Awareness and Perception of Resource Description and Access (RDA) among Cataloguers in Academic Libraries in Niger State

Abstract

The study focused on the awareness and perception of RDA among cataloguers in academic libraries in Niger State. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. A total of 21 cataloguers from academic libraries in Niger State formed the population of the study. However, since the population was not large and manageable, the researchers used the whole population for the study. Questionnaire and observation were the instruments used for data collection. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentages and mean. The findings of the study revealed that most cataloguers in academic libraries in Niger State are aware of RDA as a new cataloguing rule. The medium of awareness of cataloguers about RDA is through their personal effort, Internet search and through friends that have attended conferences/seminars and workshops. The study also revealed that lack of funding, lack of technical knowhow and lack of policy statement on RDA were the major factors militating against the implementation of RDA in academic libraries in Niger State. The study recommended that Federal and state government should provide adequate funding, policy statement and create more awareness on RDA while library management should also provide adequate ICT facilities and staff training in order to address the issues of Internet connectivity and the technical knowhow of staff.