INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE AS CORRELATES OF SERVICE DELIVERY AMONG LIBRARIANS IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Library service delivery is aimed at supporting teaching, learning and research in universities. However, reports have shown that service delivery among librarians in universities in Southern Nigeria is ineffective. Previous studies largely focused on availability and adequacy of library resources with little emphasis on institutional factors and social media use among librarians for service delivery. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate institutional factors (library policy, infrastructure, environment, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and funding) and social media use as correlates of service delivery among librarians in universities in Southern Nigeria. The study was anchored to Media Richness, Uses and Gratifications and Amenta and Ramsey’s Institutional theories, while the correlational design was adopted. The 85 universities (federal - 17, state - 23, private - 45) across the three Southern geo-political zones in Nigeria: South east, South-south and South-west and 754 librarians were enumerated. The instruments used were Service Delivery (r=0.94), Institutional Factors (Library Policy - 0.97, Infrastructure - 0.89, Environment - 0.85, ICT Skills - 0.96 and Funding - 0.78) and Social Media Use (r=0.93) scales. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance.

Respondents’ age was 46.3±11.3 years, while their academic qualifications were Ph.D. (15.0%), MLS (66.0%), M.Inf. (4.0%), M.Phil. (2.0%) and PGD (13.0%). Respondents’ work schedule were acquisition (9.3%), cataloguing (23.8%), circulation (17.8%), digital (0.9%), e resources (4.0%), faculty (7.2%), institutional repository (2.2%), reference (6.8%), readers’ services (12.1%), serials (9.3%) and systems (6.6%). Their work experience spanned 1-5 years (22.0%), 6-10 years (33.0%), 11-15 years (18.0%), 16-20 years (11.0%), 21-25 years (6.0%), 26-30 years (4.0%) and 31-35 years (6.0%). The main library services rendered were library orientation (70.7%), library education (68.7%) and reference (64.3%). Service delivery was through conventional (71.0%) and virtual (34.4%) methods. WhatsApp (62.0%) and Facebook (58.0%) were mostly used by the librarians for service delivery. There was a significant positive relationship between library policy (r=0.65), infrastructure (r=0.51), environment (r=0.71), ICT skills (r=0.67), funding, (r=0.82), social media use (r=0.17) and service delivery. Institutional factors and social media use (R=0.75; F=115.71; Adj. R2=0.56) jointly predicted service delivery and accounted for 56.0% of its variance. Library policy (β=0.02), infrastructure (β=0.02), environment (β=0.02), ICT skills (β=0.02), funding (β=-0.07) and social media use (β=0.75) relatively contributed to service delivery. Library policy, infrastructure, environment, ICT skills, funding and social media use influenced service delivery among librarians in universities in Southern Nigeria. These factors should be improved by the university management, while the use of other social media platforms by librarians should be increased for optimal service delivery