INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FACILITIES AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN BENUE STATE

Abstract

This study looked at information and communication technology (ICT) facilities and  skills  development  in  academic  libraries  in  Benue  state.  Seven  research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. It sought to find out among other things the ICT facilities available in the institutions, extent of ICT skills possessed by the staff, ICT skills possessed as a result of availability of ICT facilities in the institutions and the training methods used by the staff to acquire their ICT skills among  others.  Descriptive  survey  design was employed  for the study and the entire population of 248 staff comprising professional and paraprofessional library staff was used. The  instruments used for data collection were questionnaire and observation  checklist.  The  questionnaire  had  seventy  eight  (78)  items  while observation checklist had sixteen (16). Descriptive statistics including frequency tables, percentages, and mean (x) were used to answer research questions while t- test was used to test the hypothesis. It was revealed from the study that, most ICT facilities are available including computers (190), printers (14), photocopiers (15), CD-ROMs (386) etc and that, staff of academic libraries in Benue State possess to a large extent all the ICT skills. It was also  found that library staff of academic institutions  in Benue State does not  acquire their ICT skills as a result of the availability of ICT facilities in the libraries and that the staff obtained their ICT skills through personal efforts. Different problems ranging from inadequate funds, poor or erratic power supply, to poor attitude of library staff towards ICTs were found  to  militate  against  availability  of ICT  facilities  in these  libraries  while various  challenges  spanning  inadequate  ICT skills by management  staff hinder effective acquisition of ICT skills. Sourcing for funds internally for ICT projects, better funding of ICT programmes, adequate training for librarians on the use of ICTs, improvement  of power supply among others were  suggested as strategies for improving ICT facilities and skills.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Academic libraries are those that are located in institutions of higher learning (Universities,  College of Education, Polytechnics and monotechnics).  Reitz, (2004) considers  academic  libraries  to be libraries  that  are an integral  part of a college, university  or other  institutions  of  post  secondary  education  administered  to  meet information and research needs of its students and staff. In a similar vein Ifidon and Okoli (2002) in Oyedode (2004) maintains that,  academic libraries are attached to tertiary institutions.  The reason for the  attachment  is to help fulfill the curriculum requirements as well as promote studies and research in the parent institution.

The  objectives  of  academic  libraries,  according  to  Ifidon  et  al  (2002)  in

Fabunmi (2004, p151) are:

      Provision  of materials  for undergraduate  instruction,  term papers  and projects as well as for supplementary reading.

      Provision of materials in support of faculty, external and  collaborating researches.

    Provision of materials in support of post graduate research.

      Provision  of  expensive  standard  works  especially  in  the  professional disciplines.

    Provision of materials for self development.

      Provision  of  specialized  information  on the  region  within  which  the academic institution is situated.

      Cooperation  with  other  academic  library  resources  that  are  at   the disposal of all scholars.

Academic  libraries  in  Benue  state  include  libraries  of  three  universities (Federal, state and private universities), two colleges of education libraries and two polytechnic libraries as well as one monotechnic library. The eight academic libraries are located in academic institutions spread across different locations in the state.

Academic libraries employ various resources at their disposal (both physical and human) as well as services in order to achieve these objectives. Thus academic libraries  require  good  building,  a rich collection  of information  materials  (books, journals,  government  documents,  grey  literature  etc)  in  both  print  and  electronic forms in order to meet up the information needs of their users. Adequate facilities like computers, telephones, scanners, etc; comfortable  furniture and sufficient funds are needed.  The  resources  above  are  manipulated  and  managed  by  library  staff  of different categories in order to achieve the objectives. The staff are like entrepreneurs that combine the other factors of production to create products and services.

The  staff  of  academic  libraries  are  “the  entire  group  of  paid  employees responsible  for  the  operation  and  management  of  library  or  library  system”  in institutions of higher learning. They include  university/college librarians, librarians, paraprofessionals, technical assistants, clerical personnel, pages and student assistants (Reitz, 2005, p416).

