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Evaluation of Digital Reference Services in Academic Libraries in Namibia

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Evaluation of Digital Reference Services in Academic Libraries in Namibia MASTER’S THESIS IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE SWEDISH SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE 2014:7 Evaluation of digital reference services in academic libraries in Namibia WILHELM ELINASHE UUTONI © Wilhelm Elinashe Uutoni Partial or full copying and distribution of the material in this thesis is forbidden. i English title: Evaluation of digital reference services in academic libraries in Namibia Swedish title: Utvärdering av digitala referenstjänster på akademiska bibliotek i Namibia. Author: Wilhelm Elinashe Uutoni Finished: 2014 Supervisor: Elena Maceviciute Abstract: Launching of digital reference services by academic libraries is on the increase. Libraries are exploring new ways of expanding their services by interacting with users and responding to user inquiries via the Internet, especially students enrolled on the distance mode of studying. The purpose of this study was to evaluate digital reference services at the Polytechnic of Namibia library and the University of Namibia library. Two aspects were evaluated, namely, ‘Resources’ and ‘elements of the general digital reference model’. This study was a summative evaluation study in which semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect data. The research findings showed that these libraries used the general digital reference model in providing responses to the library users. The study established that the two libraries did not follow the IFLA and RUSA standards of staffing and training of librarians working with digital reference services. The study further found that a lack of ability to fully demonstrate to users how to access various library services was one of the major problems that the librarians experienced. Key-words: Digital reference services, reference services evaluation, service evaluation, Namibia ii Acknowledgements I wish to sincerely thank the many people and institutions who made this study possible through their contribution, support, comments and guidance throughout my studies. However, the following people deserve special mention: Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof Elena Maceviciute, my parents (Thomas Uutoni and Hilda Uutoni), my mentor Prof Cathrine Nengomasha, my fellow students at the University of Borås (Elisabeth Mueller Nylander, Magdalena Szuflita and Ramune Kuzminiene), Prof Kingo Mchombu, Dr Beukes-Amiss, Dr Petrus Angula Mbenzi, Simon Lumbu, Aksel Thele, Etutega Nashima and Jona Mongudhi. I also wish to thank the Staff Development Committee at the University of Namibia for granting me financial assistance to travel to Sweden during my studies. I am also grateful to the University of Namibia and Polytechnic of Namibia library management for granting me permission to carry out the research, and the librarians who participated in this study. iii Table of Contents English title: Evaluation of digital reference services in academic libraries in Namibia ...... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii List of tables and figures .......................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 9 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Problem statement .......................................................................................................... 10 1.3 The purpose of the study ................................................................................................ 11 1.4 Research questions ......................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Limitations of the study.................................................................................................. 12 1.6 Structure of the thesis ..................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 14 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Digital reference services and their types ...................................................................... 14 2.3 Evaluation studies .......................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Importance of evaluation ................................................................................................ 17 2.5 Staffing of libraries providing digital reference services ............................................... 17 2.6 Training of librarians working with digital reference services ...................................... 18 2.7 Competency of librarians dealing with digital reference services ................................. 19 2.8 Challenges experienced by libraries in providing digital reference services ................. 21 2.9 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 22 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................... 23 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 General digital reference model .......................................................................................... 23 3.3 IFLA and RUSA guidelines used to evaluate digital reference services ....................... 26 3.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 27 iv CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .................................. 28 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 28 4.2 Types of evaluation studies ............................................................................................ 28 4.3 Data collection procedure............................................................................................... 29 4.4 Research instruments...................................................................................................... 30 4.4.1 Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 30 4.4.2 Interview guides .................................................................................................................. 30 4.4.3 Observation checklist .......................................................................................................... 31 4.5 Data analysis and presentation ....................................................................................... 32 4.6 Research ethics ............................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER FIVE: CONTEXT OF THE STUDY .................................................................... 34 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 5.2 Background of Namibia ................................................................................................. 34 5.3 Languages spoken in Namibia ....................................................................................... 34 5.4 Education system in Namibia ......................................................................................... 34 5.5 Libraries in Namibia....................................................................................................... 35 5.6 Academic libraries (libraries at tertiary institutions)...................................................... 35 5.7 Polytechnic of Namibia .................................................................................................. 36 5.8 Polytechnic of Namibia library ...................................................................................... 36 5.9 University of Namibia (UNAM) .................................................................................... 38 5.10 University of Namibia library ..................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER SIX: PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH DATA ............................................... 42 6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 42 6.2 Participants in the study ................................................................................................. 42 6.3 Research data: L1 ............................................................................................................... 43 6.3.1 The process of providing feedback to library users using digital reference service (General digital reference model) ..................................................................................................................... 43 v 6.3.2 Training for librarians working with digital reference services .......................................... 44 6.3.3 Barriers in
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