The impact of electronic information resource use on research output: experiences

from Universities in Tanzania

Paul Manda and Julita Nawe

University of Dar Es Salaam Library, P.O. Box 35092, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

pmanda@hotmail.com, jnawe2001@yahoo.com
 Abstract
This paper examines the impact of the use of electronic information resources on
research output in the universities in Tanzania. Research for this paper was conducted in
five public universities in Tanzania with varied levels of access to electronic information
resources. The selection of the sample universities was purposive. Data was collected
using face-to-face interviews, questionnaires and key informant interviews. Analysis of
data employed descriptive and quantitative techniques. Empirical data revealed that the
use of online information resources has a positive impact on various research activities
and milestones such as research proposal submission, research proposal funding,
research report writing and journal article publishing. The results therefore provide
empirical support for a positive relationship between the use of electronic information
resources and research output and publishing in general. This was demonstrated in the
increased number of proposals prepared, submitted and funded, research reports
submitted, journal articles published and chapters in books and books published with
increased access to and use of electronic information resources. Results also show that
although researchers who are actually using the scholarly databases are small in number
the core group of researchers using these resources is growing and the use of resources
is becoming more frequent and diverse. The major challenges observed include
ineffective marketing strategies on the availability of the resources, inadequate training
of end users, questionable content relevance of some of the resources and issues of
sustainability of access given high levels of donor dependency for subscriptions. Finally,
limited variations in terms of intensity of use of resources were observed between junior
and higher ranking academics; and younger and older members of faculty. The paper
makes a number of recommendations.

Introduction
By the turn of the century it was noted that access to and use of electronic information
resources by researchers in Tanzania has gradually increased (Wema and Nawe, 2000).
The University of Dar es Salaam Library started applying IT in the provision of
information services to users in 1990, with the introduction of CD ROM search services,
followed by Internet services for teaching, learning and research. Programme for
Enhancement of Research Information (PERI) is one example of an initiative that aimed
at increasing access to electronic resources among researchers in Africa. Tanzania is
participating in this programme which is being funded by Sida/SAREC (in the case of
Tanzania) and coordinated by International Network for Availability of Scientific
Publications (INASP) and the University of Dar es Salaam Library. Through PERI online
access is provided for full- text journal resources, databases and backup support for
document delivery since 2000. License to access these resources has been country-wide
for most databases. PERI project also includes a training component on electronic journal
and electronic library resources management.

This paper examines the impact of the use of electronic information resources on research
output and processes. The major questions addressed in this paper are whether the use of
electronic information resources has positively influenced the quality and quantity of
local research output in the public universities in Tanzania. The study draws on the
theoretical insights from the diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 1983) and
knowledge gap hypothesis (Tichenor, et al. 1980). According to the research paradigm
proposed by Tichenor et al. (1980) certain segments of a social system are more affected
than other segments by increases in the flow of information.

Literature Review
Generally, the literature review (Bergart, 2002; Kyrillidon, 2001; Lin, 2001; Zhang,
2001; Shela and Greshan, 2000) showed that there is a positive relationship between the
use of electronic information resources and the improvement in the quality and quantity
of research output. However, the relationship is influenced by several factors that could
be attributed to technology, infrastructure, nature of the organization (including decision-
making processes) and individuals’ attributes. Nonetheless, disagreements exist among
social science researchers and scholars (Rogers, 1983; Tichneor, et al., 1980) on the
impact of the diffusion of innovation in general or new technology in particular on a
given social system. Rogers (1983) argues that, although adoption of innovations brings
major positive changes to a social system and structure, it also has the potential to lead to
social stratification and differences and increased knowledge gaps.

Kinengyere (2007) in her study on “The Effect of Information Literacy on the Utilization
of Electronic Information Resources in Selected Academic and Research Institutions in
Uganda” found that available information is not necessarily accessed and used by users.
The study showed that the availability of information does not necessarily mean actual
use because the users may not be aware of the availability of such resources, do not know
how to access them, or do not know what the resources offer. In their study on “Student
Attitudes towards Electronic Information Resources”, Ray and Day (1998) noted that the
main factors affecting students’ access to electronic information and using them were
limited time and lack of effective information retrieval skills.

