Colleges of education librarians in Nigeria: An investigation into the self-perception of ICT-related information literacy skills

Abstract

The authors of this paper investigated the level of information communication technology-related (ICT) information literacy (IL) skills of librarians in Nigerian Colleges of Education (COE) in order to discover the challenges they face in acquiring these skills. A descriptive survey method was adopted using a questionnaire. Study participants included professionals and para-professional librarians in federal, state and private COE libraries in the South-South and South-East geo-political zones of Nigeria. Findings showed that librarians in the study zone rate their IL skills as average. A correlation of the overall assessment of the librarians' IL skills with variables such as institution, gender, years of experience, and qualifications revealed noteworthy differences among the groups of librarians. The study also revealed that the librarians acquired their IL skills in a wide variety of professional and informal ways, but only a few indicate that they acquired their skills in library school. Lack of training, irregular power supply, poor Internet connectivity, inadequate facilities (computers), and lack of time were identified as some of the challenges in acquiring professional IL skills.