Academic Librarians Perception of Knowledge Sharing in Nigerian University Libraries

Abstract

Purpose of the Study: The paper investigated Academic Librarians’ perception in the Southern Nigeria to knowledge sharing with a view to understand their notions and provide solutions. Methodology: The research is qualitative and descriptive survey. The research design was adopted using total enumeration technique to administer copies of a self-developed and structured questionnaire to obtain data from a 83 sample size drawn from the 137 available population of study. Retrieved copies were screened to expunge the invalid ones. Usable copies were analysed with Statistical Package for Social Science version 25 and interpreted with Pearson Product Moment Correlation, percentage, mean score and standard deviation. The study is guided by four objectives. Findings: Perception of Academic Librarians in the Southern Nigeria to knowledge sharing was found to be significantly positive, with a weighted mean = 3.55 on a scale of 4. The study further established that they used the traditional media more than the social media for sharing knowledge and their level of ICT skills and ICT tools for sharing knowledge were both found to be high. Recommendations: Both social media and traditional platforms should be fortified for knowledge sharing purposes and additional efforts should be placed on making more use of the social media platforms because of the enormous benefits attached to it for sharing knowledge as against the traditional methods. By extension, sharing of knowledge in University Libraries should be a continuous activity to strengthen best practices in librarianship.

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing, ICT, Information Age, Social Media, Traditional Communication Media, Nigerian University Libraries

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