ABSTRACT
The study focused on examining social media use and service provision in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study employed survey research design. Census survey was used for the study. Data for the study were collected from through the use of structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and the hypothesis was tested using inferential statistics of regression with the aid of SPSS. The result of the analysis reveals that social media used such as face book, Twitter, LikedIn, YouTube has positive and significant influence on service provision in academic libraries. The study recommended that academic library management should support their staff by persuading them to attend workshops, conferences and seminars in order for them to update their skills on all the various social media tools and keep abreast with current technological trends.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Academic library is a library established in institution of higher learning such as colleges of education, university, polytechnic etc. They serve as a two way purpose to support the schools curriculum and aid learning, and to support the university faculty and students
Academic libraries play important role in ensuring that the mandate of the parent institution is achieved. They carry out different activities in meeting and supporting the institution through selection, ordering, acquisition, organisation, storage and preservation of information materials in diverse formats and making them available and accessible to users. No university can perform efficiently and effectively without a well equipped and functional library. Therefore, in meeting the information needs of their users, academic libraries offer varied services such as current awareness services(CAS), selective dissemination of information services(SDI) bibliographic services, referral and reference services, circulation/learning services, among others. In time past, these services were provided face to face or physically, however with the presence of digital development these services could be provided without the user visiting the library in person
In the past, the materials that were used for class readings, intended to supplement lectures as prescribed by the instructor or librarian was called reserves. In that period before electronic resources became easily accessible and available, the reserves were supplied as photocopies of appropriate journal articles or as books. To facilitate academic success, academic libraries must provide access to a broad range of information services such as reference and referral services, orientation activities, and instruction sessions that teach students basic critical thinking skills which are important for using the libraries information resources is one of the services that are provided by the staff particularly to new students of the institutions in Nigeria. Introducing the readers to the library activities, provide a gateway to all future inquiries, not only preparing the users as independent users but also teaching them on how to use information sources as consumers, as citizens, and also as professionals .Moreover, some of the services that are rendered by academiclibraries are highlighted and explained as:
Circulation / borrowing services which is one of the most vital services rendered by academic libraries. These services are being provided for her teeming population of users which constitute students, staff and other potential patrons at large which are outside the academic environment such as the communities’ members where the library is situated. The academic library provides these services by way of providing information resources that can cater for their endeavors.It also enables users have access to books or documents and also borrow such books from the library.
Academic libraries also provide qualitative services to the users by means of answering questions over the telephone, answering via the web or by email, answering reference questions by means of meeting face-to-face. Reference services for library users often involve not only answering specific questions but also personalized instruction in the methods of identifying and locating research information resources (Umar, 2008). Databases, bibliographies, and other aids are designed to introduce library users to the information resources the library provides and to guide them in finding the research information resources to further enrich the pool of available information resources.
The library also provides bibliographic verification services which involves the provision of facts and information about publications rather than people, events or even organizations. In providing this service, reference librarian searches his bibliographic records such as indexes, bibliographies, catalogues, etc., to verify that users’ information about a document is correct and complete. This service is very important because it is evident that students, scholars, publishers, authors and the general public sometimes miss some bibliographic information about some items they cited. They also provide current awareness services (CAS) which deals with information services that are provided by academic libraries in Nigeria especially to alert their users about the existence of some current publications or information. According to Madu (2009) that CAS take the form of periodic (Daily, Weekly, etc) listing of publications, monographs and periodical articles within a given subject area. Another service that the library offers to readers is the collections service which is responsible for acquiring, describing and preserving library materials to meet the research, teaching, and learning needs of the institution and community. It is the process of meeting the information needs of the people (a service population) in a timely and economical manner using information resources locally held, as well as from other organizations.
