Title: Collection Development Policies and Effective Service Delivery Benue State University Libraries, Nigeria
Author(s): Hindan Henry Tsedoo; . Solomon A. Uganneya; and Asom Faga
Publication Year: 2024; Volume 19, Issue 2, pages 1-10

This study investigated the perceived influence of application of collection development policies on effective service delivery in university libraries in Benue State. Six research objectives with corresponding research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study comprises 172 professional and para professional librarians in three University libraries in Benue State. Census sampling technique was used thereby sampling all the population since it was small and could be relatively handled by the researcher. The instrument employed for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire. The instrument was also trial tested and Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained. Data collected were analysed using percentages, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using Chi-square. Findings revealed that collection development policies are available in universities libraries in Benue State, collection development policies influence effective service delivery in university libraries in Benue State, application of collection development policies as a tool for effective influence service delivery in university libraries in Benue State and application of collection development policies has significant benefits for effective service delivery in university libraries in Benue State. The constraints associated with application of collection development include shortage of skilled staff, lack of cooperation from parent institution, lack of funds and the poor attitude of staff towards work The study concluded that, if service delivery in university libraries in Benue state in form of selection policy, acquisition policy, selection procedure statement, collection evaluation policy and weeding policy are religiously utilized, the strength and weaknesses in a collection of library materials would be identified and there would be plan to correct the weakness and maintain the strength