Influence of Information Communication Technology Competencies on the Task Performance of Librarians in University Libraries in South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the influence of information communication technology competencies on the task performance of librarians in university libraries in South- South, Nigeria.The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 235 librarians in the university libraries in South- South, Nigeria. The total enumeration sampling technique was employed for the study. The research instrument adopted to collect data from the respondents was a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that librarians in South- South, Nigeria are above average in their competence in the use of Information Communication Technologies in their university libraries. The study also revealed that librarians perform virtual reference services tasks, information storage/ retrieval tasks, information searching tasks using ICT, post news and current trends using ICT, carryout current awareness tasks using ICT, undertake user education task using ICT using ICT. The study further revealed that ICT has improved the task performance of librarians as it has reduced the time used in executing tasks creating ample time for librarians to engage in other productive activities in university libraries. The study showed that poor funding, insufficient training on ICT, inadequate professional manpower to conduct in house training on ICT,LIS curriculum not properly structured in line with current ICT realities, poor planning and implementation of ICT projects, among others are problems that has hindered the acquisition of ICT skills by librarians in university libraries. The study recommended that adequate funding should be allocated for the training and retraining of librarians in the use of ICT, training should be organised for librarians on network-based services, database management/ searching, QR Code services, and web design to boost their competences, and the use of ICT for executing tasks should be incorporated adequately in the curriculum of library and information science to expose young professionals of the prospects of the use of ICT.