Internet facilities: use and non-use by Nigerian university scientists

The Internet culture is creating a new scientific communication system with new facilities that are competing with, and might replace, the present printed information sources. The use and non-use of these facilities by Nigerian academic scientists were investigated, using data collected from a survey of academic staff of selected disciplines in 10 universities. It was found that the scientists are still heavily dependent on printed information sources, especially journals, indexes and abstracts. The study reveals that 64.4% of them have a computer at their disposal, while 50.4% have access to, and are using, the Internet. Besides e-mail, very little use is made of other Internet facilities. Non-use of the Internet is attributable to problems of accessibility, ease of use and cost. Most of the non-users are aware of the information and communication potential of the Internet in their disciplines, and believe that the Internet will become indispensable in their research in the future.