IMPACT OF SMART PHONE TECHNOLOGY ON INFORMATION SERVICE DELIVERY AMONG LIBRARIANS IN UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of smart phone technology on information service delivery among librarians in universities in North-Western Nigeria. The study was guided by two specific objectives and two corresponding research questions. The study employed survey design to elicit information from respondents. Multistage sampling procedure was used to sample 183 librarians from the population of 671 within the 20 universities in North-Western Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that 95 (51.9%) and 62(33.9%) of librarians believed that use of social media platforms through smart phone could simplify library services respectively with the mean score X=4.25, SD, 1.034. the study concluded that the proliferation of smart phones technology has greatly contributed to the way information id provided, many university librarians are taking advantage of what these technologies present, and university libraries in North-Western Nigeria, should do the same in order to embrace this novelty to better provide information services to their clienteles. The study recommended that management of university libraries, stakeholders and library administrators should sensitize library staff and users on the use of smart phone technology to provide services. Equally, the university library management should build the capacity of its staff in continuous professional development (CPD) programs to acquire skills required in efficiently operating in 21st century libraries.