Abstract
This study was focused on the utilization of truncation search strategies by postgraduate students
in accessing library databases for research in Universities of Technology in South-East, Nigeria.
The purpose of the study is to find out the types of library databases available in the universities
of technology south- East zone and to determine the extent of application of truncation search
strategies in accessing the available databases. The researchers adopted descriptive survey design
and the population of the study was 540 post graduate students. Questionnaire and observation
checklist were used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated, pilot study conducted
and the reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha. The data collected for the study was
analyzed using mean and standard deviation to address the research questions; while the null
hypotheses were tested using Pearsons production moment correlation. Two research questions
and one hypothesis were used for the study. Findings reveal that a good number of library
databases are available in the universities studied. The postgraduate students in these universities
use truncation search strategies in retrieving information from the library databases moderately.
It was recommended that the university management should sensitize the post graduate students
by creating further awareness through training to acquire required information search and
retrieval skills that will help them accessing the databases to a high extent for research purposes.
Keywords: library databases, information retrieval, search strategies, truncation.
Publication Date: 2024-01-28