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The article focuses on the Susan Barbara Tallmon Sargent Collection, one of the numerous digital collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah centered upon the papers of Susan Tallmon Sargent, a physician who served as a medical missionary in China in the early 20th century. The collection includes correspondence relating to her education which culminated in her graduation from Northwestern in Chicago in 1902 and other documents about medical missionaries in China.

Today electronic databases have become the backbone of many academic libraries around the globe including Ghana. This is largely due to its advantages over the print resources. Libraries spend colossal amount of resources on online databases in a bid to enhance teaching, learning and research in institutions of higher learning. This study was carried out to examine the usage of online databases by faculty members of the University of Education, Winneba. It focuses on only the Winneba campus to address the following objectives among others; explore the awareness level of the databases the university subscribes to and to determine the extent of use and the relevance of the databases by faculty. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study was a survey and made use of questionnaire to elicit data from the respondents. A sample population of 210 was given questionnaires bearing in mind the research questions which guided the study. Data was analysed using frequencies and simple percentages. The results of the study revealed that majority of respondents were aware of the databases though there were few of them who did not know the existence of the databases. It further established that a number of faculty members who utilise the databases, had knowledge of some of the databases and use them mainly for research and other educational activities. However, the results indicated that though faculty acknowledges the importance of the databases to their information needs, there were few hindrances that inhibit their effective use of the databases, these were; no access to the databases outside the campus, often passwords to some databases not functioning, and issues bothering on internet connectivity. The paper ends with recommendations to ensure effective and efficient use of the databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated library instruction methods, effect and the challenges in academic libraries using the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun (FUPRE) students as the target population. Library instruction is a core activity of the academic libraries that entails educating, enlightening, guiding and helping the library users to identify, understand and utilize library information resources effectively. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population consists of seven hundred and seventy-three 100 level students who registered for Use of Library (GSE 112) course in the first semester of 2015/2016 academic session. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Using a consensus sampling technique, all the 773 students participated in the study during a seminar organized for the 100 level students at the end of the second semester by August 2016. All the questionnaires were retrieved while 643 were found usable representing 83 percent. The finding showed that classroom teaching, library orientation and library guide (X = 3.00, SD = 000) were the methods mostly used while guided library tour (X = 2.53, SD = 667), library and one-on-one mentoring (X = 2.48, SD = 716) were also used to instruct the library users. It also reveal that Ask a librarian, FAQ, library Blog, library Website, Text messaging were not used to instruct the users. The finding also shows that library instruction was effective for identification of books on the shelves (X = 3.78, SD = 416), access and retrieval of information materials in the library (X = 3.67, SD = 471), enable students to cite and reference books with ease (X = 3.11, SD = 874) and turned users into regular library users (X = 3.45, SD = 497). It however, shows that library instruction has no effect on students' academic excellence (X = 3.44, SD = 687). The findings however reveal some of the challenges facing library instruction including non-expository of the program (X = 2.78, SD = 785), inadequate time for library orientation (X = 3.00, SD = 815), non-utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) for library instruction (X = 2.78, SD = 787) and students' lack of interest in library instruction programs (X = 3.56, SD = 684). The study, therefore, concluded that library instruction is an effective means of educating users and creating awareness of available information resources in the library. Librarians should ensure that library instruction impact students' academic excellence while viable methods of engaging and instructing the users in making them effective users and life-long learners be encouraged and explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]