University/College   librarians   are   heads   of   the   library   department   in universities,  colleges of education, polytechnics and other higher institutions  as the case may be. Librarians  refer  to those  library personnel  that  have  studied  library science  in universities  and have obtained  a degree in library  sciences,  library and information  science  or  library  studies  as  the  case  may  be.  Another  category  of librarians are those with post graduate qualification in library and information science like  post  graduate  diploma,  masters  degree  and  PhD  in  library  and  information

science. Reitz, (2005) defines librarian as a professionally trained person responsible for  the  care  of  a  library  and  its  contents  including  selection,   processing  and organization of materials and delivery of information, instruction and loan service to meet the needs of the users. Librarians also manage and mediate access to electronic based resources.  A paraprofessional,  according to  Reitz, (2005, p522) is “a library support  staff  who  is  trained  to  understand   and  undertake  specific  procedures according  to  pre-established  rules  without  exercising  professional  judgment”.  We shall consider those with diploma and certificate in librarianship as paraprofessionals. All these categories of staff are found in academic libraries.

They provide such services as reference services, current awareness services, reprographic services, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), interlibrary loan and others (Oyelode, 2004). These services are provided to  both  staff and students with the aim of supporting learning and research.

Efforts  have been made over the  years in the traditional  library setting  to provide  these  services  to  library  users.  The  use  of  catalogue  cards,  newspaper indexing and press cuttings, use of post offices to deliver photocopied documents on inter-library  exchange  were  some  of the commonly  used  traditional  library tools. However, the traditional library tools are incapable of coping with the management of large  volumes  of information  materials  that  emanated  from  information  boom or explosion (Oyelude, in Madu, 2004). Thus the need to introduce ICTs as a way of improving and transforming libraries’ house-keeping operations.

The twenty first (21st) century library, has therefore been transformed from its

traditional   status  of  store  house  of  information   materials  (mostly  print)   into information centres where information and communication  technologies  (ICTs) are used  to  acquire,  process  and  disseminate  information.   The   emphasis  on  print

resources or total dependence on them is no longer tenable. This is because,  apart from cost, delay, bulkiness etc that characterize print resources, print has a deficiency of assuming that everyone learns at the same pace and in the same  manner and is therefore  not  sufficient  in  today’s  high  tech.  multi-sensory  approach  to  learning (Watson, 2005). Many libraries across the world have therefore converted and are fast converting their information resources into digital content with the aid of information and communication technologies to make service delivery to patron faster and more efficient. ICTs have therefore become a major resource used by librarians to enhance effective services delivery. This is because one’s ability to access information in the digital age depends greatly on his skills in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) facilities.

Information and communication  technology (ICT) consist of computers  and other  communication  facilities  like telephones,  fax machines  etc that  are  used  to process  and  communicate  (disseminate)  information.  In line  with  this,  Ukwugwu (2004) indicates that ICT is used to describe a wide range of new technologies and their applications such as telephone, World Wide Web (WWW), e-mail etc. It is also described as “an umbrella term for acquiring, processing,  storing and disseminating information whether textual, numerical,  graphic or  vocal form using computer and telecommunications” (Johannsen and Page, cited in Onyekweodiri, 2008, p7). It then follows that the presence of such facilities like computers, Internet, CD-ROMs, flash disc, digital cameras, telephone lines, library softwares etc. which are some of the ICT facilities will greatly enhance library operations and improve the competence of staff in information services delivery.

Apart  from the fact that ICT will enhance  library operations  and  improve competencies,  there  are  other  countless  benefits  that  the  application  of  ICTs  in

libraries will bring to academic libraries. According to Hinderson in Adebisi (2009), ICT in  library services  ensures  speedy and  easy access  to  information,  access  to unlimited  information  from  different  sources,  facility  for  the   reformatting  and combination of data from different sources, flexibility of the usage by any individual according to his or her needs. Furthermore, ICTs have the potential of ensuring the dissemination of precise and concrete information as well as facilitating effective link between different categories of people and institutions worldwide. Okore (2005).

To maximize the above benefits, ICT skills and competencies are needed by both library staff and students of academic  institutions  in Benue state.    Skills are defined as the capacity to respond in a particular way to the varying conditions and challenges posed by our situations and jobs in such a way as to accomplish a goal or purpose (Xasa, 2009). Similarly, competency is defined as an ability to do something, especially measured against a standard (Encarta, 2009). It is also defined by Hornby, (2005) as the ability to do something well.

The  development  of ICT  skills  is  imperative  to  better  accomplishment  of library routines and services. An academic library staff that is skilled in the use of ICT resources can be a great asset to the student community he serves.  Adebisi (2009) enumerates some of the possibilities before an ICT skilled library staff as follows:

    Access to electronic documents including e-books and e-journals.

      Better  utilization  of  retrieval  system  like  CD-ROM  databases  of  various disciplines including MEDLINE for medicine, AGRICOLA and AGRINDEX in agriculture etc that can be used to retrieve information for users.

