EXAMINING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR INFORMATION SERVICE DELIVERY IN NIGERIAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine social media platform for information service delivery by Nigerian 
federal university libraries.  Four (4) research objectives guided the conduct of the study.  One (1) null 
hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance to test the relationship between variables of the study. 
Quantitative research methodology using survey research design was used. The population of the study 
comprised 243 system staff from 33 federal university libraries in Nigeria that used social media. Total 
enumeration was used to include all the system staff. Questionnaire was the instrument was used for data 
collection. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The findings 
revealed that Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Blog and Twitter (also X) were used in the libraries studied and 
more frequently than other types of social media. They were used to deliver current awareness service, 
dissemination of library event and reference service. Challenges associated with the use of social media by 
the libraries include low presence of social media on websites, inadequate infrastructure to access IT 
facilities among others. Hypothesis test showed that the alternative hypothesis was accepted and the null 
hypothesis was rejected which signifies relationship between the variables. It was recommended to the 
system staff to explore other types of social media such as RSS feed, podcast and other emerging social 
media that may have features to fit into information services of the libraries. This would help the library 
diversify the scope of its service provision to include as Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), 
assistance in the use library tools (OPAC) among others.