Johnston and McCormack (1996) in their study on “Integrating Information Technology

into University Teaching” observed that “a perceived lack of various resources, such as
time, equipment or funds, …lack of training and insufficient information on software
…lack of knowledge and skills of staff, insufficient technical support staff and risks
associated with implementing innovations in teaching, particularly those using
technologies, as the most significant barriers to academic staff using information
technology in their teaching”.

The study by Nawe and Kiondo (2005) found that 21.7% of the respondents reported that
the quality of research had improved significantly with the use of electronic information
resources. Thirty three percent reported that the output of research had improved
significantly, while 28.3% observed that quality of service to the community had
improved significantly and 33.4% said that the output of service to the community had
increased significantly. Results of this study also revealed that the quality of teaching and
learning had improved significantly as a result of ICT application in library operations.
Methodology
The overall research design integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Data
was collected using questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussions in addition to
the review of secondary data. Research was conducted in five public universities in
Tanzania, namely University of Dar es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture,
Mzumbe University, Ardhi University and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied
Sciences (MUHAS). The final sample comprised 222 members of teaching and research
staff, selected using purposive and convenience techniques.

Findings and Discussion

Socio-demographic characteristics
Socio-demographic characteristics of researchers were anticipated to influence the use of
electronic information resources and impact research output and publishing. The major
socio-demographic characteristics examined were gender, academic rank of researchers,
academic qualifications and age. Sample sizes by participating universities are shown in
Table 1 below.

Table 1: Frequency and % distribution by institution

Name of Institution Frequency % distribution

UDSM-Main Campus 117 53%
SUA 61 28%
Mzumbe University 23 10%
Ardhi University 11 5%
MUHAS 8 4%
Total 220 100%

Eighty seven percent (87%) of all respondents were male and 16% female. Fifty seven
percent (57%) were PhD holders while 43% reported Masters as the highest degree
obtained. The mean age of the respondents was 48.6 years. Junior rank (ie Assistant to
Lecturer positions) was 49% and senior rank (ie. Senior Lecturer to Professor Rank) was
51%. However this is not a typical age distribution pattern in the target population.

Use of electronic information resources

Findings of this study showed that the use of electronic information resources differed
across resources, especially between the search engines, the free Internet resources on the
one hand and the scholarly databases on the other. The majority (76%) of researchers
reported using free Internet resources including the search engines, while only a small
proportion uses scholarly databases. For example, 22% of researchers reported using the
African Journals Online (AJOL) while 7% use Gale databases (see Table 2 for details).
Additionally, the frequency of use also varied significantly between resources. For
example, while the majority of researchers use free Internet resources, including general
search engines on daily basis, the frequency of use of scholarly databases for the majority
of researchers using the resources is once per month.
Table 2: Use of resources by frequency and % distribution
Name of Resources Use Don’t use
Search engines 168 (76%) 54 (24%)
Other Internet resources 136 (62%) 86 (38%)
AJOL 48 (22%) 174 (78%)
Blackwell 38 (17%) 184 (83%)
Ebsco Host 38 (17%) 184 (83%)
Agora 38 (17%) 184 (83%)
Oxford University Press 28 (13%) 194 (87%)
Emerald 24 (11%) 198 (89%)
Springer 23 (10%) 199 (90%)
Wiley Science 20 (9%) 202 (91%)
Gale databases 15 (7%) 207 (93%)

Data shows minor differences between males and females and between academic ranks in
relation to the use of electronic information resources.

Table 3: Use of e-resources by gender

Sex Use Don’t Use Total
Male 99 (55%) 80 (45%) 179 (100%)
Female 17 (47%) 19 (53%) 36 (100%)
Total 116 (54%) 99 (46%) 215 (100%)

Differences between academic ranks in the use of electronic information resources did
not reveal any clear pattern of relationship and the differences were insignificant. The
assumption that there is a potential inverse relationship between age and the use of new
technology was not supported by data from this research. In this study rank was used as a
proxy for age (see Table 4 below).

