Adoption and Use of Emerging Technologies as a Predictor of Effective Service Delivery in Medical Libraries in Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the adoption of emerging technologies as predictors of effective service delivery in university medical libraries in Nigeria. This study adopted a survey research design. An online questionnaire was designed using Google Forms to collect data from 20 librarians who are Heads of the medical libraries in universities running colleges of health sciences in the South-South and South-East regions of Nigeria. The study found that emerging technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are being adopted in most responding institutions, while only a few have partially adopted them to deliver library services. More than half of the librarians working in the medical libraries rated their ICT skills for using emerging technologies for service delivery as moderate. The results show that technical and management support for adopting emerging technologies in medical libraries is limited. Based on these results, it is assumed that most medical libraries in Nigerian universities face financial challenges that hinder their ability to effectively adopt and use emerging technologies for information service delivery due to budget cuts. Therefore, without a clear understanding of these challenges, medical libraries may not be able to harness the potential of emerging technologies to enhance service delivery to their users. Addressing these challenges will require educational initiatives, financial support, and capacity building to encourage the adoption of emerging technologies for service delivery in medical libraries in Nigerian universities. The findings will inform librarians, medical libraries, users, management teams, medical personnel, students, researchers, the government, and other stakeholders.