Abstract
This paper assessed ICT usage in library automation of the Federal Colleges of Education libraries North-West Nigeria. Majority of the institutions of learning in North-West Nigeria operated in traditional library services, which doesn??t tally with today digital library user information needs. Therefore, the overall objective of the study was to examine the extent of ICT usage in library functions and services of the Federal Colleges of Education libraries North-West Nigeria. Thepopulation of the study involved a sample of 62 professional library staff and 1887 student across the five colleges.Descriptive survey method was used, and a questionnaire for the purpose of data collection. Prior to the survey, questionnaire items were validated by lecturers in the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Gezira Sudan. And a reliability test (alpha level 0.05) results Cronbach??s Alpha Coefficient 0.876 on availability of ICTs for library automation, 0.718 on ICTs usage in library automation, and 0.873 on relevancy of library automation to student information needs. Data collected were analysed using simple frequency count and mean scores, and ANOVA on ranks for the purpose of hypothesis. However, 62 (100%) staff questionnaires and 1757 (93.1%) student questionnaires were retrieved for data analysis. And findings revealed that, the general level of ICT facilities available for automation in the libraries was very low, although there was a significant difference among the libraries. A second finding showed that the library staff of the colleges were in agreement for purposes which available ICT facilities were being used for library automation, although significant difference exist among the libraries too. And lastly, the extent of relevance of automation by the academic libraries to student information needs was low, and there was no significant difference that exists among the libraries. The researcher concluded on the note that, the level of availability of ICT facilities for library automation is not satisfactory among the libraries, although the little ICTs available were utilized for purposes of library automation but not all were relevant to the information needs of the student. Thus, the study recommended the need for the libraries to improve in library automation provision, to a level that it becomes all relevant to student information needs which were not limited to electronic retrieval catalogue systems, online information sharing, time saving in needless travel to the library, online library instruction, visual-online exhibition of library resources, and online ask librarian assistance, among others. Another suggestion provided was the need for the libraries to integrate the following missing ICT tools for library automation: Radio-frequency identification, Smart Bookshelf, Book Drop and Sorting Unit, Library website, Wide Format Scanner Digital Cameras, Smart Self-Collection Box, Book Dispenser, Mobile Stock Take Trolley, Recommender System, Wikis, Blogs, Pod and Video casting, Cloud Computing, Social Networking, Real Simple Syndication feeds, and Intelligent Monitoring System, etc.
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