Table 4: Use of e-resources by academic rank

Academic Rank Use Don’t Use Total
Assistant Lecturer 28 (50%) 28 (50%) 56 (100%)
Lecturer 26 (53) 23 (47%) 49 (100%)
Senior Lecturer 35 (58%) 25 (42%) 60 (100%)
Associate Professor 19 (53%) 17 (47%) 36 (100%)
Professor 10 (67%) 5 (33%) 15 (100%)

Researchers provided a number of reasons for the use of electronic information resources
and the three major ones were checking or searching for bibliographic information and
for accessing full-text articles (see Table 5 below of details).
Table 5: % distribution by reasons for accessing electronic resources
Reason for accessing e-resource %
Searching for new bibliographic information 57.7%
Accessing full-text articles whose details were previously 55.9%
known to you
Checking bibliographic information on a previously 52.7%
known item
Perusing abstract 50.0%
Accessing full-text of articles whose details were retrieved 43.7%
from database
Browsing tables of contents of journals 36.5%
In general, search engines and free Internet resources were ranked high in terms of their
usefulness (see table 6 for details). However, findings showed a positive relationship
between usage and perception of usefulness, implying that because researchers use the
resources frequently they may end up perceiving them as being useful. Findings did not
reveal any significant relationship between researchers’ perceptions of usefulness and
content specialization subject-wise of a specific resource. For example, researchers at
MUHAS (which is a medical university) did not report finding Cochrane Library (with
health and medical content only) more useful than researchers from other universities.
The only exception was AGORA where 46% of researchers from SUA (the agricultural
university) perceived it as between very useful and somehow useful while none of the
other universities had comparable percentages. The nearest was UDSM with 14% of its
researchers claiming AGORA was very useful to somewhat useful.

Data showed that generally respondents who are using the resources found them useful.
For example, all those who are using search engines and free Internet resources claimed
that they find them useful (see Table 6 for more details).

Table 6: Resources by perception on usefulness

Name of the resource used Useful Not useful Total
Free Internet resources 134 (100%) 0 (0%) 134 (100%)
Search engines 126 (100%) 0 (0%) 126 (100%)
AJOL 70 (95%) 4 (5%) 74 (100%)
Ebsco Host 49 (88%) 7 (12%) 56 (100%)
Emerald 45 (88%) 6 (12%) 51 (100%)
Blackwell 44 (88%) 6 (12%) 50 (100%)
Oxford University Press 43 (88%) 6 (12%) 49 (1005)
Agora 44 (83%) 9 (17%) 53 (100%)
Springer 37 (79%) 10 (21%) 47 (100%)
Gale databases 27 (79%) 7 (21%) 34 (100%)
Wiley Science 41 (77%) 10 (23%) 53 (100%)

Results showed that generally researchers preferred using electronic rather than print
formats of information resources. Fifty six percent (56%) of the sample respondents
indicated a preference for electronic formats while 33% preferred printed versions and
12% have no preference. Explanations for preference for electronic formats include
ability to search resources more efficiently, capability of searching huge databases at
once compared to print resources and the possibility of searching for these from sites
outside of the libraries such as offices and off-campus sites. With this positive
predisposition toward electronic information resources by researchers it is critical for
service providers such as libraries and computing units in the universities to take the
necessary actions to address obstacles such as technical inadequacies that inhibit the
effective and efficient use of the resources.

Awareness and use

Generally there is an insignificant relationship between awareness and use of electronic
information resources. Fifty seven percent of researchers who were aware of the
availability of electronic databases and scientific journals that staff and students can have
access to use them. The remaining 43% did not use these resources although they were
aware of their availability. Respondents gave a number of reasons for not using these
resources while they were aware of their existence. Among reasons given by a fairly
large proportion of respondents include lack of skills to use the resources and difficulties
in accessing the resources. Fewer respondents reported lack of interest, preference for
print formats and unavailability of databases in their areas of interest as reasons for not
using the electronic resources while they were aware of their availability.

