African Journal of Libriary Archives & information Science, 2011; 21 (1): 17-27
Thisstudy assessed the awareness and usage of
OpenAccess (OA)for scholarly communication
by postgraduate students at the Sokoine
University of Agriculture (SUA) and the
University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). A semistructured
self-administered questionnaire
survey was undertaken using a convenience
sample of 230 postgraduate students of whom
128 (55.6%) participated in the study. The open
access concept was familiar to 58.6% of the
respondents; however, although 60.9% of them
acknowledged having accessed OA content,
only10.9% of them had disseminated research
findings through ~A. The respondents'
perceptionstoward OA were generally positive.
Lowawareness of the OA concept, inadequate
onlinescholarly communication skills, and the
slowInternet connectivity 'H'erepossible factors
affecting the exploitation of OA in the study
area. The review and formalisation of the
existing postgraduate information literacy
training modules at the two universities is recommended in order to improve the adoption
of OA and exploitation of the online resources
in general.