TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page – – – – – – – – – – i
Approval page – – – – – – – – – ii
Certification page – – – – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgements- – – – – – v
Table of Contents – – – – – – – vi
List of Tables – – – – – – viii
Abstract – – – – – – – – – ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background to
the Study – – – – – –
1
Statement of
the Problem – – – – – –
10
Purpose of the
Study – – – – – –
11
Research
Questions – – – – – – – 12
Significance
of the Study – – – – – –
12
Scope of the
Study – – – – – – –
14
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual
Framework – – – – – –
15
Use
of ICT Facilities in Library operations – – – 19
ICT
Skills for Librarians – – – – – – 23
Methods
of ICT Training for Librarians – – – –
27
Constraints
to Effective ICT Training – – – –
30
Strategies
for Effective ICT Training
– – – – 32
Review
of Empirical Studies – – – – – 34
Summary
of Literature Review – – – – – 37
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD
Research
Design – – – – – – – 39
Area
of the Study – – – – – – – 39
Population of the Study – – 40
Sample and Sampling Technique – – – 40
Instrument
for Data Collection – – – – – 40
Validation of the Instrument – – – – – – 41
Method
of Data Collection – – – – – – 42
Method
of Data Analysis – – – – – 42
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF DATA – – – 44
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Discussion of the Findings – – – – 54
Implications of the Study – – – – – 61
Recommendations – – – – – – 62
Limitations of the Study – – – – – 63
Suggestions for Further Research – – – – 64
Conclusion – – – – – – 64
REFERENCES – – – – – – – – 66
APPENDICES
Appendix A (Research Questionnaire) – – – 70
Appendix B (Research Population Table) – – 76
Appendix C (Validated Instrument) – – – 77
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1A: Years of Experience of Respondents – – 45
Table 1B: Distribution of Respondents by Section – – 46
Table 2: ICT Skills for Librarians – – – – – 47
Table 3: Methods of ICT skill Acquisition by Librarians — 48
Table 4: Extent of ICT Training
Methods in Effective Library Service Delivery – 49
Table 5: Constraints to ICT Training – – – 50
Table 6: Strategies for effective ICT Training – – 51
ABSTRACT
The main purpose
of this study is to determine the training methods of librarians in ICT use in
federal universities in the south-east zone of Nigeria namely: University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and Michael Opara
University of Agriculture, Umudike. The study was conceived against the
background of the importance of ICT in library services and how librarians as
information practitioners are being trained to effectively apply it in their
services. Five research objectives were drawn which include; identifying the
ICT skills required for training librarians in federal universities in
south-east; identifying the methods librarians employ to acquire ICT skills;
determining the extent to which the training methods are effective in library
service delivery; identifying the deficiencies in ICT training methods employed
by the university librarians; proffer strategies towards effective training
methods in ICT by librarians in the federal universities. The study used the
survey research method. The entire population of 92 librarians was sampled for
the study. The questionnaire made up of 66 items was the instrument used to
collect data which were presented in tables and analyzed using frequency,
percentage and the mean. Findings revealed that reading books and manuals,
training in university computer centre, seminars/workshops, teaching by
friends, in-house training, training in commercial cafes and self-teaching are
methods employed by librarians to acquire ICT training as these have scores of
between 64.5-75 percent. However, the method effective in library services are
training in university computer centre, training in commercial cafes,
self-teaching, teaching by friends and in-house training with means score of
3.00, 2.70, 2.78, 2.61 and 2.58 respectively. The study recommended among other
things that all university librarians must obtain ICT skills using suitable
training methods, internet service providers should increase the speed of
server/modem, qualified system engineers should be engaged to ensure regular
maintenance of ICT facilities.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The
role of the library in the information age and the place of ICT in an effective
information provision and its wide acceptance in most university libraries
underscore the urgent need for training of librarians in ICT use. This is
particularly true when viewed from the background that no matter how important
a technology is, it is worthless or inactive without the human agent to apply
and manipulate it. Librarians therefore, as managers of library resources stand
conspicuously at the center of ICT application in libraries. The emergence of powerful technologies, vast
amounts of information in multimedia and other digital formats and more
technologically talented users means that librarians, particularly those in the
universities in the South-east of Nigeria are faced with the great challenge of
dealing with information revolution.
Contributing
in this direction, Shiloba (2005) argued that “libraries, librarians and
information managers have to cope with the demands of an information society.
