Title: Librarians Attitudes, Performance Expectancy and Challenges towards the Use of ICTs in the Acquisition of Information Resources in Federal University Libraries, North-West, Nigeria
Author(s): Garba Dahiru and Yakubu Bala
Publication Year: 2024; Volume 19, Issue 2, pages 11-29

The paper examines the librarians’ attitudes, performance expectancy and challenges towards the use of ICTs in the acquisition of information resources in Federal University in North-West, Nigeria. These universities are Ahmadu Bello University, (Zaria), Bayero University (Kano) and Usmanu Danfodio University, (Sokoto). The study investigated ICT application in the acquisition of information resources. Specifically, the objectives of the study are: to assess the attitudes of librarians towards the use of ICT for acquisition; to determine the influence of performance expectancy on academic librarians’ intention to use ICT for acquisition; to identify the challenges associated with the use of ICT for acquisition. This study was guided by Unified Technology Adoption and Use Theory (UTAUT). The study used quantitative research design. Questionnaires, was used to collect data for the study. A total of 224 questionnaires were administered to academic librarians of the three universities and 206 were returned usable. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) using version 24 to produce descriptive statistics, constructs tables and also to conduct tests such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on specific information related to objectives of the study. Findings from the study reveal that: ICT resources would increase the productivity of the librarians and it enhances the efficiency of the service rendered; ICT facilitates the acquisition of information resources easily; academic librarians are supportive on the use of ICT especially in the acquisition of information resources; using ICT allows the librarians to accomplish more than using the traditional acquisition process of information resources; librarians also have the knowledge necessary to use ICT for acquisition in their libraries; poor funding to provide ICT facilities and poor power supply from the national grid. Recommendations are made among which are: provision of enough bandwidth for quick and easy access to the internet and the replacement of old ICT equipment; librarians should be encouraged to be members of the various library associations at the local, national and at the international level where modern usage and utilization of ICT for acquisition of information resources is discussed; human resources managers should re-in force ICT training programs for librarians so that they continue to be more effective and productive in their daily duties and a functional ICT center which will be headed by a highly qualified personnel who should be regularly giving the library staff lectures and training on database and the use of internet facilities and other associated ICT for knowledge improvement and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund should come to the aid of universities by increasing their yearly allocation; universities should also solicit for financial support from the international donor agencies and wealthy individuals to cater for their financial challenges