Attitudinal Correlates of Selected Nigerian Librarians Towards the Use of Information Technology |
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| Authors: | Tella Adeyinka |
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| Institution: | Department of Library Information Studies, Faculty of Humanities , University of Botswana , PB 0022, Gaborone, Botswana |
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| Abstract: | The explosion of information technology (IT) since the beginning of the 20th century rendered manual-based library systems, in academic, research, special and public libraries, irrelevant. Implementing information technology in the digital age depends largely on librarians' attitudes. This study examines the attitudinal correlates of selected Nigerian librarians towards the use and application of IT in their libraries. Forty-one librarians were surveyed from the four selected automated libraries in state of Oyo in Nigeria form the study's population. Two research questions were developed to guide the study. The results indicate that four out of the five variables age, gender, educational qualifications and prior knowledge of IT significantly correlate with the librarians' attitudes towards IT. The other variable, IT anxiety, correlates negatively with the librarians' attitudes towards IT. Findings further show that all the five variables significantly predict librarian's attitude towards IT with prior IT experience showing the greatest predictive effect. Based on these findings, libraries in the developing countries should consider sending their librarians, who do not have knowledge of IT, to IT training in order to remove fear and anxiety hindering them from developing a better attitude towards the use of IT in their libraries. |
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| Keywords: | Attitudes towards IT IT digital age librarians developing countries Nigeria instructional technology |
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