Influence of Digital Literacy on Electronic Resources use by Law Undergraduates in Private Universities in Osun State

  Electronic resources have been identified as panacea for academic enhancement most especial for law students. However, the use of electronic resources by law undergraduates in Nigeria universities is determined by several factors. Influence of digital literacy skills and technological advancement on use of electronic resources remained unclear. The study thus investigated the influence of digital literacy on use of electronic resources by law undergraduates in private universities in Osun State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study. The population of study comprised 686 law undergraduates from the two universities selected for the study. Multistage sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 206 with questionnaire being the data collection instrument. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation). The hypothesis raised to pilot the study was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Results obtained revealed that most of the law undergraduates in private universities used electronic books, online databases and electronic mails. They also used electronic resources such as the internet and online databases to source materials for to augment classwork and assignments. Also, the frequency of use of electronic resources was high in both universities (Adeleke University: mean = 89.70, Redeemers University: mean = 54.38) Furthermore, there was a significant influence of digital literacy on use of electronic resources by law undergraduates (r= .384;df = 197; p < 0.05), Also, technological advancement played significant roles in the use of electronic resources by law undergraduates with particular emphasis on skills, and proficiency and confidence level in computer. Law undergraduates need to maintain good knowledge of computer to succeed in their legal sojourn. The study recommended that Law undergraduates should be given basic training in the use of electronic resources. This could be incorporated in a course relating to the use of law library and that government and the university management inject more funds to support acquisition of electronic resources on one hand and training of staff and students on digital literacy on the other.