LIBRARIANS’ USE OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS AND SERVICE PROVISION IN LAGOS STATE TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS LIBRARIES

ABSTRACT

With the growing recognition of the potentials of Web 2.0 tools, a lot of academic libraries are adopting the technologies and investing heavily in training programs for their staffs in order to improve their operations. It is however not certain whether Web 2.0 tools are actually being used for service provision and the extent to which they have positively influenced service provision in academic libraries hence, this study examines the influence of librarians’ use of Web 2.0 tools on library service provision in Lagos state tertiary institutions.

The target population employed in this study consists of all professional and paraprofessional’s library staff in tertiary institutions libraries in Lagos State. Total enumerative technique was used to select all librarians in the study area. In all, a total of 196 respondents both male and female were used for the purpose of this study. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information about the topic of the study. The questionnaire was validated and the reliability co-efficient obtained was 0.76. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. while mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the six research questions. The hypothesis in the study was analyzed with simple regression analysis.

Web 2.0 Tools are available and are being used by librarian to provide innovative services in tertiary institutions libraries in Lagos state. Librarians used all the web 2.0 tools for various purposes mostly for communication, research, job enhancement, and for leisure. The extent of use for service provision by librarians is about average, this is because all the web 2.0 tools are not being used to a very high extent. Web 2.0 tools were mostly used for documenting and uploading lecture files, harvesting user comments/suggestions, sharing videos and files and informing users about new items and events. Librarians in Lagos State tertiary institutions were skilled adequately in the use of web 2.0 technologies. Some of the challenges limiting the use of web 2.0 tools were technical hitches, erratic power supply, and restrictive institutional polices. The use of web 2.0 tools has a significant influence on service provision by librarian in the tertiary institution libraries in Lagos state with the value of R² = 0.188 ( = .433; t = 6.693; p< 0.05).

The study therefore concluded, that the use of web 2.0 tools has great potentials for library service provision, however there is need for academic library management in tertiary institutions in Lagos state to formulate policy statement that will guide the conduct and use of web base technology, address the current poor internet connectivity and inadequate power situation in order to explore and use web-based innovations for innovative information service delivery and draw patrons to the library.

Keywords: Web 2.0 Tools, Service Provision, Academic Libraries, Librarians, Lagos State