      Better  use  of  Inter-library   loan  services  using  digitized   collection   and databases with which electronic documents or holdings are easily released to the cooperating libraries.

      Possibilities for networking and online databases. He can log on to,  search, browse,  copy or print data in various databases  like full text,  multimedia, bibliographic, numeric etc either for free or for a fee.

    Ability to index and abstract automatically.

      Efficacy of use of digital library. This is a library in which all the operations are done electronically using software and hardware (ICT resources).

Those who are not able to process and access information using ICTs, according to

Cullen (2003), are increasingly disadvantaged in their access to information.

The  chartered  institute  of  library  and  information  professionals  (CILIP): Continuing Professional Development (2004) recommends workshops (e.g. on ICT, Internet,  professional  and  technical  skills),  conferences,   chartership  as  well  as continuing  professional  development  facilities  for  library  staff  in order to acquire requisite ICT skills. The use of computers to check and retrieve information on the internet, to access data bases, send and receive ordinary and attached mails, ability to use scanners  and  printer  etc are  some of the basic  skills required  of information professionals in academic libraries in order to meet the (academic etc) needs of their patron.

Accessing and retrieving information on the Internet has been listed as one of the ICT skills required by an academic library staff. Internet is “a connectivity that connects various types of computers to one another in a way that a computer on the Internet can communicate and share information with other computers in the network of  networks,  even  though  there  is  no  direct  physical  connection  between  them” (Ogomo, 2004, p55). Closely linked to the Internet is the World Wide Web (WWW) which is a portion of the Internet with web sites or computer sites that are accessed electronically  for  information  in  multimedia  formats  (texts,  graphics,  sound  and

video) on thousands of topics (Shelly, Cashman,  Waggoner  and Waggoner,  1997). Electronic mail (E-mail) which is also one of the services available on internet can be described as an electronic post office. Ogbomo, (2004) asserts that, it is a resource provided  by  the  internet  for  sending  and  receiving  messages  through  electronic devices. It normally accepts mails of average  lengths but through file attachments, documents of hundreds of pages can be transferred. This, in addition to the ability to access and retrieve information on databases is highly needed by academic library staff. Libraries have the  privilege  to subscribe to databases of organization for the benefit  of  her  users.  The  skill  therefore  becomes  an added  impetus  for  efficient information  service  provision to patron. A database therefore is a larger, regularly updated file of digitized information related to a specific subject organized for ease and speed of search and retrieval (Reitz, 2005). Staff with these ICT skills are highly needed by academic libraries.

Literature  available  reveals  that,  developing  countries  in  general  have  a challenge  of access to ICT resources  and services.  For instance,  world  population statistics of September, 2009 presented  by Ezeani, (2010) reveal Africa’s figure of Internet usage as about 67 million persons. This is very low compared to that of Asia, Europe and North American whose figure of Internet use stood at 738, 418 and 253 million respectively. There is need for academic library staff and other information professionals to have effective access to ICT resources as well as be highly skilled in the use of the resources if they must function well in the academic environment. Statement of the Problem

The basic objective of the library in any academic institution  is to  support learning and research. Basically, the library provides materials for  instruction, term papers, projects and supplementary reading; provides materials for self development;

collaborate  with other libraries to bring their resources to the disposal of its  users (Ifidon,  2001). There is no better way of achieving  the above outlined  objectives effectively  in  this  information  age  without  the  application  of  ICTs  in  academic libraries. The application of ICTs ensure speed, accuracy,  flexibility of information processing, better storage, easy transportation and sharing as well as greater speed in information search and retrieval.

There is need for libraries in academic institutions in Benue state to  acquire ICT facilities that will facilitate information processing, storage and retrieval. There is also  need  for  staff  of  these  academic   institutions   to   acquire  ICT  skills  and competencies that will make them function effectively (offer effective services to the academic  community that  is, library users).  Availability  of such facilities  at their disposal and the possession of ICT skills will enable the staff render better and high quality services to their users.

A search through literature reveals that ICT facilities at the disposal of many academic  institutions’  libraries  are not fully adequate.  For instance,  Drisu,  (2009) found that, despite the fact that a lot of benefits accrue to the use of ICT facilities, their users are still very low.

