Continuing professional development and innovative information service delivery in Nigerian libraries: Inhibitors and the way out

Abstract

This study examined the various forms of continuing professional development (CPD) that Nigerian academic librarians have participated in during the last five years with a view to ascertain the various ways in which skills acquired from such programmes had enabled innovative and  creative information service delivery. The survey method of investigation was adopted for the study. The findings revealed that the librarians participated in very few forms of CPD programmes and the few skills acquired during participation in the CPD programmes are minimally utilized in providing creative and innovative services in the library. The major inhibitors to being innovative and creative with the acquired skills were identified to be: epileptic Internet access due to low bandwidth, lack of computing facilities to put the skills into practice in the library, irregular power supply and, not working in the section where the skill can be put into use. The study therefore recommends that librarians should begin to explore other CPD programmes such as participation in webinars as well as making use of online training sites and YouTube tutorials. It also recommends that more skills in the areas of digitization, real-time referencing, teleconferencing, and networking management should be acquired by the librarians if they want to remain relevant while the university and library management should provide adequate number of computers and also upgrade the Internet bandwidth in the libraries to allow for its effective utilization in services creation and provision by the librarians.