Search

Objective – To assess the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for selective dissemination of information (SDI) and current awareness services (CAS) in university libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria. Methods – A descriptive research design was adopted. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire administered to a population consisting of 379 librarians, with 353 usable questionnaires retrieved. Results – Findings revealed that most university libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria do not use ICT in delivery of SDI and CAS. It is evident in this study that despite the known positive effects of ICT in library services, traditional methods were predominantly used for SDI and CAS to the library users. The study revealed that erratic Internet services, insufficient training, inadequate ICT skills, and low support for ICT were hindrances towards ICT use for SDI and CAS. Conclusions – The integration of ICT features in library services for the delivery of CAS and SDI has been a challenge in university libraries in South-West Nigeria. Only a few libraries and a low percentage of librarians had adopted the use of ICT in the delivery of CAS and SDI, while a larger number of libraries resorted to the use of traditional methods. The level of ICT literacy among the librarians in this study is low, as a higher percentage of librarians did not have adequate ICT skill to use available online resources on the Internet and other ICT tools to deliver SDI and CAS in South-West, Nigeria. This is not unconnected to the fact that the training and technical support received by the librarians is inadequate, and the level of support that academic libraries received from their university managements in South-West Nigeria in terms of funding for ICT development is inadequate, which led to low Internet services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of literature exists concerning acceptance and utilisation of 'social networking' (SN) tools in academic libraries from different parts of the world. However, only a handful of work has been done on librarians' use of SN in academic libraries in South-East, Nigeria. Therefore, this study tends to investigate librarians' use of SN in academic libraries in South-East, Nigeria. This study adopted a survey design using 173 librarians from the zone. Finding showed that some librarians used SN in libraries for delivery of library services. It also revealed that SN will be beneficial and cost effective for academic libraries to adopt. Some challenges identified in this study inhibiting use of SN in academic libraries are erratic power supply, inadequate skill to manipulate SN and other ICT tools, technophobia, lack of awareness, insufficient bandwidth, apathy in using modern technologies and lack of internet connection. The study suggested that SN can be adopted in academic libraries for library service delivery. It recommended that academic libraries should prioritise training and retraining of librarians in the use of emerging and current internet resources, provision of power supply, ICT facilities and internet connection to enhance delivery of library services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses use of journal publications from library collections by undergraduate students for research at the Babcock University in Nigeria. Topics discussed include organized academic libraries, academic journals and research articles. Other topics include use of journal by faculty and information and communication technology (ICT) in libraries.