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This paper evaluates the impact of a growing digital culture on learning by investigating the phenomenon in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Using social survey and purposive sampling techniques, students and lecturers in higher education institutions were interviewed. Results show that the youths, who are mainly digital natives, possess different types of smart digital devices and use them mainly for social interaction among their peers. They also use the devices for academic purposes, though not extensively. Their lecturers and parents, on the other hand, are digital immigrants struggling with technology and are not able to provide the needed leadership in its use. The emerging digital culture affects the traditional family by encouraging emotional distancing, leading to a new set of values and a different social order. Suggestions are made as to how technology and digital information can be employed as a strategy for social transformation and national development in Africa.

The library was already undergoing change. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have uprooted whatever remained of the traditional library, giving way to an uncharted course in the provision of library services. This prompted research into the preparedness of librarians, librarianship students, and other students in 50 higher education institutions in Nigeria. Social survey was carried out by using social media platforms—WhatsApp and Facebook—to administer questionnaires to the target group. Responses revealed that librarians were not emotionally prepared for the pandemic and would prefer not to witness another. The use of libraries during the pandemic was minimal, and the availability of online resources was undermined by poor infrastructural development. Moving forward, increase in the use of digital resources is expected as well as creation of creative and flexible, technology-driven library spaces. Librarians will need more training, and a change in the curriculum of library schools is inevitable.

The future of libraries in Nigeria is a trends report on the development of libraries in Nigeria against the changes taking place globally in the provision of information and library services. Users of the libraries also project what the future portends in the country taking into account the present realities and future possibilities. The situation of public and academic libraries is used as an illustration because of their strategic importance in the development of libraries and in the use of libraries in the country. Libraries are struggling to cope with the demands of today's user who is technology savvy because of poor funding and inadequate infrastructure. Librarians also need to constantly update their knowledge and skills base to provide more effective services. Libraries in the country, indeed, face gradual extinction should they fail to respond adequately to the changing profile of today's library user and dynamics of information and library services provision.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential role of information literacy (IL) within the changing context of the e-learning environment at the University of Jos in recent years. It focuses and emphasises the role of the University library in facilitating teaching and learning through the use of e-learning platforms in teaching information retrieval skills. The paper aims to identify gaps in students’ information skills that could be addressed through IL instruction.Design/methodology/approach– The study employed a case study research design while the methodology involved the administration of structured questionnaires to the two groups of respondents.Findings– Findings from the study provide useful insights to the skills challenges experienced by students and point to a need for effective collaboration between the library, faculty and management in order to promote a better approach to learning at the institution.Originality/value– By emphasising the role of the library, the paper contributes to previous studies on e-learning at the University and provides a basis for further research in this regard.

This chapter explores the challenges posed by the gradual deployment of technology in the education sector in Nigeria. The digital environment is being used to advantage in the education sector, with the tertiary education sector taking the lead, and libraries and librarians in particular have been making efforts to adjust to the requirements of the digital environment through training. This chapter looks at the people’s technology as it descends from the global to the local and considers the line of division between funders, users and librarians. It identifies the need to understand trends in digital technology in developing countries such as Nigeria and considers how the environment and the infrastructure shape the technology.

Reports a study of the pattern of communication between library staff at two Nigerian university libraries: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) and Jos University (UNIJOS). Presents profiles of each library and discuss es the formal communication channels that exist at the two university libraries and which are instrumental in administrative decision making by ensuring that supervisors and decision makers get the right information needed. These include: library academic boards; library consultative committees; librarians' committees; sectional meetings; social services committees; staff general meetings; and departmental meetings. The degree to which informal information communication channels play an important role was deter mined by means of a questionnaire survey, which considered: length of ser vice ; gender distribution; number of people supervised; knowledge of library goals. Results indicated that the communication channels most frequently used in the two libraries were communication through heads of units, fol lowed by communication through the university librarian's office and staff general meetings. Further study of the process of communication via heads of units revealed that, while memo and face to face prevailed at ATBU, face to face was the main method of choice at UNIJOS. Notes the importance of the grapevine and gossip as means of communication and reports that it is unconsciously but consistently employed in both libraries. Presents a model for intraorganizational communication in university libraries, based on the findings of the study.

The paper provides an overview of trends in library practice worldwide. The trend is largely moderated by information and communication technology (ICT). The new tools of library practice are therefore essentially digital. The economic and social environment of library practice in Nigeria is briefly surveyed before discussing the new library. Discussion on the new library focuses on the uses of electronic mal, wed browsing and web page design, utilizing resources on the web, and manual processing. The paper concludes by listing the challenges in the way of the Nigerian academic/research librarian in appropriating the new tools for library practice. The challenges include funding for ICT, Internet connectivity, maintenance of facilities, provision of functional infrastructure (such as telephone and reliable electric power supply), and, of course, training and continuous professional development. Keywords : emerging, library, millennium, new, practice, tools Lagos Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1(1) 2003: 67-72