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In this study, the researcher investigated the roles of digital library services amidst COVID-19 pandemic in tertiary institutions in Imo State, Nigeria. Two research questions were asked and two corresponding hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The population is 123 library staff which comprised 89 Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) library staff and 34 Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education (ALVAN) library staff. 123 respondents made up the sample for the study using census sampling technique. A 15-item researchers-constructed rating scale titled “Role of Digital Library Service amidst COVID-19 Pandemic Scale” (RDLSCPS) was used to collect data for answering the research questions and testing the null hypotheses. The instrument was validated by two specialists in Department of Library and Information Science and one specialist in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, all in Faculty of Education, Imo State University, Owerri. A test re-test method was used to ascertain reliability co-efficient of 0.79 using Pearson “r” statistics which indicated that the instrument was reliable. Research questions were answered using mean scores and standard deviation, while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the study found that the roles played by digital library during the COVID-19 pandemic include provision of access to current electronic book, online resources, scholarly material produced by members of the institution and meeting the core academic needs of the library users in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Based on the findings of the study, government should ensure that the digital library projects are well funded and managed to support the digital libraries services in various tertiary institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the availability and utilization of digital reference sources and services in academic libraries in South-South Nigeria. Descriptive research design was used for the study. The population of the study is 102 librarians. The entire102 librarians were used as the sample size for the study. The instruments for data collection were a Check List and a structured questionnaire. A checklist was used to check the availability of digital reference sources and ICT facilities that supports digital reference services, while the 102 questionnaire were filled and returned to the researcher. Data collected from the study was analyzed using Percentage. The results of the study revealed that types of digital reference sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedia, and directories among others are averagely available in most of the academic libraries in south-south Nigeria. The study also revealed that asynchronous and synchronous transactions and online bibliographic reference services are often offered in academic libraries. More so, digital reference services such as searching online databases, identifying, and locating materials are often used by users in academic libraries. The study recommended that government and the university management should ensure that there is adequate fund allocation to university libraries; and university library management should provide a functional library website to make digital reference sources and services easier for librarians and library users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]