Awareness and use of Web 2.0 tools by librarians in university libraries in Nigeria

Purpose – The study aims to investigate the level of awareness and use of Web 2.0 tools by librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used to collect data from 176 librarians in 49 university libraries in Nigeria. Findings – It emerged that the librarians were more familiar with social networking sites, instant messaging, media sharing sites, blogs and wikis. The popularity of these Web 2.0 tools made them the most frequently used by the librarians. Web 2.0 tools like Flickr, RSS feeds, podcasts, social bookmarking, were among the least used. The study revealed that librarians use Web 2.0 tools mostly for reference services online, library news/events, training resources, and image and video sharing. Lack of facilities such as computers with internet access, lack of skills, and lack of time were indicated as some of the barriers in the use of Web 2.0 tools by librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. Practical implications – These research results can be consulted by interested librarians as they plan to implement Web 2.0 applications in their libraries. Originality/value – This study draws an overall picture of Web 2.0 applications in Nigerian university libraries and attempts to provide helpful information to better understand how librarians elsewhere are utilizing Web 2.0 technologies in rendering library services. KeywordsWeb 2.0 tools, Librarians, University libraries, Nigeria, Internet, Software tools, Library users Paper type Research paper Introduction Web 2.0 technologies are so popular that they now dominate the everyday personal and professional life of millions of users. This popularity is affecting the way that libraries, museums, archives and other cultural heritage organisations operate. As librarianship evolves and adapts to the needs of the internet generation, using Web 2.0 has become an indispensable tool in the work of the professional. The term Web 2.0 has been loosely defined as the second generation of web-based platforms. These consist of applications specifically designed to aid online collaboration and user-generated The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1065-075X.htm Further research in the area of Web 2.0 tools usage can be seen in the article “Web 2.0 tools usage: a comparative study of librarians in university libraries in Nigeria and South Africa”, soon to be published in Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 30 No. 5, 2013. OCLC 29,3