REJUVENATING ACADEMIC LIBRARIES FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE POST COVID-19 ERA

This study focused on rejuvenating academic libraries for effective service delivery in the post COVID 19 era. The offering of online services in academic libraries has received attention as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, with higher educational institutions all across the world adopting this development as the new normal. The pandemic has posed several difficulties for most universities and its academic libraries, particularly for those with weaker online presence. It however sparked transformation and a re-evaluation of priorities; providing a new purpose for academic libraries that provide information services 24 hours a day. This mission focuses on access and connectivity to resources. Hence academic libraries need to be rejuvenated and prepared if they must be able to cope with the demands of the users who are now more comfortable with online/virtual library services. This study therefore reviewed literature on overview of COVID 19, overview of academic library services in Nigeria, academic library service in the post COVID 19 era, strategies for rejuvenating academic libraries for effective service delivery in the post COVID 19 era, importance of rejuvenating academic libraries for service delivery in the post COVID 19 era, as well as factors inhibiting academic libraries rejuvenation. The researchers used Google and other search engines to access scholarly articles from databases that are open access and are relevant to the study which formed the basis for the literature that was reviewed and from where conclusions were drawn

Cataloguers’ Awareness, ICT Skills and Use of Resources Description and Access (RDA) in University Libraries in South South, Nigeria

This study examines cataloguers’ awareness, ICT skills and use of Resources Description and Access (RDA) in University Libraries in South South, Nigeria. The study population comprised two hundred and sixty-six (266) librarians from all the 26 university libraries across South South, Nigeria. The entire population of 266 librarians was used as sample using total enumeration sampling technique. Questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using percentage and frequency counts as well as weighted mean. Findings from this study revealed that: cataloguers in university libraries in South South Nigeria were aware of the existence of RDA; the extent of cataloguers’ awareness of RDA in university libraries in South South Nigeria is low; librarians lack major ICT skills such as the ability to use Windows operating system, Macintosh operating system and Disk Operating System (DOS) commands; start a software program such as RDA; mine data and develop metadata among others; the extent of the use of RDA for cataloguing of information resources in university libraries in South South, Nigeria is very low and that that lack of requisite ICT skills to utilize RDA, lack of requisite ICT facilities to utilize RDA, lack of necessary RDA related training, lack of familiarity with RDA rules/guidelines, lack of Familiarity with FRBR, lack of familiarity with FRAD, and no access to RDA toolkit are some of the factors militating against the use of RDA by cataloguers in university libraries in South South, Nigeria. Based on the findings, the authors recommends that: The library management should as a matter of priority kick-start the adoption/implementation process of RDA in university libraries across Nigeria as this will bring about the awareness of the functions and usage of RDA among librarians among others