Enhancing Service Delivery in North-West Nigerian University Libraries through Cloud Computing and Offline Databases

Abstract:

This study investigated the cloud computing technology application and offline database provision as correlate of effective service delivery in three federal university libraries in northwest Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design with a population of 177 and sampling size of 177 e-librarians and library ICT staffs. Total enumeration sampling technique was adopted considering the population. The research instrument used was questionnaire and observation checklist, the research used SPSS statistical software for the data analysis. Six research question guided the study in three selected federal university libraries. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency table, percentage and mean scores while correlation analysis was use for the hypotheses. The finding of the study show that all the ICT facilities were available in both the three selected university libraries studied, It has been revealed from the study that despite the availability of ICTs facilities, not all the cloud computing services and offline databases observe by the researcher were available although the availability of offline database is more than that of cloud computing in the selected three university libraries. It has been deduct from the study that the e-resource found on cloud computing and offline database are mostly e-books, e-journals, and e-theses. It has been noted that inadequate funding of library electronic facilities and services, Epileptic power supply, lack of dedicated server in the library, Inadequate security measures, Inadequate computer to access the e-resources, Inadequate bandwidth to sustain internet services, limited number of available e-books, limited number of available e-journal, and Insufficient number of cooling systems are the factors affecting cloud computing application and offline database provision in the library. The study therefor, recommended that the government and university management should implement and make remarkable policies that will lead to the cloud computing application and offline database provision in the library and the library management should make policies that will ensure the implementation and the use of such gadget for effective library service delivery.