Influence of gender on attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development among academic librarians in Nigeria
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Pages | 226-240 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-11-2017-0114 |
| Author | Stella Ngozi Anasi |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
Influence of gender on attitude
towards the use of social media
for continuing professional
development among academic
librarians in Nigeria
Stella Ngozi Anasi
Main Library, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paperis to investigate the influence of gender on attitude towards the use of
social mediafor continuing professional developmentamong academic librarians in Ogun State,Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach –Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Research
instrument used was questionnaire where 79 copies were administered to academic librarians, using total
enumeration sampling technique. Five universities in Ogun State, Nigeria were selected for the study. The
data collected wereanalysed using descriptive and inferentialstatistics such as percentage, frequency, mean,
Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and t-test for data analysis. Statistical Package for Social
Sciences(SPSS, version 19) was used to run the analysis.
Findings –The study revealed that WhatsApp(75.0 per cent) is the most frequently used social media for
continuingprofessional development among academic librarians.Attitude towards the use of social media for
continuing professional development among academic librarians is positive. There is no statistically
significant gender difference in attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional
development (t = 0.097, df = 54 and p>0.05). There is significantmoderate positive relationship between
attitudetowards social media use and frequency of use of social media (r = 0.439; p<0.05).
Originality/value –The study was necessary toidentify gender difference in attitude towards the use of
social mediafor continuing professional developmentby academic librarians in Ogun State, Nigeria.
Keywords Nigeria, Continuing professional development, Attitude, Academic librarians,
Gender difference, Social media use
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have ushered in a new era of
continuing professional development among library and information professionals. As
custodians of information resources, librarians need to constantly develop their knowledge
and skills for optimum service delivery. Besides, Kumaresan (2011) noted that there is
intense competitionin this world and acquiring new knowledge and skills is the only way to
compete and survive.Thus, he argued that professional development for librariansis highly
imperative and is very much driven by the impact of ICTs in libraries. In response to the
changing information landscape, librarians need continuing professional development.
Klein and Ware (2003) argued that the attainmentof a Master’s Degree in Library Science is
only the beginning of a librarian’s education and not the end of learning and education.
They stressed that professionals should engage in annual programmes of professional
ILS
119,3/4
226
Received14 November 2017
Revised11 December 2017
Accepted11 December 2017
Informationand Learning Science
Vol.119 No. 3/4, 2018
pp. 226-240
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-11-2017-0114
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