Use of Social Media in Libraries and Impact on Undergraduates

Abstract

This chapter examined the use of social media in libraries and impact on undergraduates. The study covers concepts of utilization of social media: benefits, impact, and challenges that affect the use of social media and academic performance of undergraduate students. The concepts generally implied that social media is the use of technology as the best medium to explore wide area of knowledge to produce positive impact on academic performance of students. There is a direct relationship between social media usage and the academic performance of students. It was recommended among others that awareness programs of use of social media platforms should be provided by the university and library to students; access to use of social media resources and services by librarians should be provided to students; educational forums that will facilitate group collaboration and discussion on academic performance should be promoted in universities; connectivity to social media network sites and internet should be improved to facilitate instant information search by students.