Assessment of Interpersonal Communication Skills for Provision of Reference Services in Academic Libraries, Kogi State, Nigeria: A Study of Eight Tertiary Institutions in Kogi State

Abstract

The study dwells on assessment of interpersonal communication skills for provision of reference services in academic libraries in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study covered eight tertiary institutions in the State. Five research questions in line with the objective of the study were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consists of all professional and para-professional librarians in tertiary Institutions in Kogi State. However, simple random sampling technique was used in selecting fifteen (15) library personnel each from the eight (8) tertiary institutions in Kogi state to make the total of 120 respondents for the study. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and data collected from the field was analyzed using descriptive statistics of simple percentage, frequency count and mean, which was further presented in pie chat and histogram. The result of the findings revealed that academic library personnel in Kogi State possess interpersonal communication skills to a great extent and these skills are quite effective in reference and information service delivery. The study recommended that academic libraries in Kogi State should be proactive in enhancing various reference services so as to be more committed in assisting the users in satisfying their needs. Furthermore, reference librarians and other library personnel should strive to possess various forms of verbal, non-verbal interpersonal communication skills in order to be able to serve their users with the right information, at the right time and to enhance high patronage.