The use of Electronic Learning Centres by users of the City of Johannesburg Libraries in South Africa

Public libraries globally are adopting the use of electronic learning (e-learning) in order to improve services to the users, particularly in this age of technology. Electronic learning centres in public libraries are enhancing services to the users by ensuring that services are available to them quickly and efficiently. The purpose of this study was to establish the use of electronic learning centres by users of the City of Johannesburg (COJ) libraries in South Africa, which resort under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. The study set the following objectives as a guide to achieve the purpose: To identify services offered by e-learning centres to the users of the COJ libraries in South Africa; to determine the level of awareness of e-learning centres by the users of the COJ libraries in South Africa; to assess the competences of users of e-learning centres in the COJ libraries in South Africa; to establish the challenges faced in using e-learning centres in the COJ libraries in South Africa. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to determine the use of e-learning centres by users at COJ libraries, and it integrated aspects of theories from the literature, such as perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). The study adopted a positivist paradigm and employed a quantitative research approach with the survey research design. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The target population for the study was all the users of the electronic learning centres and librarians in the public libraries within the COJ. The total number of respondents was 84. This includes 60 e-learning library users, 23 e-learning librarians and 1 e-learning manager from 12 regional libraries. Stratified sampling from the probability sampling technique was adopted and data collection involved the use of a closed-ended and open-ended questions. An online (Google form) self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was sent to participants’ email addresses. Quantitative data collected were analysed using the descriptive analysis where the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used. ii The study revealed that services offered were readily available for use in the e-learning centres since the activities of the e-learning users were mainly internet access, free Wi Fi, computers and laptops. The e-learning centres need to continue to offer training programmes, as e-learning librarians need to improve their competencies to support and instruct e-learning users at e-learning centres. The e-learning centres were faced with innumerable challenges of internet connectivity and Wi-Fi, which resulted in poor usage of e-learning services in e-learning centres. The conclusions of the study noted common and new services offered by e-learning centres, which needed computers and laptops, internet access and free Wi-Fi and electronic resources. The awareness of e-learning services by remote users’ was very poor, as the majority of users were aware of e-learning centres through self-effort and one-on-one interaction with the library staff. The challenges faced in using e- learning centres included slow resource download speed, e-learning centres not being remotely usable and insufficient computers in the e-learning centres of libraries. It is recommended that electronic resources and universal serial bus (USBs) should be made available in e-learning centres as services offered. The e-learning centres should ensure that enough time is made available to ensure that effective awareness programmes are developed and implemented. Considering the noted challenges, the e learning unit should upgrade its ICT infrastructure (increase bandwidth) to facilitate easy access to internet connectivity and Wi-Fi. A further study to validate developed e-learning guidelines in the use of e-learning centres of COJ libraries is recommended.

Author dc:creator

• Mbambo, Sifiso Michael

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• https://uzspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/81b2138c-6956-4d7a-95c6-051b3f929997/download