through a stratified sampling technique and 7 librarians who were obtained using a judgmental sampling technique. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel and results were presented in Tables and Figures. Qualitative data obtained from interviews were analysed using content analysis procedures and findings were in quotations forms.
Findings revealed that the majority of undergraduate students were aware of Open Access scholarly publications and its OA resources. Students have a positive perception of OA scholarly publications since they believe that OA scholarly publications led to a more positive impact on their academic development. Though the majority of undergraduate students were aware of OA scholarly publications they face challenges that hinder usage of OA scholarly publications such as poor internet connectivity, lack of internet search skills, limited access to computer terminals, and the inability of evaluating the authenticity of the OA scholarly publications.
The study recommends that librarians in public universities have to increase the level of awareness of OA scholarly publications to maximize utilization of OA scholarly publications by undergraduate students. The government and Non-Government Organizations should strive to provide public universities with enough ICT infrastructure such as stable and reliable internet and computer for ease of accessing OA scholarly publications. Public universities also have to make openly the research reports, theses, dissertations, and other scholarly publication to provide wider access to students