Undergraduate students’ awareness, utilization and satisfaction with the Copperbelt university (CBU) library’s online public access catalogue (OPAC).
The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness, utilisation, and satisfaction of CBU undergraduate students with the Library’s OPAC. The specific of objectives of the study were to: determine levels of OPAC awareness among students; determine the extent to which students utilize it; assess their satisfaction and identify factors affecting their use. The study was grounded in the positivist paradigm and employed a quantitative research approach. Using systematic random sampling, 368 respondents were selected as part of the sample from a total population of 10,220 undergraduate students. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The findings reveal that while the majority (51.7%) of students are aware of the OPAC, its utilisation remains suboptimal. A considerable proportion of the students (40.5%) never use it and only a small proportion (12%) use it often or very often. Satisfaction levels are moderate, while more than half of the respondents (51.6%) expressed a neutral stance. Correlation analysis showed that facilitating conditions significantly impact both awareness (r = .619, p < 0.01) and utilisation (r = .473, p < 0.01), while regression analysis identified performance expectancy and facilitating conditions as strong predictors of awareness and satisfaction, and social influence as a significant predictor of utilisation. ANOVA results revealed significant differences in both awareness and utilization across age groups, with awareness (F (2,365) =13.072, p<0.001) and utilization (F (2,365) =14.122, p<0.001) showing notable variation, indicating that age influences OPAC engagement. Differences were found across programmes of study for utilization (F (7,337) =7.044, p<0.001) and satisfaction (F (7,337) =5.938, p<0.001), highlighting that academic discipline significantly impacts how students interact with the OPAC. Additionally, significant differences in awareness (F (4,363) =2.697, p=0.031) and utilization (F (4,363) =3.103, p=0.016) were observed based on the year of study, indicating that students' progression affect their use of the system. No significant differences were found for gender across all three variables, suggesting that gender does not influence these constructs. These findings imply that, despite reasonable awareness, substantial barrier still exist. Consequently, the study recommends that decisionmakers implement targeted literacy campaigns, invest in system upgrades, and provide robust training for students. Additionally, continuous monitoring and refining of OPAC implementation based on user feedback is encouraged. Furthermore, future researchers should further investigate demographic influences and conduct comparative studies with other institutions. Such knowledge if generated can inform more targeted interventions. Keywords: OPAC, Awareness, Utilisation, Satisfaction, Library and Information Technology, CBU, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).
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