Abstract
The 21st century is the millennium of information, which is also seen as the era of explosion of information output and information sources, and libraries play important roles as sources of valuable records, which help to meet the information needs of the society. In this era, libraries are gradually equipped with state of the art Information Technology (IT) resources in order to facilitate information acquisition, access and dissemination to resources domiciled in remote repositories which were hitherto not possible. Therefore, the trends in information technology and libraries in the 21st century in meeting the scholarly needs of their patrons cannot be overemphasized. This paper discusses the historical development of information technology, definitions of information technology and libraries, the 21st century library and the emerging trends in library services. It aims at the trends in which information technology and libraries are taken in meeting the information needs of its clientele, and also examine the factors to be considered in setting up fully functional IT compliant libraries, which including availability of space, technical know-how, trained IT manpower, funding, and maintenance culture. It also looks at the challenges faced which include: inadequate resources and unavailability of adequate training for the users and poor funding of libraries. It outlines a number of factors that could affect the full implementation of IT services in libraries and therefore recommends adequate training of library staff on the use of these emerging information technology trends and adequate funding of library operations, among others.