Awareness and Types of Social Media Platforms Used By Librarians in Higher Institutions of Learning in Metropolitan Kano

Abstract

Despite the benefits and popularity of social media use in libraries, its full use is yet to take full course. This study investigates the awareness and types of social media platforms used by librarians for information service delivery in higher institutions of learning in metropolitan Kano. Survey research design was adopted with the study sample comprising 132 librarians selected from 13 higher institutions, located within Kano metropolis in Kano state. Questionnaire was the only instrument used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages). The study revealed that librarians under study have a relatively high level of awareness of social media particularly facebook, twitter and youtube, which are the common types of social media used for service delivery. Findings also show that the librarians have significant low awareness of other types of social media such as blogs, ning, flickr, and myspace and therefore do not use the tools in information service delivery. Furthermore, findings also revealed the challenges associated with the use of social media such as lack of requisite knowledge of social media, inadequate skills, technophobia, lack of infrastructure, Therefore, to encourage a more productive use of social media it is recommended that forums such as conferences, seminars workshops on social media use in libraries is necessary in order for the librarians to stay more visible, relevant and satisfy the ever changing needs of their users.