However, the researchers observed that students complain about poor service provision in the library, At times they may not be interested in making use of the services provided in the library. Hence with the presence of the digital environment, library services could be reformed to attract users to make use of the services. Social media is one of the tools provided by the development of ICT or digital environment that can be employed in the library to attract the patronage of library services. Social media is a interactive computer-mediated technology, website or application that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, entertaining contents via virtual networks. Social media is defined according to Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2010) as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundation of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Thus Social Media is the Web 2.0 application for information exchange. Academic libraries are increasingly engaged on social media to connect with diverse community groups and move beyond traditional bounds of the library. Specific examples include Facebook and Twitter, but may also include more regional services, and more longstanding collaborative environments such as web-based forums and wikis”. In this light, Constantinides and Fountain (2008) also asserted that the social media is a system that aids the creation of informal users’ network that facilitates the flow of information and knowledge by allowing effective generation, dissemination, sharing, editing of informational content. This means that social media is mainly used to share or convey or communicate information with a wide range of individuals through the help of internet connectivity.
Academic libraries are increasingly using social media tools to promote services and highlight resources to patrons. The active participation of users enables them to contribute content, establish communication links, and stay informed of new developments in the social network space. With information and ideas flowing in both directions from the library to the user and from the user to the library, library services have the ability to evolve and improve on a constant and rapid basis. The dynamic nature of this technology enables users to have an open access to knowledge and contribute local content on the social network space. Some of these Social Networking Sites (SNS) that can be used by librarians to meet the information needs of the users include the use of Facebook which is a social network service and website launched in February 2004,owned by Facebook Inc. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes (Carlson, 2005) at Harvard University It can be used as a social media tool to promote research among library and information science professionals. Library professionals can use Facebook to keep in touch with fellow researchers. Parveeen (2011) observed that professionals are connected to one another by Facebook to share views, experiences and participate in sharing awareness. Another social media tool that can be used is the Instant messaging system which is used to answer user queries over chat. This will help to attend to reference queries. Further, this will help to attend to users beyond desk hours. The feature to indicate the ‘status’ (available, busy, online) will help to inform the users about the availability of library staff providing services.
Another social media highlighted that can be used is called MySpace which helps in Academic institutions where the students are; libraries have taken advantage of this site to post, calendar, custom catalog search tools, and blog features to improve their presence. Furthermore Ning can also be used for service provision in it library. It is a social media tool in which librarians can get connected with users, library associations, and more. The Nigerian Library Association (NLA) utilizes this platform to discuss topical issues among the members(author). In addition to that wiikis which is a free online encyclopedia that gives a background knowledge and definition of concepts offers a platform for users to access, edit and contribute to content. This is a collaborative web page for developing web content. Another tool that can be used is called LinkedIn in which librarians can get patrons connected with specialists in their particular field of interest via LinkedIn. Librarians can use this platform to render specialized services such as Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI).Also twitter which is a micro blogging application, to keep staff and patrons updated on daily activities, like frequently updated collections. Users can utilize this platform to type in short messages or status update. Librarians can use this platform to give users firsthand information on the on-going national elections. Users can send Instant Messages (IM) on complaints or ask questions on a particular issue and get a feedback on the spot using twitter. Another social media tool that can be used in the library is Youtube which is necessary in institutions in Nigeria, and cover events such as important highlights of inaugural lectures, conferences and workshops. The last tool the researcher would be looking into is called Flickr, librarians can use this tool to share and distribute new images of library collections. Cover page of new arrivals of both books and journals can be disseminated to users. It can also be used to enlighten users on topical issues such as the different pictures of emblems of the political parties in Nigeria; for the on-going elections in Nigeria, many public and academic libraries can put this to great use. Social media has been playing a major role in humans daily life, with everything revolting around the Internet and easy access to information. Social media is evolving fast. libraries on the other hand which are more traditional way to get information have now developed the use of Social Media. However, the extent to which this is used in academic libraries in Nigeria especially in Ogun State, is yet to reckon with.
Current usage of social media by the academic library community generally, will play an increasingly important role in library service provision and outreach. Hence, using social networks in educational libraries can be considered as a potentially powerful means simply because students spend a lot of time on these online networking activities. Libraries that play a pivotal role in the aspect of education, view social media as a powerful information tool that offers an easy and cost-effective way to promote their activities, and services and a way to reach out to their users who may not have considered the library as a resource for their information needs. The technology driven environment today is pressing hard on every aspect of human endeavour. This demands that academic libraries use the latest technologies and trends to make their services more popular, interesting and user friendly. Appropriate and adequate integration of the social media network will evolve in the recasting of reference services, as it provides an avenue to reach out to the users in their preferred environments as well as aid in a more dynamic, exciting and easy reference services delivery.
