Self-efficacy in the adoption of online commercial databases by Information Studies students at the University of Limpopo in South Africa

Abstract

Online Commercial Database (OCDs) training as offered by academic libraries is meant to produce students with high self-efficacy levels in adopting and using OCDs in their academic work. For students to use OCDs they need to be computer literate, be able to use tools and search strategies and opt not to use free online databases. This multimethod study employed a questionnaire to collect data from sixty-six (66) 4th-year level Bachelor of Information Studies (BIS) degree students at the University of Limpopo. Data was analysed using Social Statistical Package Software and thematic analysis. The results of the show that the majority of the students cannot use OCDs due to lack of search skills. There are barriers, which needs to be addressed by students. Even though the study has established that attending OCDs training had increased self-efficacy levels to varying degrees, it did not translate in full use and adoption of OCDs. The study recommends that the library should tailor OCD training according to the needs of the students. This can be putting focus on strategies such as truncation, as it appears to be a concern and impacts self-efficacy levels of the majority of the respondents.