Integration of innovative technologies for effective library service delivery in Nigeria

This study investigated the integration of innovative technologies for effective library services delivery in Nigeria. Five specific objectives guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study consists of the practicing librarians who are members of the Nigeria Library association (NLA) Google group official online platform for librarians in Nigeria. The instrument was converted to an online survey using Google form, the online link was posted on the NLA platforms soliciting responses from practicing librarians who are members of the platform. The survey response summary show that 118 practicing librarians participated in the study. The data were retrieved and analyzed using descriptive analysis of tables, frequencies, percentages, mean ratings and standard deviation. The findings revealed that out of the 10 listed innovative technologies for effective library service delivery in Nigeria, more than 50% of practising librarians are aware of four which include: Artificial Intelligence technology, D-space, Social media and Internet of things (IoT), others are not aware of the remaining six, this implies that librarians in Nigeria are aware of just few of the innovative technologies that aids in effective library services delivery. The findings also showed that they have integrated the four innovative technologies they are aware of and they have been very effective in library services delivery. From the findings, a lot were discovered including challenges faced by librarians in integrating innovative technologies in libraries. It was concluded that since the few innovative technologies integrated in Nigerian libraries have been found to improve a lot of services at the library, it can be generalized that they are very effective in library services delivery only if the identified challenges could be dealt with.