A Constructivist Framework for Enhancing Online Database Utilization: Discipline-Specific and Student-Centered Strategies in Nigerian Academic Libraries

Online databases have become indispensable to scholarly research in higher education, yet theirutilization in Nigerian academic libraries remains inconsistent and often inadequate. Despiteincreasing investments in digital infrastructure, student engagement with these resources ishindered by generic instructional approaches, demographic disparities, low digital literacy, andprevailing reliance on commercial search engines. This conceptual paper introduces a theoreticalframework grounded in Constructivist Learning Theory to address these challenges throughdiscipline-specific, student-centered interventions. Drawing on the works of Piaget, Vygotsky,Bruner, and Knowles, the framework emphasizes active, contextualized, and socially mediatedlearning that reflects students' academic disciplines, cognitive development, and informationneeds. A critical synthesis of existing literature reveals that variables such as gender, academiclevel, college affiliation, and instructional design significantly influence students’ database usagepatterns. While previous research supports embedded information literacy instruction, fewmodels holistically integrate these findings within a constructivist pedagogical paradigm. Thispaper bridges that gap by aligning learner characteristics with differentiated, curriculumintegrated strategies that optimize access, search competency, and academic research output.The study concludes by outlining methodological implications and providing recommendationsforlibrarians, faculty, and policy stakeholders committed to improving equitable, sustainable digitalengagement across Nigerian tertiary institutions.