Explanations given for limited use of the resources provide an opportunity for libraries to
introduce a number of interventions in their service provision, among which include
changes in the information literacy programmes, selection procedures that will be more
participatory to ensure access to relevant resources and increased marketing of the
resources emphasizing the strengths of the electronic journal resources.

Training and use of e-resources

Training in the use of electronic information resources is assumed to have a significant
impact on the ultimate use of these resources and this is one reason why libraries spend a
substantial amount of their meagre resources (financial and human) on information
literacy (IL) training. In the electronic environment libraries must enable library staff and
users to acquire new skills and capacity to effectively utilize e-resources. Thus the
training of library staff and users to acquire knowledge and skills to search for e-
resources and evaluate them is an important area. The practice elsewhere has been for
libraries and universities to require students to take courses in IL, others conduct short
training courses in the library for library users and still many other libraries include
sessions on e-resources during the orientation period.

However the findings of this research did not reveal any significant relationship between
training in the use of these electronic information resources and their actual use. Sixty
two percent of respondents who answered the question on training reported to have been
trained in the use of e-resources. Among those respondents who reported to use electronic
databases and journal resources 58% have been trained formally in the use of these
resources. The remaining 32% have never been trained and thus their effective utilization
of such resources is questionable. Findings also revealed that 44% of all respondents who
have been trained in the use of electronic information resources are not users of these
resources for reasons that include lack of interest, limited access and preference for print
rather than electronic resources. An interesting finding was that 11% of those who have
been trained formally in the use of e-resources reported not use them because they
claimed they did not know how to. The implication here is that the type of training
provided was probably not effective or appropriate and thus IL training needs to be
reviewed and evaluated regularly in collaboration with users. The explanation that the
training provided is not effective is supported by the fact that 40% of respondents were
not satisfied in the way the libraries were training its users with the use of electronic
information resources.

The major weakness of the end-user training practices in the universities where training
was undertaken was the lack of a programme for the entire community. The training
focused on particular groups such as graduate students whom the library staff think need
training the most. However, without a comprehensive programme the most appropriate
period for the training of end-users is not taken into consideration. Perhaps the most
important issue is to figure out how best end-user training can be integrated into the
academic programmes for both staff and students.

Impact of the use of electronic information resources on research

Seventy three percent (73%) of researchers reported that the use of electronic information
resources has had a positive impact on their research activities in a number of ways,
which include, access to a wide range of research information and findings, improved
research techniques, accessing up-to-date information on research topics, enhancing
research skills and enabling researchers to find new research areas and frontiers.

Data showed a positive relationship between the use of electronic information resources
and research activities/milestones, such as research proposal submission, research
proposal funding, research report submission and publishing of research findings (see
table 7 below for details). Although other factors could influence these milestones and the
research process in general, what researchers in the universities reported was that access
to and use of electronic information resources was a major contributing factor in
influencing success in research endeavours in the universities.

Table 7: E-resource use status by successful research activities (milestones)

between 2001 and 2005

Milestone/Activity Use e-resources Don’t use e-resources Total

Submitted research 75 (56%) 58 (44%) 133 (100%)
proposal
Research proposals 64 (55%) 52 (45%) 116 (100%)
funded
Research reports 57 (53%) 50 (47%) 104 (100%)
submitted

Publishing is an important milestone in any research activity because it is essentially

about the dissemination of research findings. Generally researchers in the sample had
positive attitudes on the impact of the use of electronic information resources on the
publishing of their research findings, except for publishing books, as seen in data on
Table 7.
Table 7: Perceptions of the impact of electronic information resource on publishing
research findings

Type of publishing Positive Impact No Impact Total

Publishing journal articles 144 (81%) 34 (19%) 178 (100%)
Publishing research report 132 (79%) 36 (21%) 168 (100%)
Publishing books 47 (36%) 85 (64%) 132 (100%)

The reasons provided by researchers for the central role that electronic information
resource use plays in publishing include availability of literature, improvement in writing
skills, access to up-to-date data and information, improvement in presentation of research
findings and improvement in the overall quality of research reports and publications. This
perception is also supported by data on the actual relationship between publishing and e-
resource use.