There  is  also  inadequacy  of  ICT  skills  among  staff  of  many  libraries  in academic institutions. For instance Ukachi (2010) lamented the dearth of skills set for the electronic  environment  when she said, even when the technologies  (ICTs) and accompanying resources in electronic formats are available in libraries, the challenge of getting skillful personnel to man the facilities most of  the times arise.

Improper   deployment   of  ICTs   in  processing,   storage   and  retrieval   of information  in  academic  libraries  which  may  be  caused  by  inadequacy  of  ICT facilities  and  skills  is  likely to  lead  to  waste  of  time  in processing  information,

locating information,  communicating  information,  as well as inter-library loan  and information exchange.  The problem of the study therefore is to find out  the  “ICT facilities and skills development in academic libraries in Benue State.”

Purpose of the Study

The  purpose  of  the  study  is  to  investigate  the  ICT  Facilities  and  Skills Development in Academic libraries in Benue State. Specifically, the study seeks the following.

1.   To  ascertain  the  availability  of  ICT  facilities  in  academic  libraries  in

Benue State.

2.   To  ascertain  the  extent  of  ICT  skills  possessed  by staff  of  academic libraries in Benue state.

3.   To  ascertain  the  skills  acquired  as  a  result  of  availability  of  ICTs  in academic libraries in Benue state.

4.   To ascertain the methods used in training the staff of academic libraries in

Benue state to acquire ICT skills.

5.   To identify the problems militating against the availability of ICT facilities in academic libraries in Benue State.

6.   To identify the challenges militating against effective acquisition of ICT

skills by staff of academic libraries in Benue State.

7.   To  identify  the  strategies  for  enhancing  ICT  skills  acquisition  among academic library staff in Benue State.

Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study.

1.   What are the ICT facilities available in academic libraries in Benue State?

2.   To what extent do staff of academic  libraries  in Benue State possess  ICT

skills?

3.   What skills do staff of academic libraries in Benue state acquire as a result of

ICT availability?

4.   What are the methods used for training staff of academic libraries in Benue

State to acquire ICT skills?

5.   What are the problems militating against the availability of ICT facilities  in academic libraries in Benue State?

6.   What are the challenges militating against effective acquisition of ICT skills by staff of academic libraries in Benue State?

7.   What are the strategies for enhancing the acquisition of ICT skills by staff of academic libraries in Benue State?

Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis which was tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study.

Ho: There is no significant difference in mean scores of staff of university libraries and that of other academic libraries in Benue state regarding extent of ICT skills possessed.

Significance of the Study

The  findings  of  the  study,  if  well  implemented  will  be  of benefit  to  the authorities and library management of the institutions studied, students and staff who are library patron (users) and other researchers.

To the academic institutions studied, the study will identify the ICT facilities that are available in the institutions as well as their functional state. The finding on the number of ICT facilities and their functional state will expose the true condition of

these facilities to the library management and institutions’ authorities.  The authorities will be in a better position, with this knowledge  to make a better  provision on the institutions’ budget for the purchase and maintenance of the facilities.

Through the study, the library management will be encouraged to get involved in the training of staff through different forms of sponsorship so that they can acquire more ICT facilities and improve ICT skills. This is because the study will expose to the institutions the different ways in which staff acquire and develop their skills. The study will also help the institutions’ management to know the strategies to employ to enhance ICT skills.

The study will also  be of benefit to the students and staff who are  patron (users) of academic libraries. This is because the authorities of the  institutions will adopt the findings to employ better training methods for the library staff which will improve their skills to serve them better. Other researchers will benefit from this study by building on it as a foundation for further studies.

Scope of the Study

The   study  will   cover   all  academic   libraries   in  government   approved universities,  polytechnics,  monotechnics  and colleges  of education in  Benue State. They include  University  of Agriculture  Library,  Makurdi;  Benue  State  University Library, Makurdi and Univeristy of Mkar Library, Mkar. Other libraries are College of  Education  Library,  Katsina  –  Ala  and  College  of   Education  Library,  Oju. Polytechnic/Monotechnic   –  Benue   State   Polytechnic   Library,   Ugbokolo;   Fidei Polytechnic  Library,  Gboko,  and  Akperan  Orshi  College  of  Agriculture  Library, Yandev.

The study shall also cover all library staff of academic institutions in the state including professionals and other support staff. The study will focus on ICT facilities

like photocopiers, scanner, computers, telephones, Internet and other related facilities. It will also  include  ICT skills  like  typesetting,  information  retrieval,  power-point presentations, use of CD-ROM databases etc.

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