Abstract

This study investigated the availability of Captions Resources and Library Patronage by Hearing Impaired Students in University Libraries of South-South Nigeria. One research question and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study and were tested at .05 level of significance. Survey research design was employed. The population for the study was 57 hearing impaired students from 10 universities in South-south Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used in the study. A structured questionnaire was developed and used to elicit information from the respondents. Frequency distribution and percentages were used to determine the level of availability and use while Pearson Products Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that significant relationship exists between availability of captions resources and library patronage by hearing impaired students. The findings also revealed the non-availability and patronage of captions resources by hearing impaired students.  The study concludes that the provision of captions resources for the hearing impaired students in university libraries in South-south Nigeria will increase patronage. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that universities in South-south Nigeria should provide captions resources for the hearing impaired students in their respective libraries.

Key words: Captions resources, interactive searching, relay services, functionality.