The Usage of Electronic Resources at Zimbabwe Open University Midlands Library, Gweru, Zimbabwe

The advent of electronic resources in academic circles towards the end of the 20^th century presaged a fresh landmark for research and scholarship as the innovation offered academics and scholars in universities with extensive, timely and contemporary sources of information. Therefore, this research grew out of the realization that regardless of numerous exertions that have been made by the Zimbabwe Open University Midlands library to enhance access to these resources, their usage among scholars remained very limited. This pragmatic study, conducted in this library in Gweru, endeavoured to find out why the utilization of electronic resources within the library was limited, and also institute what could be done to correct this problem. The study used questionnaires, interviews, and observations to gather information. The study established that the major cause of low usage of electronic resources in the library was due to the inadequate ICT resources within the library, which in turn caused slow Internet connectivity. The study also established that some of the students were not aware of the electronic resources offered by the library. Therefore, the study recommends that the library acquires adequate ICT resources that facilitate electronic resources access; this would also include increasing the bandwidth of the network to expedite the Internet connectivity. The study also recommends that the library undertakes diverse strategies to market the electronic resources that the library offers. In essence, the library should take a pro-active approach in ensuring that electronic resources are utilized by students in order for them to produce up to standard academic work, and also such that they can enrich themselves through these resources.