When data is cross-tabulated for users and non-users of electronic information resources
and publishing between 2001-2005 differences emerged between researchers who were
using and those who were not using electronic information resources and their ability to
publish, as seen in table 8 below. Therefore a positive relationship was observed between
the use of electronic information resources and publishing of research findings.

Table 8: Publishing activities/milestones by e-resources use between 2001 and 2005

Research Milestone/Activity Use e-resources Don’t use e- Total
resources
Journal articles published 57 (58%) 41 (42%) 98 (100%)
Books published 15 (68%) 7 (32%) 22 (100%)
Chapters in books published 24 (63%) 14 (37%) 38 (100%)

Data revealed increased intensity of research activities between 2000 and 2005 by
lecturers to professorial ranks which could partly be attributed to increased use of
electronic information resources (see Table 9 for details). The period between 2000 and
2005 in Tanzanian Universities was characterized by increased access to electronic
information resources through PERI, free Internet resources and other programmes. It
was a period of greater sensitization in the use of ICT and ICT-related resources in the
Universities and particularly in the libraries. Data therefore supports the research
hypothesis that the use of electronic information resources will lead to increased research
output, including the improved ability to write fundable research proposals and timely
completion of research reports. Data in Table 9 also shows that the use of electronic
information resources was related to publishing of research findings (an indicator of
research quality) as revealed by increased rates of journal article publishing between
2000 and 2005. This finding therefore supports the other research hypothesis that the use
of electronic information resources is related to enhancing the quality of research.

Table 9: Research outputs by years for lecturers to professorial ranks

Research Activity 1990-1994 1995-2000 2001-2005 % increase between

2000 and 2005
Research Proposals 42 89 103 16%
submitted
Research Proposals 35 78 99 27%
funded
Research Reports 36 63 85 35%
Submitted
Journal Articles 45 70 86 23%
Published
Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions
The findings of this research have revealed that the use of electronic information
resources and specifically the online resources had a positive impact on various research
activities and milestones such as research proposal submission, research proposal
funding, research report writing and journal article publishing. The results therefore
provide empirical support for the hypotheses that the increased flow of information
because of increased access to and use of electronic information resources is related to
increased research output and enhancement of the quality of research. In this study it was
observed that there was a positive relationship between the use of electronic information
resources and research output and publishing as demonstrated by an increased number of
proposals prepared, submitted and funded, research reports output and journal articles
published, and chapters in books and books published during the time when the electronic
information resources were being made available.

Several conclusions are drawn from this study. First, a fairly large proportion of
researchers is not aware of the availability of scholarly databases but is aware of free
Internet resources such as general search engines. This implies that marketing strategies
used by various libraries in the universities are not reaching the target population and thus
needs to be improved. Second, the use of scholarly databases is limited although the core
group of researchers using the resources is growing. However, the use of free Internet
resources is significantly high and the frequency of use is almost on a daily basis. Third,
the training of end users in the use of electronic information resources was far from
adequate and comprehensive. Fourth, the content relevance of some of the resources
could have been one of the limitations in the use of the resources. Fifth, from the point of
view of institutions issues of sustainability were not built into the programmes such as
PERI. Most of these programmes were donor-funded to a large degree. Finally, the use of
electronic information resources by academic ranks and age appeared to be an equalizing
force in the academic communities as junior and higher ranking academics, and younger
and older academics were using these resources with very minor variations.

Recommendations
Based on the research findings and conclusions drawn the paper makes the following
recommendations. First, libraries and universities should devise a formula to ensure
reasonable budget allocation to electronic information resources (journal subscriptions) to
ensure sustainability of access to such resources. This will be more cost effective if it is
done within the framework of the Consortium of Tanzania University Libraries. Second,
libraries, in collaboration with the end-users design marketing strategies that work to
increase awareness and eventually usage of the electronic information resources. Third,
libraries in collaboration with end users should design and implement information
literacy programmes that are effective, for example, training materials that are
content/subject specific. Finally, libraries, and universities in general should ensure that
adoption of change is mainstreamed in their strategic plans to create a technologically
comfortable working environment (including provision of supportive services) that
recognises the extra workload as perceived by the staff through incentives.
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