University Library Websites in Nigeria: An Analysis of Content

Abstract

The Internet and web technologies created a new and unprecedented environment to governments, businesses, educational institutions, and individuals enabling them to webcast any information using multimedia tools. University libraries are nowadays using web environment to provide high quality information for their users mostly in digital format. The purpose of this study is to investigate the university library websites in Nigeria, to analyse their content so as to ascertain their strength and weaknesses and to give recommendations. Three objectives guided the study. Ten university libraries with functional websites were randomly selected for the study. Fourty three (43) item checklists were developed based on previous studies and critical extermination of standard library websites. The checklists were scanned and analyse in various intervals during the month of December 2013, the results are presented in tabular form. The study found among others that the general information about the selected libraries, about library services, about their physical holdings are all inadequate. Recommendations made include improvement of librarian skills in website development and enhancement of library curriculum in library schools to include website development among others.

Keywords: University library, Websites, Content analysis, Nigeria