They also need to have knowledge, skills and tools in handling digital
information to be efficient creators,
consolidators and communicators of information”. Shiloba added that librarians
must become familiar with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and
feel comfortable both when using it themselves and when helping others to make
effective use of it. Omekwu (2007), agreeing fully with the significant changes
in information production, processing and provision drew out a number of
management imperatives for librarians some of which are that;
Libraries will
emerge as ‘technology experts–ensuring that members of the knowledge
communities understand the available technology and use it to its fullest
potential. Librarians are increasingly challenged to manage computer and related
information technologies that aid their work as catalogers, references
managers, acquisition staff or network professional …. As educators, librarians
can increase awareness among their clients of information networks, their
contents and potential use. They can help clients who have poor network skill
to access sources of information on the network. In the highly digitized
environment of the information age, librarians will seek new approaches of
providing reference services in at least three levels-conventionally, digitally
and virtually (p. 102).
Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) is unarguably man’s foremost scientific
invention and will remain so indefinitely. It has revolutionized every human
activity with a far reaching impact on knowledge than Guttenberg’s invention of
the printing press in the 15th century, a development which
liberalized literacy.
UNESCO defined Information
Technology (IT) as “the scientific, technological and engineering disciplines
and the management technique used in information handling and processing; their
applications; computers and their interactions with man and machines; and
associated social economic and cultural matters”. As a complementing resource
perhaps, Omekwu (2007) views Communication Technology (CT) as “essentially
encompassing all other technologies that enable humans to communicate and
transmit information”. Such will be the radio, television and telephone. He
added that the integration of IT systems and CT systems develop into ICT system
with enhanced capacities and capabilities for the transmission of information
in multimedia formats.
Like all other professions, the
influence of ICT pervades the library and information profession. Quite a lot
of texts have been written on the impact, need for and the application of ICT
in libraries, yet for the purpose of this study the role of ICT in effective
library service delivery particularly university libraries shall be
re-emphasized.
Henderson cited in Anunobi, (2005)
recorded the benefits of ICT to library users. These include provision of
speedy and easy access to information, provision of remote access to users,
provision of round – the – clock access to users, access to unlimited
information from different sources and providing more current information.
Indeed, ICT hold the key to effective and more appropriate library operations
in this information age.
According to Conchrac cited in
Nwachukwu, (2005) some of the benefits of introduction of ICT in libraries are
as follows:
- Allow easy integration of various library activities.
- Facilitates cooperation of networks of libraries
- Avoid duplication of efforts within a library and
between libraries in a network.
- Increase the range of services offered.
- Provide marketing opportunity of its services
- Ultimately may save and, or generate money.
- Increased efficiency
Given
the tremendous potentials of ICT applications in libraries, it will amount to a
disaster both for librarians and library users if the former do not obtain the
ICT skills relevant to the work.
The
most notable impact of the ICT in universities is the internet. The internet is
the new technological avenue to disseminate information to a larger and widely
dispersed audience in a more speedy and accurate way. Internet helps to satisfy
people’s quest for knowledge and facilitates learning, teaching, research and
publication, the objectives for which universities are known. University
libraries are established to enhance the achievement of these objectives,
through provision of bibliographic services to the academic community. No
university library worth its salt, therefore, can ignore the internet and
remain relevant. This means that digital or virtual library resources must be
organized for maximum exploitation by users.
Bello (2007) noted that the introduction
of internet is one of the greatest wizardry of the current ages. He defines it
simply as “a global network of numerous computers and computer networks all
over the world”. It allows users to access information over the network.
Information can also be exchanged, stored and retrieved. Bello listed the tools
of the internet to include; electronic-mail (E-mail). File transfer protocol;
telnet, use net news; and World Wide Web (www). Daniels and Matthew (2000)
describe the new development as tools for information delivery in the new
millennium. They enumerated the tools as follows: internet; www, e-mail,
bibliographic control tools; online searching; creativity and innovations and
the new information professionals. In the views of Oketunji as cited in
Anunobi, (2005), ICT resources available for library include: personal
computer; Compact Disk-Read-only-memory (CD-ROM); telefascimile (fax); network;
electro copying (scanning); and internet. Other ICT resources applicable in
university libraries could include; storage devices like optical and magnetic
disks, printers, television, video recorder, taper recorder etc.
University libraries could apply
varieties of telecommunication networks for different purposes; like the Local
Area Network (LAN) to link the terminals within a library house keeping system,
Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect databases in remote systems, National data
and voice networks to access videotext and telephone calls, and broadcast
services to receive teletext. These entire networks enhance interconnection and
easy access to information.
The main purpose of networking of
university library are to facilitate the exchange of bibliographic records,
publication and distribution of electronic journals and other documents; making
resources available in the databases to individual libraries and users;
revealing the contents of a large number of libraries or a large number of
publications using on-line public Access Catalogue (OPAC) interfaces.
