USER PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF INTEGRATED LIBRARY SOFTWARES FOR SERVICE DELIVERY IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

Like many countries, Nigeria’s university library services are affected by the integrated software used for service delivery. This study (conducted in 2021) examined the priorities and barriers for users perception of the use of integrated library software for service delivery in federal university libraries in the Niger Delta, Nigeria and the type of integrated software used by the Federal university libraries in Niger Delta, Nigeria, including what type of services rendered with the use of integrated library software to users, ease of use of integrated library software and benefit derived from the use and factors affecting the use were evaluated. A structured questionnaire was the instrument for data collection and was distributed to the respondents face to face at their various offices across all the university libraries in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. The populace of the study was sampled using the total enumeration sampling technique because of the smaller and manageable size of the population. There are 489 responses (83% response rate) from six federal universities in the Niger Delta. The findings reveal that the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom has the highest rate of respondents -90 (18.40%) followed by Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State -88 (17.99%). It could deduce that the Federal Universities in Niger Delta are dominated by male in Nigeria, from 24-26 years are doiminated in the university system, students in 500 and 600 levels are majority of the respondents that participated in this exercise, Koha integrated software (402) had the highest response rate, majority of the respondents agreed that they used ILS to render the following services ; user registration, changing and dischanging of library materials, referral service,e-reference service,internet service,electronic library service, OPAC and book reservation, majority of the respondents agreed that ILS is easier for user interface, accessing personal account is easy and straightforward,users can independently interact well with ILS and its OPAC user interface, users can easily search on their own, users can query the ILS using the keyboard, users can recover lost of information during query, users can retrieve information from the ILS without the help of a librarian and users can retrieve documents from ILS when needed, majority of the respondents agreed that ILS allow users to access to the books and other materials in the library, allows for round the clock library services, helps to know a documents reservation status, bring the library closer to the users, help to know easily the total number of books held in a library, know a document return date or date of availability in the library, allows for easy borrowing of library materials, auto-renewal of borrowed book is easy and fast, helps to know the position of a particular title held by the library, helps to know the position of a particular materials on the shelf and Helps to ascertain if a book is present in the library or not and the majority of the respondents testify that bottle necks on the use of ILS are as follows, lack of awareness, poor Internet connectivity /low bandwidth, lack of information searching skills, lack of proper guidance from librarians, lack of funds to support automation project by library management, shortage of computer systems designated for library OPAC, lack of required ICT skills, complex OPAC interface design, erractic electricity power supply/high cost of running electricity generating sets and lack of user training on how to use the library software. The respondents were concerned about the service delivery in the library. It is expected that librarians should ensure that users get their information needs on time and in the right format and that the best integrated library software should be installed and used in library services. Keywords: Integrated library software, users\u27 perception, service delivery, Federal University Libraries, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Introduction Almost all libraries in this 21st Century have a collection of both print as well as electronic resources

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

COVID 19 INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPs) IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA, NIGERIA

This study focused on exploring COVID 19 information seeking behavior of IDPs Nigerian using IDPs in the federal capital territory, Abuja, Nigeria as a case study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Four objectives were laid down for the study and a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. The findings revealed that the COVID 19 information needs of IDPs are information on symptoms of COVID 19, how it spreads, preventive measures against COVID 19, the causes of COVID 19 and how to get medical attention should anyone be confirmed infected at the IPD camp among others. The study also found that the sources of COVID 19 information available to IDPs include friends and family at the camp; social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp; radio; Internet and health workers i.e. doctors and nurses. The study revealed that the major use COVID 19 information were to know the symptoms of the virus; know to prevent themselves from being infected with the virus; know how to reach out to health workers in case of suspected COVID 19 patients and knowing the drugs combination for self treatment in case of infection. Lack of frequent visitation to the camps by health official, lack of access to television at the camp, distorted information from friends and family, too many information on COVID 19, among others were revealed as the barriers to COVID 19 information seeking and access among the IDPs. The study recommends that efforts should be made by the Federal government of Nigeria to pay special attention to the information needs of the IDPs and devise necessary means of getting timely and accurate information across to them as this will help to keep them up to date about information on COVID 19 among others

FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) TECHNOLOGIES AS CATALYST FOR PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION AMONG LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA: A REVIEW

This study is a review of fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies as catalyst for partnership and collaboration among libraries in Nigeria. The study reviewed relevant literature on issues bothering on concept of partnership and collaboration, concept of fourth industrial revolution (4IR), technologies associated with 4IR, 4IR technologies that can be used for partnership and collaboration in libraries, cloud computing applications that are useful for partnership and collaboration in libraries, importance of 4IR technologies to partnership and collaboration in libraries and challenges of using cloud computing technologies for partnership and collaboration in libraries. The study reviewed relevant literature on the topic of discussion and the researcher used Google search engine to access scholarly articles from open access databases that 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

COVID 19 INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF NIGERIAN HEALTH PRACTITIONALS: A STUDY OF MEDICAL DOCTORS IN DELTA STATE

This study is focused on exploring COVID 19 information seeking behavior of Nigerian health practitioners using medical doctors in Delta state Nigeria as a case study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Four objectives were laid down for the study and a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. The findings revealed that the COVID 19 information needs of medical doctors in Delta state in the top rank are causes of COVID 19 virus, COVID 19 symptoms, COVID 19 test procedures, how COVID 19 spread/transmission levels, COVID 19 preventive measures, COVID 19 cures, age groups more vulnerable to COVID 19 attack, COVID 19 patients’ isolation/quarantine procedures among others. The study clearly indicates that the sources of COVID 19 information for the respondents are Internet, World Health Organization (WHO) website, Daily newspapers, Nigerian Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) website, Network News and colleagues (medical doctors) from other states. The study revealed that the major use of COVID 19 information by respondents was to identify COVID 19 symptoms; know the isolation/quarantine procedure and practice for COVID 19 patients; know COVID 19 treatment procedure and to know the drug dosage for the treatment of COVID 19 patients among others. It is clear from the study that large amount of COVID 19 incredible information on the Internet; lack of access to library resources on COVID 19; poor power supply in Delta state and too many sources of COVID 19 information were the barriers to information COVID 19 information seeking and access among the medical doctors in Delta state. Recommendations were put forward to enhance access to COVID 19 information by medical doctors in Delta state so as to prepare adequately for the treatment of any patient should the case arise

COVID 19 INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF NIGERIAN HEALTH PRACTITIONALS: A STUDY OF MEDICAL DOCTORS IN DELTA STATE

This study is focused on exploring COVID 19 information seeking behavior of Nigerian health practitioners using medical doctors in Delta state Nigeria as a case study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Four objectives were laid down for the study and a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. The findings revealed that the COVID 19 information needs of medical doctors in Delta state in the top rank are causes of COVID 19 virus, COVID 19 symptoms, COVID 19 test procedures, how COVID 19 spread/transmission levels, COVID 19 preventive measures, COVID 19 cures, age groups more vulnerable to COVID 19 attack, COVID 19 patients’ isolation/quarantine procedures among others. The study clearly indicates that the sources of COVID 19 information for the respondents are Internet, World Health Organization (WHO) website, Daily newspapers, Nigerian Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) website, Network News and colleagues (medical doctors) from other states. The study revealed that the major use of COVID 19 information by respondents was to identify COVID 19 symptoms; know the isolation/quarantine procedure and practice for COVID 19 patients; know COVID 19 treatment procedure and to know the drug dosage for the treatment of COVID 19 patients among others. It is clear from the study that large amount of COVID 19 incredible information on the Internet; lack of access to library resources on COVID 19; poor power supply in Delta state and too many sources of COVID 19 information were the barriers to information COVID 19 information seeking and access among the medical doctors in Delta state. Recommendations were put forward to enhance access to COVID 19 information by medical doctors in Delta state so as to prepare adequately for the treatment of any patient should the case arise