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This paper is based on a Master’s dissertation whose objective was to determine the purpose for which students of the University of Dar es Salaam use the Internet (see www.udsm.ac.tz/). It was to determine if students were using the Internet for academic purposes. The study also investigated the level of students’ access to the Internet, as well as the problems students faced in Internet use. The web site has specific information on faculties, institutes, and departments, including training programmes. The Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) has been installed at the Main Campus and UCLAS libraries, replacing the manual card catalogues. The OPAC has simple and advanced search options, using ADLID software. Plans are underway to convert the manual catalogue of MUCHS library into an online catalogue. The survey method was used as the basic method for data collection, employing the questionnaire and the interview. Participant observation and focus group discussion are other methods used. The study revealed that the level of students’ access to the Internet was low, and the major reason was that at the time of the study, computers with Internet facilities were inadequate. The findings also revealed that the students who had access to the Internet were not using it effectively. They used it mainly for communication with friends and relatives more than for academic purposes. The cause of this was found to be lack of skills required for effective use of the internet. The study recommends the provision of more computers with Internet facilities, increasing Internet access speed, as well as providing more chances of training in Internet use.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of awareness and utilisation of the internet for academic research and learning among level 400 (final year) students of Ghana's oldest business school.

The study utilised a cross‐sectional survey approach because it was restricted to final year students in the 2003–2004 year graduating class. The study also employed a convenience sampling technique and was executed by means of questionnaire administration and personal interviews. The final year students were asked to fill the questionnaires before a business policy lecture. The basic research instrument used in this research was a structured questionnaire with both open and close ended questions. Apart from questionnaires, in‐depth interviews with the respondents were also conducted with the respondents because we felt that because we were dealing with a research that had to do with technology, there could be latent issues that could only be uncovered by open discussions. Data were analysed and presented by means of simple descriptive statistics.

Developing countries, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa, are often rich in the resources of people and staffing, if not in material resources. The promotion of information literacy is essentially dependent on using people differently, that is to better effect, not on injecting more resourcing into under‐funded services (although this is also important in many regards). Authorities at teaching universities, including lecturers, and heads of departments, must, as a matter of urgency, adopt mechanisms for creating better information skills and internet usage awareness among the students. This should focus on what the internet is, the services available through the internet, and the basic skills required to use the internet. This policy is not limited by resourcing, it is simply a new way to better use the richest resource of developing nations, the people and their talents.

Owing to the exploratory nature of the research, the results cannot be generalised with certainty. The research however gives pointers to gaps in the internet use propensities of business students in Ghana's business school and an internet education policy has to be instituted immediately to properly prepare students for an increasingly online Ghanaian business environment.

The University of Ghana Business School should move towards the setting up of instructional labs. These labs should work in close association with the school's library to ensure that students are properly trained on business, teaching and research uses of the internet.

One of the first studies focussing on business students at the disadvantaged end of the global digital divides which regards skills training rather than resourcing as a key issue in information usage.

This study seeks to explore how students are increasingly using the Internet to support instruction and research needs in addition to heavy e‐mail usage. The extension of this research suggests more positive impact from the Internet in almost every aspect of academic life and suggests the need for more access at reduced costs on and near this campus.

A questionnaire was used to survey a sample of students about their internet practices.

Students are now coming to university with more background in technology and the role of the internet and other ICTs. The demand for internet service will continue to grow and how the university should respond to meet this greater demand is the focus of this research.

Study suggests that the impact of the ICTs and internet service for e‐mail and other research activities related to the role of studying suggests that access is a key problem that must be scaled better so that students and faculty have improved access. This situation should continue to be monitored and the study suggests that more and more university affiliates will need improved access to internet resources.

This study empirically analyse the lived and individual experiences of internet use time among postgraduate students in a period where the line between the virtual and real is blurred. The infusion of the internet in higher education has not only facilitated the production of new knowledge but has also led to reports of internet addiction among many users during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns. This study aims to evaluate the level of internet addiction among postgraduate students and the supportive information services role that librarians could provide.

In this study, 279 postgraduate students completed a quantitative survey targeted at all the postgraduate students at a university campus in South Africa. Data was collected using an adopted internet addiction test questionnaire. The data was descriptively and inferentially analysed.

As many as 61 (22.7%) are always online, with most of the respondents, 112 (41.6%) spend 10 h or more on the internet daily. Laptop computers at 44.7% emerged as the primary electronic device used by postgraduate students for accessing the internet, surpassing the prevalence of mobile phone usage. On internet addiction level, internet use time had a statistically significant relation with problematic internet use levels in respondents. These results suggest that the increased uncontrolled internet use could negatively interfere with productive academic work of postgraduate students. However, based on the inferential statistical results, it can be concluded that academic use of the internet does not contribute to increased levels of internet addiction. The study recommends that librarians should provide literacy education and resources on how to use the internet safely and responsibly, including tips on setting boundaries, managing time online and productively using online information resources.

The study assesses problematic internet use among postgraduate students and provides suggestions on supportive information services that librarians could provide in an era where many library information services provision and higher education are hinged on the internet.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of the internet among deaf and hearing students. The study also explores the perceptions of students toward the internet, online databases and digital libraries.

The study uses a survey questionnaire to collect data from the sample. The sample consists of 59 hearing and 53 deaf students studying at Al Ain University of Science and Technology Al Ain University (AAU). Descriptive statistics and t-tests are used to analyze data.

