SOCIAL MEDIA USE AS A DETERMINANT OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING PRACTICES AND SERVICE DELIVERY BY LIBRARIANS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

 ABSTRACT

The proliferation of information and communication technology has had a significant influence on knowledge sharing practices and service delivery in organizations. This has raised the consciousness of libraries to adopt the use of social media for the exchange of knowledge and to improve library services. Studies have indicated that knowledge sharing practices are not fully integrated in most libraries while there seems to be low provision of a technology enhanced library services in most libraries. Hence, this study investigated the extent to which social media is used to share knowledge and improve library services in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria.

The survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study consisted of all 204 librarians in 21 tertiary institutions in Lagos State. Total enumeration was used for the study. A self structured questionnaire titled “Social Media Use as a Determinant of Knowledge Sharing Practices and Service Delivery” (SDKS) was used for data collection. 204 copies of the questionnaire were administered and returned. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability test for each of the variables ranged from the Types of Social Media Use (0.93) to the Types of Library Services (0.95). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics for the research questions while linear regression was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings revealed that social media use (β =.377, p<0.05) had a significant positive influence on knowledge sharing practices,also, social media use (β =.397, p<0.05) had a significant positive influence on service delivery of librarians in tertiary institutions in Lagos State. In addition, the study showed that librarians mostly use brainstorming and verbal discussions for knowledge sharing among other knowledge sharing practices, which implied that knowledge sharing practices of librarians were low. Also, the services provided by librarians were e-reference services, database search, online user education and e-reader services among other available library services. This indicated that the provision of library services were moderately low in the library while findings revealed that available social media tools were not fully utilized by librarians in tertiary institutions in Lagos State.

The study concluded that social media use had a positive influence on knowledge sharing practices and service delivery of librarians in tertiary institutions in Lagos State. The study recommended that knowledge sharing practices such as mentoring, community of practices, staff meetings and storytelling that were scarcely used to share knowledge should be encouraged in the library. Also librarians should promote e-library services such as e-current awareness services, selective dissemination of information, instant messaging services and distance learning services using diverse social media tools such as Pinterest, Ning, Flicker, Delicious, Instagram and Social Bookmarking that were sparingly used in the library. 

Keywords:      Social media Use, Knowledge sharing practices, Service delivery, Librarians, Tertiary Institutions