The low library usage by university students: a case on Zimbabwe Open University Midlands Regional Library, Gweru, Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwe Open University Midlands regional library acts as a back bone for the Zimbabwe Open University Midlands Region, as it has in place resources and services meant to cater for the diverse library needs of its stakeholders, at the same time encouraging extensive study habits and life-long learning. However, there is a very low usage of library resources and services by the university students. Therefore this pragmatic research intended to establish the reasons behind this low usage and recommend measures that can be taken to increase the student's use of the library, through the use of a case study research design. The study used semi-structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis to collect data. The study identified that some of the resources within the library did not meet the needs of the students, and also that the library was inconveniently located, thus making it difficult for most students to visit and use the library. Therefore, for the library to be deemed relevant, the research recommends that relevant resources be acquired in the library. Also the research recommends that the library be relocated to a more strategic position, to enable maximum utilization by students.