ASSESSING USE OF INTEGRATED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Abstract

The adoption of integrated library management systems (ILMS) in Nigerian university libraries is becoming popular. However, literature review revealed that many libraries have been moving from one system to another and in the process losing large chunk of library records. This situation poses a serious threat not only to ILMS adoption but also to its use. This study, therefore, sought to evaluate the usage of ILMS in Nigerian university libraries. The study design is descriptive survey. Five hundred and fifty-eight (558) librarians from the selected university libraries formed the population. Total enumeration sampling technique was adopted due to the small size of the study population. Data collection instrument was a questionnaire that was validated using a test re-test reliability method and yielded overall Cronbach's Alpha r = 0.93. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics including frequency count, percentages, and standard deviation. The results showed that the system quality measured by ease of use 98.22%, user-friendliness 97.53% and high-speed 92.73%; the content quality measured by good format 96.73%, up-to-date 93.91%, information quality 93.14% and relevance 93.62%; and support services provided 93.71% were good. Librarians self-regulated their learning to use ILMS by familiarizing themselves with the systems before adoption (62.73%) and troubleshooting (80.22%); library preparedness was adequate (IT infrastructure 75.41% and capacity building 75.61%); and librarians were satisfied with the ILMS usage (85.52%), and was beneficial to the librarians (90.91%). The study concluded that the evaluation of ILMS usage has been successful for the libraries that have adopted them. It therefore recommended that library management should not compromise the quality of ILMS already attained but rather improve upon it by setting benchmark with ILMS in other Universities in the developed countries.