Library Review, 2016; 65 (6/7): 445-460
Purpose – ThispaperaimstoassesstheuseofelectronicjournalresourceattheUniversityofDares Salaam.ThestudyinvolvedthepostgraduatestudentsintheSchoolofEducationattheUniversityof DaresSalaam. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of questionnaires for postgraduate students and interview for the reference librarians was used, whereby 100 postgraduate students and six reference librarianswereinvolvedinthestudy.SPSSandcontentanalysiswereusedtoanalysethedata. Findings – Major findings of the study reveal that majority of the students reported using electronic journal resources for various purposes including working on the assignments, research proposal writing,literaturereview,researchreportwriting,currentawareness,leisureandforextraexploration of ongoing scientific debates through peer-reviewed papers. The challenges encountered in the use of electronic journal resources include power outage, inadequate bandwidth, slow download speed, inability to access the resources from home, lack of training, lack of awareness, limited access to computersanddifficultyinsearching.Finally,therecommendationsforimprovingtheuseofelectronic journalresourcesareprovided. Originality/value – Thisisthefirsttimeanefforthasbeenmadetoassesstheuseofelectronicjournal resourcesbypostgraduatestudentsintheSchoolofEducationattheUniversityofDaresSalaam.The studycouldbeusedtoassessthepostgraduatestudents’needforelectronicresourcesattheUniversity ofDaresSalaamandotherusersinhigherlearninginstitutions.