Awareness and Digitization of School Library Resources in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the awareness and digitization of school libraries in Akwa Ibom State. The main objective of the study was to examine the extent of awareness of librarians on digitization of school library resources in private secondary schools and the software used in digitization and to further examine if the school librarians have the necessary skills for digitization of the library resources in Akwa Ibom State. Out of about 150 private secondary schools in the state, 25 were randomly sampled for the study. This study adopts cognitive flexibility theory. The design for the study was descriptive survey. The data were analysed using percentages and charts. The result of the findings indicated that librarians in Akwa Ibom State school libraries are awareof the digitization technology; but the extent of planning for digitization is low in their libraries. It was noticed that there are inadequate facilities in the libraries for digitization. The study further revealed that the school librarians do not have the skills for the implementation of digitization in the school libraries. Among the recommendations made was that school librarians should be trained and retrained for information skills acquisition.