Digital literacy skills and job performance of librarians in Federal and State University Libraries in South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

The research investigated digital literacy skills and job performance of librarians in federal and state university libraries in south-south, Nigeria. Five hypotheses guided this study. This study is based on Campbell (1990) Job performance and Davis (1989) Technology Acceptance Model theoretical frameworks. The study adopted a correlational research design with a population of 283 librarians and sample size of 200 librarians. The instrument deployed for eliciting data is a structured questionnaire designed by the researcher. The questionnaire was validated by two experts from Department of Library and Information Science from Ignatius Ajuru University of Education affiliated to College of Education, Warri and was also subjected to reliability test which showed high consistency level (r = 0.98) in the instrument. The data elicited were analyzed using both descriptive (such as frequencies and statistical mean) and inferential statistics such as Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Simple Regression. It was found that electronic mailing skills of librarians predicted their job performance by 96% implying a high prediction. The null hypothesis is therefore rejected implying that there is a significant relationship between librarians' electronic mailing skills and their job performance in federal and state university libraries in south-south, Nigeria. This means that an increase electronic mailing skills will lead to a corresponding increase in the job performance of librarians and vice versa. The findings revealed that the relationship that existed between all the digital literacy, skills and job performance of librarians in federal and state university libraries in south-south, Nigeria is high. Based on the conclusion, it is evident that librarians have knowledge of these skills to fit into the demand of the digital age. It is recommended that librarians should scale up their interest in the aspect of digital literacy in order to take advantage of its potentials.