GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

This study was to assess the mobile library service in rural schools in Akwa Ibom State. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in Akwa Ibom State. The population of the study comprised librarians, head teachers, primary school teachers and pupils. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 10 librarians, 50 head teachers, 100 teachers and 200 pupils, giving a total of 360 respondents that constituted the sample size used for the study. The Instrument used in this study for data collection was a questionnaire titled: “Mobile Library Service in Rural Schools in Akwa Ibom State Questionnaire (MLSRSAKSQ)”. Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out by an expert in test, measurement and evaluation from university of Uyo to ensure that the instrument has the accuracy, appropriateness and completeness of the study under consideration. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.80 and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical techniques such as descriptive analysis. The test for significance was done at 0.05 alpha levels. The study concluded that the various challenges facing mobile library service in rural schools in Akwa Ibom State are, limited memory of mobile devices, limitation of a small screen size, dependent and work for restricted range of devices, difficulty to select a display model, limitations in existing technologies, problem with PDF support on blackberry devices, problem with supporting audio and video. One of the recommendations made was that the government should make adequate funds available for the acquisition of information resources and the provision of quality mobile library services to the rural schools in Akwa Ibom State.