ICT resources can also be applied
for house keeping operation to enhance effective service delivery. House
keeping operations here involves activities such as acquisition, cataloguing,
circulation and charging functions, serials control, digitization of
collections, security of collections, etc. This application generally results
in, improved operations; control of volume of activities efficiently and
effectively, provision for new services and prevention of replications.
The task of ensuring a high degree
of accessibility to library resources is that of the librarian. Librarians can
be seen as a corps of professionals responsible for the collection of relevant
materials and their organization, storage, retrieval, evaluation as well as
dissemination of such materials to users. Librarians in universities provide
academic support to members of the university community, including students,
researchers, lecturing staff, administrative members as well as others. This is
by carrying out the aforementioned roles. These functions help the university
to achieve its primary objectives of teaching, learning, research and
consultancy services.
The
challenge of accessing and utilization of the enormous information emerging
from all sphere of life and all fields of study gave rise to the introduction
of various information technologies to enhance quicker accessibility and
maximum utilization by different users.
Idowu
and Mabawonka, cited in Okore (2005) listed benefits derivable from application
of ICT in libraries to include; enhanced productivity, increased output, more
productive tasks in document and information processing, network enhancement
and control of record management and retrieval.
Okore
further opined that libraries can also use ICT to carry out the following
activities for better service delivery:
- Location of information: information can be located
through the use of computers with new services such as CD-ROM, online searching
or the internet. Internet access could be used to provide libraries with
powerful search utilities to locate information stored on millions of computers
around the world. In this way research, educational or recreational information
can be generated for use.
- Storage and retrieval of information: information can
be stored at different workstations in different location of the library. The
cataloging section, serials or special collections can store their information
at the central unit and retrieve such information using the on-line search
facilities.
- Dissemination of information: information can be
disseminated through the web pages or e-mail or facsimile.
According
to Ozioko (2005), information technologies are seen as enabling tools with a
multiplier effect that can cut costs and improve the quality of delivery of
basic infrastructure and services. Accordingly, ICTs includes the human
resources that are needed to develop, install and operate the equipments and
software as well as to set and enforce policy around their use. This is because
with information communication technology things are made newer and easier for
human beings and events can be coordinated without much stress and effect.
The
basic building block of Information Technologies industries is the skilled and
semi-skilled manpower with basic skills for operating computers, using
elementary functions of standard software. It includes the ability to make use
of computer networks, in particular the internet; and to access the resources
available through them. This underscores the need for ICT training among
librarians. In addition, Ozioko added that electronic literacy is attractive to
corporations (including libraries) because it promises better use of time,
accelerated teaming, global reach, just pace and accountability.
Furthermore,
Omekwu (2007) noted that modern day librarians require specialized skills to
navigate the ocean of information in order to address the specified information
needs of their often sophisticated clientele system. He added further that the
information resources in the cyberspace will continue to be more than those
situated in any single library. Much of what is available in cyberspace is not
relevant, reliable, and retainable for a long period. Here lies the relevance
of librarians in the information age. According to Omekwu, they would continue
to explore, exploit and extend information available in all formats for the
common good. Without adequate ICT skills it will be impossible to fulfill these
roles.
Anunobi
(2005) infer the ICT competencies of librarians in Nigerian universities,
including those in the south-east zone, by the application of ICT facilities in
libraries’ administrative purposes. Other areas of application according to her
are cataloguing and classification as well as in acquisition. In a latter study
however, Edom (2010) pointed out the ICT use by academic librarians in Owerri and
other states in the south-east zone. Their
areas of competencies therefore include; browsing/surfing of internet,
downloading files from internet, use of e-mail, accessing databases on CDs and
DVDs, inputting data into computer, retrieving
information from storage devices, printing data/information, visiting
websites. This does not imply however that each of the librarians possesses all
the skills nor does so equally.
The Harrod’s Librarian’s Glossary
presented training as:
the process of
developing the skill, awareness or expertise of staff, both professional and
non-professional. Training may consist of induction into a system or routine,
organization of new skill towards greater efficiency, job satisfaction,
commitment, interchangeability, co-operation, or promotion. It is important
that training should be carefully prepared in response to needs and its
effectiveness monitored (p. 790).
The Wikipedia free dictionary defines training as “the acquisition of
knowledge, skills, and competencies”. Training has specific goals of improving
one’s capability, capacity and performance. It forms the core of
apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of
technology. In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation
or profession, observers of the labour market recognize the need to continue
training beyond initial qualifications; to maintain, upgrade and update skills
throughout working life. People within many professions and occupations may
refer to this sort of training as professional development. Wikipedia
identified different types of training but Job Training and Development is more
relevant to this discussion. Some commentators use a similar term for workplace
learning to improve performance. Tr
