Published Article

                                                                               ABSTRACT

This study examined digital literacy skills and utilization of electronic resources among library and information science students at Rivers State University. Five specific objectives and five research questions guided the study. Correlational research design was utilised for the study. The population of this study comprised of 285 students of Library and Information Science in Rivers State University. The sample size for this study was 86 students representing 30% of the total population. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. Self-structured instrument captioned ‘’Digital Literacy Skills and Utilisation of Electronic Resources Questionnaire’’ (DLSUERQ) was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined through test retest method, in which the initial and retest scores were correlated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) which yielded a reliability co-efficient of 0.87. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer research questions. The findings revealed that there is positive relationship between word processing skills, office software package skills, collaborative editing skills, database retrieval skills, search engine skills and utilization of electronic information resources by Library and Information Science Students in Rivers State University. Based on these findings, the study concluded that there is a significant relationship between literacy skills and utilization of electronic resources among library and information science students in Rivers State University. The study recommended amongst others that students should be assisted in building search engine, data retrieval and collaborative editing skills for more accomplishment of academic task.

KEY WORDS: Digital Literacy Skills, Utilization of Electronic Resources, Library and Information Science, Students, and Rivers State University