Perceptions of Librarians toward the Adoption of Linked Open Data; a Case of Selected University Libraries in Uganda

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring the perception of librarians toward adopting Linked Open Data in Uganda, a case of selected university libraries. An exploratory survey approach was employed for this study using a mixed methods approach of data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS and Ms Excel. The targeted population was 78 professional librarians in seven selected public universities. The study was guided by the UTAUT model using the performance expectancy construct. The findings revealed that the respondents perceived that Linked Data would assist the patrons in discovering relevant information and data through links to other data repositories. They also believed that Linked Data interlinks would be used to describe the relationship between two Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). The respondents were convinced that Linked Data will enrich data discovery and improve the users’ overall search experiences. The study found that respondents perceived that Linked Data will assist the patrons to discover relevant data and benefit research, enrich discovery of data, hence improving their overall searches. Linked Open Data is very important to enable data sharing through the Semantic Web.