ABSTRACT

Trends in global information communication have necessitated that academic libraries, whether public or private, resort to the employment of web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Wikis, RSS feeds, YouTube, etc. in their services. Indeed the knowledge and use of such platforms has become critical for the survival of academic libraries globally. For this reason, this research focused on investigating the knowledge and use of social media by reference and user services librarians. The main objectives were to determine the level of knowledge, extent of use, the major social media platforms used, as well as the perceptions librarians held about employment of social media in reference and user services.

A mixed methods research approach employing Likert type questionnaire and interviews was used in soliciting the views of 105 librarians from UG, KNUST, UCC, AUC, VVU and GTUC on their knowledge and use of social media. The findings of the study indicate that majority of the librarians were knowledgeable and used social media for both personal and work-related purposes. They, however, lacked the skill needed to use the array of social media platforms available to make a difference in service delivery. As a result, though librarians had a very good perception of social media, they still found the traditional mode of service delivery more comfortable.

Some of the challenges that bedeviled the practice of social media were lack of interest and skill on the part of librarians, low bandwidth and poor internet connectivity, and more importantly lack of policy to guide social media application in libraries. The study therefore, recommended re-training and re-orientation of librarians in the use of social

media by e-resources and reference departments, sensitization workshops by GLA/CARLIGH to whip up interest in librarians to use social media, and adoption of policy document to guide the practice of social media in libraries.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

            Background of the Study

Academic libraries with their mother institutions are integral part of the larger society. They operate within certain social norms but guided by their individual mandate, which generally has to do with connecting users with their information needs. Libraries cannot afford to remain static in delivering this mandate and are thus susceptible to changes that occur in the general society around them. Trends in global information communication have dramatically changed as a result of the ever changing digital landscape. The change has reached an extent that threatens the very survival of academic libraries, unless they respond positively to contemporary mode of information delivery. This is mainly because other knowledge and information facilitators have also emerged that have the tendencies to employ the emerging technologies to outclass librarians. Thus the earlier librarians responded to these evolutionary trends, the better their chances of remaining relevant in their own institutions.

In the advanced countries like United Kingdom and United States of America, librarians have adopted what is referred to as Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, YouTube/Flickr, podcast and others that allow them to provide improved services. Mavodza (2010) points out that “the use of Web 2.0 technologies in libraries means personalization of information service as users choose what they want and get the opportunity to participate or collaborate in information flow.” This also, according

to Williams et al., (2004) encourages recreation of content and sharing of information and knowledge. The response of academic librarians in Africa to this evolution in global information provision is keen to their survival in universities and colleges, and need to be looked at with all seriousness. Such a response is even more critical for reference and user services librarians.

Reference and user services, severally called information service, customer service, research service, help desk or any other popular name (Tyckoson, 2011) is central to academic work in universities globally. RUSA (2003) defines reference and user services librarians as “librarians who assist, advise and instruct users to access all forms of recorded knowledge.” The assistance, advice, and instruction include both direct and indirect service to patrons. These librarians link users to information sources, and by the nature  of their work, they believe that access to information is a human right. They would, therefore, do all within their professional capabilities to ensure that users are connected with the information they need. In addition to helping users to find their information need, they also teach them to become self-sufficient library users. Traditionally, they employed face-to-face conversation with users. Of late, the service environment increasingly demands digital reference service both synchronous and asynchronous. Digital reference service for remote users earlier employed email, fax, chat, and instant messaging (Bopp & Smith, 2011). The digital landscape has changed so rapidly that it has become necessary to employ other alternatives such as social media. Social media evolved from web 2.0, a term Abram  (2005)  characterizes  by open  communication,  participation,  collaboration, and

content creation. Web 2.0  was first  defined by Tim  O’Reilly and Dale Doherty in  2005

(O’Reilly, 2005). Since then, Web 2.0 has become the platform on which social media is based.

JISC (2010) defines social media as “innovative online tools designed to enhance communication and collaboration” In simpler terms, it is media for social interaction whose content is consumer-generated and highly interactive. Social media consists of innovative online tools designed to enhance communication and collaboration. The term social media “encompasses any internet-based or mobile application which operates for the purpose of collaboration, where participants can connect, create, comment, view, share, rate, discover, profile and exchange user-generated content” (Bradley & McDonald, 2011; Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden, 2011; Rheingold, 2002). According to Dagan and Hogan (2013), social media is a revolution that started in the late 1990s and keeps growing, and that librarians can take advantage of social media to provide dynamic services. Social media is also synonymous with social networking, a term that can be defined as the creation of profile with the purpose of building a personal network to connect with others (Lenhart & Madden, 2007). According to Kaplan & Haenlein (2010), social networking is always mentioned in conjunction with social media.

There are many types of social media. The most popular ones with respect to libraries according to Xie and Stevenson (2014) are Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, RSS feeds, YouTube, and wikis. Interactivity is the trump card of social media and according to Zabel (2011) one of the best ways of making a library popular is to make it interactive. This way, a library will be able to mingle with its users and help them in every way possible.