COMPETENCIES REQUIRED BY POLYTECHNIC LIBRARIANS IN NORTH CENTRAL STATES OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the competencies of the 21st century librarians of the Polytechnic of the North Central States of Nigeria. This study was guided by five (5) research questions.  The study adopted the descriptive survey research design with a population of  fifty one librarians and thirty-four library officers from the various Polytechnic libraries in the North Central States.  Data were collected from this population using questionnaire titled Library Services Competencies Questionnaire (LSCQ) and by oral interview.  The questionnaire were divided into seven (7) sections of ABCDEFG.  The eighty-five respondents completed and returned the questionnaire correctly representing 100% response rate.  Mean, standard deviation frequencies and percentages were used to analyse the five research questions.  The result of the study reveals that libraries in the Polytechnic libraries are not ICT competent.  Major problems hindering their acquisition of ICT competencies include: lack of budgetary provision for training, lack of ICT equipments such as computers and internet facilities, lack of training officers in the field of librarianship in ICT and inadequate practical classes in library schools.  Recommendations on how to acquire these competencies were made.  These include: provision of funds for training librarians periodically through workshops, seminars and conferences.  The need for librarians to use their personal monies to attend conferences in order to fit into the present 21st century librarianship was also recommended.