International Students Library Usage Frequency Patterns in Academic Libraries: A User Survey at Jiangsu University Library

Academic libraries are supposed to provide quality services to its user including international students in order to increase its patronage. The main purpose of this paper is to assess the frequency patterns of how international students use academic libraries. The user survey was conducted in Jiangsu University Library using the library usage pattern with Five-Point Likert scale survey questions from the LibQUAL TM model. The survey was administered to the international students, with 201 respondents based on simple random sampling. The researchers used analysis methods like descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages, inferential statistics and Structural Equation Model (SEM). The study revealed that majority of international students frequently use library resources both on library premises and through the library webpage on daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis while majority of them use non library resources like google on daily and weekly basis. Majority of these respondents who use the library resources are Asians (Non- Chinese) and Africans. The results also revealed that there is a negative relationship and effect of using non-library resources on library premises on using library resources and no effect on using library resources through the library webpage. This implies that and increase in the use of non-library resources will significantly decrease the use of library resources. The study implies that academic libraries should improve its services and resources to international students to increase their patronage.