INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY ICT AND LIBRARY STAFF JOB EFFECTIVENESS IN UNICAL AND CRUTECH. THE STUDY IS ALSO DELIMITED TO THE VARIABLES USED IN THE STUDY.

0
454

      CHAPTER ONE

                           INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the study

In each society there are facilities other than classrooms that can contribute in no small measure to teaching and learning processes. For learning to take place, learners must have access to necessary information materials and resources. They have to interact with tangible and intangible resources and institutions to ensure some levels of performance. In an academic environment like the University, one of the main sources of information is the library.

Roberson (2005) defines a library as an institution that manages the intellectual products that individuals can gain access to readily. Iyanda and Salawu (2006) on the other hand see library as a building, an instructional and self-development centre, which operates as an integral part of the entire school environment. Also Ranganathan as quoted by Iyanda and Salawu (2006) describes library as a public institution or an establishment charged with the care of a collection of books, the duty of making them accessible to those who require the use of them and the task of converting every person in its neighborhood into habitual library goers and readers of books.

Libraries provide resources for knowledge acquisition, recreation, personal Interests and inter-personal relationships for all categories of users. Howeverin an academic environment, attention isbasically focused on academic and non-academic staff, students and researchers.

The philosophy of librarianship is based on the concept of library services and provision of relevant resources for users. To this end, professional librarians continue to strive to collect, store, organize and disseminate all forms of recorded knowledge in order to satisfy both present and future information needs of users. Library resources are the stock in trade of librarians. These materials in the library make services possible. They are the materials which the users come to consult, read or borrow. Library resources are many and varied, but they can be divided into two broad categories namely “printed and non-printed materials”. The printed materials are books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers and reference resources.

Non-printed materials are however, often referred to as audio-visual resources. They are the product of advanced technology, some of which require special equipment to operate. Non-printed resources can be grouped into three (i.e. Audio, visual resources. They are the product of advanced technology, some of which require special equipment to operate. Non-printed resources can be grouped into three (i.e. Audio, visual and audio-visual). We also have electronic resources as part of resources in the libraries.

Popoola and Haliso (2009) define library information resources as those information bearing materials that are in both printed and electronic formats, such as; textbooks, journals,  indexes, abstracts, newspapers and magazines, reports, CD-ROM databases, internet/E-mail, video tapes/cassettes, diskettes, magnetic disk, computers, micro forms e.t.c. These information materials are the raw materials that libraries acquire, catalogue, stock, and make available to their patrons, as well as use to provide various other services.

The functional inadequacies exhibited by library staff in the area of ICTs use coupled with their attitude towards Internet application, limit their research output. Also, the inability of some library staff to persist when faced with challenges may be attributed to low pattern of self-efficacy. This also suggests that such library staff are most likely to be faced with anxiety, stress, depression and narrow vision of how best to face challenges and such could also limit their research productivity. The Internet sources of information available to library staff are not readily accessed due to their low information literacy skills.

The quality of teaching, research, and community services of library staff in any institution depend on information sources and services. Information availability, accessibility, and use are essential to the teaching, research, and service activities of school library staff.             

According to Popoola and Haliso (2009) teaching effectiveness is seen as the ability of a teacher to inculcate knowledge and skills in students, as well as change their behaviour for better living. Also Adam (1993) and Ismaila (1999) noted that library staff knowledge ofsubject matter, skill proficiency and resourcefulness could be linked to school effectiveness, teacher effectiveness and students’ academic performance. In other words, one of the requirements for teaching effectiveness is improved knowledge of subject matter acquired through research, use of library information resources and services.

Teaching effectiveness variables and indicators could be used to assess the effectiveness with which school library staff perform their teaching functions, much In the same way as the quality of their research functions is usually assessed by the quality of research activities and publications, self-evaluation of the library staff themselves and students’ evaluation of their library staff quality of teaching.

In the light of these findings, therefore, the question arises, do library staff use of  computer, internet, e-mail and PowerPoint relate to their job effectiveness? This form the problem of the study.

                        Library staff need various kinds of information for teaching and research for the purposes of impacting knowledge in students and self-development. To achieve this, the right information must be available for the right person at the right time in its appropriate format. Which are the responsibilities of the library. Oguntuase and Falaiye (2004) agree with this view by observing that the most effective way to mobilize people is through the provision of required information in the  most useable form and that such information should be provided for the benefit of a large number of people.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY ICT AND LIBRARY STAFF JOB EFFECTIVENESS IN UNICAL AND CRUTECH. THE STUDY IS ALSO DELIMITED TO THE VARIABLES USED IN THE STUDY.