Socio-demographic variables and utilization of ict among members of staff of university libraries in cross-river and akwa-ibom state nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of socio-demographic variables such as age, level of education, belief, and gender on the utilization of ICT among library staff in university libraries in Cross-River and Akwa-Ibom States, Nigeria. To carry out this study, three research objectives that were later translated to hypotheses were generated on the basis of age, gender, level of education, and belief, to guide the research. Literature relating to the variables selected were reviewed to cover both conceptual and empirical sources. The Ex-post facto research design was utilized for the study. A sample of 461 respondents was drawn from six university libraries using the purposive (census) sampling technique. A structured questionnaire titled, ‘Socio-demographic Variables and Utilization of Information and Communication Technology for Library services (SDVUICTLS)’ was used as the main instrument for data collection. The tool was subjected to face and content validation by experts in Test, Measurement and Evaluation Faculty of Education, University of Calabar. The reliability coefficient ranged from 0.75 to .88 and was established through Cronbach’s Alpha method. The hypotheses were tested at .05 alpha levels. The data analysis techniques used were One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and independent t-test. The results of data analyses revealed that age (F=8.195), level of education (F = 5.232), belief (F = 4.242), significantly influenced utilization of ICT by library staff in the university libraries, while there was no significant influence of gender t=.252) on the utilization of ICT by library staff for library services. Based on these findings, it was recommended that library management/ parent institutions should embark on aggressive training and retraining of staff especially those that are 40 years and above with special reference to utilization of ICT for provision of services in the libraries.  The study equally recommended that Librarians should make personal effort to train themselves with or without the assistance of the management because this will make them to be more relevant and effective in delivering library services to the library users