INFORMATION LITERACY, GENDER, AND UNDERGRADUATES’ USE OF E-RESOURCES IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NORTH-WEST, NIGERIA

In this digital age, information literacy (IL) has become a necessary fundamental skill-set needed by undergraduates to effectively utilise e-resources, irrespective of gender bias. Gender disparities in educational access are pronounced in North-west, Nigeria, where cultural, religious and socio-economic factors often limit women's academic pursuit and consequent use of e-resources, hence, the connection between IL and gender presents a critical area of concern in the context of North-west Nigeria. Therefore, the main purpose of the study was to determine the correlation among information literacy, gender and undergraduates’ use of e-resources in university libraries in North-west, Nigeria. The study used a correlational survey design. The population was 10,239 registered users of the university libraries in seven Federal universities in the region during the 2024/2025 academic session. The sample consisted of 370 third-year undergraduates, chosen based on research on students’ use of library resources by Hayelom (2014). Krejcie and Morgan (1970) and Hayes' formulas were applied to get the sample size and number for each library subgroup. Data collection involved an achievement test for assessing information literacy skills and a questionnaire addressing gender and undergraduates' use of e-resources. The validation was done by three experienced lecturers from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Descriptive and Inferential Statistics were used for Data analysis. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used to test the hypotheses. Among the study’s findings is that a weak positive relationship exists between both information literacy, gender and undergraduates’ use of e-resources and it was recommended that the universities should prioritise the development of information literacy programmes that will benefit their students irrespective of gender.