Abstract

Chinwe V. Anunobi *, Obinna P. Nwakwuo and Victoria O. Ezejiofor

The study sought to identify acquisition activities and problems in university libraries of southern Nigeria. 58 serials staff were sampled randomly from the 13 federal university libraries in southern Nigeria. A self designed questionnaire made of 7 items was distributed to the sampled staff. A total of 48 (82.7%) of the questionnaire were returned. Data was collated and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 10.0. The results were presented with tables, frequency and percentages while Chi-square inferential statistics was used in testing the hypothesis. The result shows that serials acquisition operation in southern Nigeria federal university libraries, involves the following activities: Selection of titles, pre-order checking, preparation of final list for order and ordering. Other activities of such operation are verification of receipt, checking in of materials, claiming and renewal of subscription as well as cancellation of order. Serials acquisition operation is more developed in south western university libraries than the other geopolitical zones. Acquisition of serials in southern Nigeria federal university libraries is besieged with problems. These problems are those related to cost of serials, selection tools, nature of serials and subscription decision. Recommendations were made based on the findings.