The Impact of Fee Based Library Services in University Libraries in Makurdi Metropolis

Abstract

Fee based library services give an increased ability to serve larger clienteles satisfactorily with the services they render and this is made possible with resource sharing. Fee based services enables libraries to offer services to library users and others that would not otherwise have been able to provide and brings in a useful amount of extra income that is ploughed back into library service aimed at satisfying users better. However, it is believed that there have been factors militating against these important fee based library services such as lack of professional and non-professional staff. The paper therefore looks at the impact of fee based library services on university libraries in Makurdi Metropolis. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and simple random sampling technique was used in drawing a sample size of 384 library staff and users. Mean and standard deviation statistics were used to answer research questions while Chi-Square was used for testing the hypotheses formulated at 0. 05 level of significance. It was discovered that fee based library services have positively impact on university libraries in Makurdi Metropolis. The study recommended that it is no more ample to justify the existence of university libraries just on the basis that they provide for the community of users’ information needs and are guardians of culture and research findings, these libraries have to survive and it will be proper to introduce more fee based library services to generate extra funds for the upkeep and survival of the university libraries.