Electronic Information Management Practices of Postgraduate LIS Students in Nigeria

Aim/Purpose: This study examined the practices, experiences, and challenges of postgraduate Library and Information Science (LIS) students in Nigeria in managing electronic documents. Background: Many universities have transitioned from the physical to a virtual environment for both lecture and supervision since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This transition has benefits and challenges for people, especially regarding managing electronic documents. This study examined the electronic information management practices of postgraduate LIS students in Nigeria. Methodology: The population was 1,358 postgraduate students of LIS schools in Nigeria. A sample size of 309 was obtained using the Taro Yamane formula and a purposive sampling technique. Contribution: There is a dearth of studies on electronic information management of postgraduate students in Nigeria. This study fills the gap. The study highlights areas of improvement and training needs of postgraduate researchers with respect to the management of electronic documents. Findings: File naming practice was poor among the respondents, as fewer than 20% always saved their files and folders by date and year. Only 14 (6.7%) always used version numbers to save documents with multiple versions, while more than 50% never did. Email boxes, flash drives, and smartphones were popular storage media among the respondents. Although the majority admitted to always or sometimes updating their antivirus and avoiding suspicious sites, about 30% do not use Virtual Private Networks (VPN), do not change their password regularly, and use the same password for different accounts. Furthermore, only 13.9% use web-based reference systems like Mendeley and Zotero to keep the documents they find online. About 90% had experienced a total loss of electronic files. File management practices were independent of gender and program level. Future Research: The data management practices of postgraduate researchers should be examined in future studies.