EFFECT OF VENTILATION TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' USE OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Good ventilation is essential for effective reading in a university library. This paper, therefore, assessed the level of ventilation in federal university libraries in Nigeria to determine the extent to which it affects undergraduate students' use of the university libraries. The study population was 1,453 undergraduates from across Arts, Education, Engineering, Law, Science and Social Science faculties in the selected universities and the survey research method was used for the study. The main instrument used for the data collection was a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage tabulation were used in analyzing the data. Results revealed that the reading areas in Nigerian federal university libraries are inadequate compared to the number of users that use these libraries at a time and this leads to congestion of the reading rooms most of the time. The study also revealed that the air conditioners in these libraries are not functioning properly thus, the temperature of the reading rooms is usually not suitable for any meaningful academic work. To improve the level of ventilation in Nigerian federal university libraries, majority of the respondents indicated the need for library management to provide better spacious reading areas and functional air conditioners to ensure suitable temperature in the university libraries.