Librarians’ ICT skills and service delivery in private universities in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills of librarians for service delivery in private universities with particular reference to Southern Nigeria. The study adopted the survey research method. Forty-five (45) private university libraries in Southern Nigeria and their librarians constituted the sample size for the study. The study’s samples consisted of 181 librarians in the private universities, hence, total enumeration was adopted. Questionnaire was used for data collection from the respondents. Out of the 181 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 173 were returned and found valid for analysis. Data gathered was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21 and the results were presented in frequency count, percentage, mean and chart. Findings of the study revealed that librarians in private universities in Southern Nigeria delivered various library services to their users. The librarians have acquired basic ICT skills and were versatile in its application for Internet searches, information retrieval, social communication and Microsoft-office related activities with the exception of programming skills. Majority of the librarians acquired their ICT skills through self-learning. The finding revealed that the acquisition of ICT skills by librarians in Southern Nigeria private universities is relevant to their delivery of improved library services. The paper recommended that regular acquisition of relevant ICT skills is essential for librarians and university management should support librarians’ ICT capacity development at national and international levels as this would enhance their relevance and get them abreast of the latest development for effective service delivery.