Knowledge management for improving services in federal university libraries in Nigeria

Abstract

Innovation has become one area that requires careful examination in today’s university libraries. Because innovation is one of the attributes of knowledge management, and knowledge management in itself is a survival strategy for university libraries facing challenges, it has become necessary to empirically determine the extent of involvement of librarians in knowledge management activities in federal university libraries in Nigeria. The aim of this study, therefore, is to determine the knowledge management activities of librarians in library services as well as the extent to which their involvement can be explained by their personal characteristics with a view to proposing a model for library service improvement through knowledge management. The study is a descriptive survey design. Responses to a structured questionnaire developed by the researchers were received from 200 librarians. The questionnaire was entitled, ‘Knowledge Management in Library Service Questionnaire, KMLSQ’. It was validated by experts and its reliability index was calculated as 0.91 using Cronbach alpha procedure. The data collected were analysed using Percentages, Mean, Standard Deviation and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. This analysis was done with Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. The results showed that librarians in university libraries in Nigeria were involved to a large extent in knowledge identification, acquisition, creation and dissemination. The results also revealed that only education and work experience correlated significantly with knowledge management activities of the librarians. The study concluded by proposing a conceptual model of knowledge management as a service delivery tool.