Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
2021
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the state of operations of academic library services in the Nigerian Federal Universities by assessing the existence of functional library websites and remote availability and remote access to library services during the COVID-19 lockdown. All the academic libraries in the 43 Federal Universities form the population of the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample all the 43 academic libraries. Results indicated that 10 (23.3%) of the libraries had no functional websites while 33 (76.7%) of the libraries had websites and subscribed to various e-resources some of which were library Internet Protocol (IP) restricted. With regard to the availability and remote access to information resources, 17 (39.5%) of the libraries had websites but had no online information services available and none remotely accessible to users from remote locations. Three (7.0%) of the libraries had very few digital resources, and they are remotely inaccessible. Only 13 (30.2%) of the libraries provided tangible information sources that were available online and remotely accessible during the lockdown. It was concluded that many academic libraries in Nigeria failed to provide remote library and information services during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and this would force users to access other unverifiable sources of information.