Analysis of information technology (IT) applications in academic libraries in Kuwait

Abstract

PurposeLibrary professionals today need to acquire knowledge and skills in information and communication technology as the services of more and more libraries are now centering on information technology (IT), especially in educational institutions. Application of IT in academic environment in Kuwait has increased gradually in the recent decades. This paper is designed to measure the use of IT in the academic libraries of Kuwait and to establish some co‐relation between quality in libraries and use of IT.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a survey method.FindingsThe significance of IT lies in its role as a catalytic agent. Today there is no area, which has not been influenced by IT. IT mainly helps to provide timely information and facilitates real‐time access to remote databases. The importance of information lies in its accessibility and utilization by users for productivity and decision making. Technology remains one of the primary drivers of change in the ways that people work, seek information, communicate, and entertain themselves. In an academic environment, no unit has been transformed by technology than the library.Practical implicationsThe libraries need to reorganize their physical space to make technology‐enabled resources both more readily available and widely used. Library and information professionals should add new IT skills to their current capabilities in order to help users overcoming their anxieties about the new world of networked and digitized information, and assist them to navigate through it. In this regard college librarians have to be serious in developing their own proficiency and must find out how to develop their professional competency in general. Since the users are more prone to online and electronically delivered services, the growing role of the librarian in colleges would lie in information counseling, training, advising users on services and information products appropriate to their needs and how best to use them. This is a time that necessitates innovative ways of thinking about services, collections, information access, and also our roles as academic librarians. Being prepared to manage changes can furnish us with the ability to flourish.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the use of hardware and software facilities in academic libraries. It also highlights the access of networks, information services and problems in IT applications. The analysis of the data represents the extent and the level of IT application applied by the librarians at academic libraries in Kuwait.