Social networking tool is a platform where users are both consumers and producers of online content.
With these tools, librarians can constantly evaluate and update content to meet the changing needs of users. These tools are used for collaboration and sharing of ideas and it is becoming an integral part of library services. It also calls for libraries to encourage users’ participation and feedback mechanism in the development and maintenance of library services. Social media helps to facilitate much closer relationships between libraries and their students. Current usage of social media by the academic library community generally, will play an increasingly important role in library service provision and outreach. Hence, using social networks in educational libraries can be considered as a potentially powerful means simply because students spend a lot of time on these online networking activities. Libraries that play a pivotal role in the aspect of education view social media as a powerful information tool that offers an easy and cost-effective way to promote their activities, and services and a way to reach out to their users who may not have considered the library as a resource for their information needs.
Academic libraries are restrictive in the areas of who has access to the services they provide. Their services are very limited to just the students and staff of the institution in which they may be located. There is no doubt that the academic libraries of a particular institution may be more equipped and provide better services than that of another institution. This is where the use of social media would come in. The world is becoming a global village and social media is its village square, it would only be wise for academic libraries to take this advantage to promote easy access to their resources and other services. This research tends to show how library provides services by using social media in selected academic libraries in Ogun state. Ruteyan and Eghwubare (2010) note that the challenge of most librarians is to attract users to the library and to retain them. The social media revolution is changing the way individuals and organisations interact, and libraries are not immune to this. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the Internet was a monolithic passive medium. It was more a medium to provide content and not for interaction.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Academic libraries play pivotal role to ensure that the mandate of the parent institution is achieved through the provision of diverse services such as current awareness, selective dissemination of information, loan services, bibliographic services, and many more. However, despite the effort of the library personnel to provide effective and efficient services to satisfy the information needs of users, observation by the researcher revealed that students complain of poor services offered by the library. This has led to less or non patronage of library services.
With the development of ICT and digital environment,one would expect that the librarians will employ these digital tools like social media tools e.g twitter,facebook,youtube,flickr, etc to improve their services. It seems that the reverse is the case, this study seeks to investigate social media use and service provision in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria.
1.3 Research Objectives
The main objective of this study is to establish the influence of social media use and services provision in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to :
- determine the services provided by librarians in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria.
- ascertain the types of services provided with the use of social media.
- establish the types of social media used by librarians in service provision
- find out the level of social media use by librarians
- establish the purpose of using social media
- determine the significant influence of social media use on service provision in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions were answered at the course of this study
- What are the services provided by librarians?
- What types of services are provided with the use of social media?
- What are the types of social media used by librarians in service provision?
- What is the level of social media use by librarians?
- What is the purpose of using social media?
1.5 Hypothesis
The following null hypothesis will guide the study and will be measured at 0.05 significant level
HO: Social media use will not significantly influence service provision in the selected academic libraries in Ogun state, Nigeria.
1.6 Scope of the study
This study will cover the influence of the use of social media and service provision in selected academic libraries in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study will include the use of social media tools like Facebook, twitter, flickr, YouTube and the various services that libraries provide like collection services, current awareness sercvices, circulation/borrowing services to readers. The academic libraries that will be involved in this study are Babcock university, Covenant university and Bells university, and all located in Ogun state. The reason for using these private universities is the assumption that academic libraries and well founded and maintained to meet NUC policies.
1.7 Significance of the study
The following are the significance of the study:
The results from this study will educate the various library administrators on the importance of social media use in improving service provision. The outcome of this study will assist upcoming researchers in related subject. It will also provide theoretical and conceptual evidence thereby adding to existing literature
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Social media: Social media are web based communication tools that enable library staff to interact and provide services to users.
Service provision: These are services provided by the library to students in academic libraries and they include SDI, CAS, bibliographic services etc.
Libraries: A Library is a collection of sources of information or documents and similar resources, which are made easily accessible to a defined community for reading or reference or borrowing the materials, It provides physical or digital access to library materials, and may be a physical building or room, or also virtual space.
Academic Library: These are libraries established in institution of higher learning like UN