Findings of the study show that at least 90 per cent of participants are using the internet for intellectual activities and social communications. In addition, the majority of deaf and hearing students have positive perceptions toward digital information resources. For gender differences, the study found no significant difference between men and women in the use of internet or in their perceptions toward the importance of online databases and digital libraries. However, results of the study confirmed significant difference between deaf and hearing students in relation to internet use, perception toward the importance of online databases and digital libraries.

The sample of the study are students studying at AAU. Future studies may expend this study by including deaf participants from various institutions in UAE.

The results of the study could be used in planning and providing digital information resources and services for deaf students.

The study aims to investigate the use of cybercafé for internet access by students of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Nigeria.

Using descriptive design, 382 copies of a structured questionnaire were administered to students of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, who were using the institution cybercafé as at the time of the study.

The findings revealed that 75 percent of the male students make use of the cybercafé compared with their female colleagues, while the majority strongly agreed that they use it for research purposes. Google and Yahoo were the leading search engines used to explore resources, while the students acquired internet search knowledge and skills through teaching themselves followed by computer training programmes. It was also discovered that irregular electricity supply was the leading problem faced while using the cybercafé by the students, among others.

The paper contains an extensive study on the use of cybercafé in an academic environment in Nigeria, which will help in improving the internet access of students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Examines changes in experience and confidence among students taking their first Internet course at university between 1994 and 2000 in a country with high Internet use. Time series show that the number of participants who had used the Internet before commencing university has increased so it is now rare to encounter a student with no prior experience. While almost all new students are experienced and confident users of e‐mail and the WWW, not all have used search engines, and exposure to new and advanced tools is limited. Very few have built a Web page. The first Internet course at universities in countries with high Internet penetration should develop students’ understanding of the Internet as it is used in everyday life by developing knowledge of the Internet’s history and development, advanced skills in Internet use, and the knowledge required to evaluate the potential of new Internet technologies and applications.

The purpose of this research is to look at the state, adoption and use of ICTs by students and academic staff at Mzuzu University.

The research used a survey method whose study population included students, academic and library staff. Data for the study were collected using an interview guide and questionnaires.

The research found out the state of ICTs at Mzuzu University was poor. In spite of this, adoption and use of ICTs was high. ICTs were mainly used for academic‐related word processing tasks, including internet access. However, most of the respondents used personal laptop computers connected to an MTL/TNM/AIRTEL dongle, a personal GSM phone, or commercial internet cybercafés off campus to access the internet. The university network was not used much. Obstacles to the adoption and use of ICTs included poor network infrastructure, the limited number of computers, the high cost of internet access, persistent power outages, and the lack of relevant ICT skills, among others.

The study did not involve postgraduate students because many of them pursue their studies by research, and hence they could have been difficult to contact. Adjunct academic members of staff were also excluded because of anticipated accessibility challenges. The findings of this study, therefore, may not necessarily apply to these groups.

The paper makes some recommendations, which, if acted upon by Mzuzu University management, would help improve the state of ICTs at the institution.

Malawi is a country that has generally lagged behind other countries in terms of ICT adoption and use. However, the magnitude of the problem, especially in institutions of higher learning, is relatively unknown owing to the lack of research undertakings in the field. This paper is therefore valuable because it gives a clear picture of the situation on the ground, and also suggests ways of how the problems faced could be solved.

Existing researches find that a gender difference exists in terms of Internet usage. In China, the singleton daughters resulting from China's one-child policy enjoy unprecedented parental support. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether singleton daughters can, to some extent, break through the predicament of the digital divide.

The study collected data from a sample of 865 college students and obtained 811 valid questionnaires. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to identify clusters of Internet usage from the perspective of statistical associations in various daily online activities. Two-way ANOVA and mean-comparison tests are used to analyze how singleton and non-singleton students use the Internet differently.

This study finds that singleton female students showed no significant differences from male students in aspirational activities of informational, educational use and social media use, which means that singleton female students have caught up with male students in these activities. However, female college students from multi-child families were still found to be disadvantaged in those activities.

There is a lack of consensus on the classification of Internet activities. We used EFA to cluster the varieties of Internet activities into three types: utilitarian use, exploratory use and aspirational use. The three identified types of Internet usage require different degrees of user initiative. We argue that initiative provides a useful lens through which to classify Internet usage. In addition, this study is among the few studies to investigate the impact of the one-child policy on the gender digital divide.

In the past two decades, the problem of gender disparities in the use of internet has attracted a remarkable interest of researchers. Several studies revealed that female internet users were the disadvantaged group than males, because they had not the same access, experience and use frequency regarding the internet use. Moreover, the negative attitude of the society towards the females’ internet use also made them disadvantaged group. Prompted by these observations, this paper aims to examine gender differences in the use of internet among graduate students of a developing society – in public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Quantitative research design using a questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed through SPSS version 20.0 by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The findings of this study, similar to previous studies, revealed differences among men and women. Majority of men possessed PCs and were more experienced than women. In addition, they were more skilled and faced problems of computer anxiety and distance with less intensity than women. In addition, women used internet mainly for social interaction, communication, entertainment and were more satisfied with some of the educational resources than men. However, men were more satisfied than women regarding the use of most educational internet resources and spent more time on these than women.

This is the first study in Pakistan that deals with gender differences in the use of internet among graduate students of a developing society – in public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.