Digital Competence and Perception of Institution Repositories by Librarians in Research Libraries, Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Perception of institutional repositories (IRs) refers to how librarians, researchers, and other stakeholders view, understand, and value the role and usefulness of these repositories in supporting scholarly communication, knowledge preservation, and research visibility. Hence, this study examines digital competence and institution repositories perception by librarians of research libraries in Southwest Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study population consists of 110 librarians of research libraries in Southwest, Nigeria. The research instrument was a validated structured questionnaire with a Cronbach alpha score of 0.77. The data collected for the study were analysed using descriptive statistics to answer the research questions and demographic data. The study hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance using inferential statistics. The data analysis result revealed a very high level of librarians perception of institutional repositories, with a Mean = 3.50. It also found that the level of digital competency is very high (Mean =3.35), results also shows that the librarians in research libraries have a very high level of perception of institutional repositories, driven by the very high level of digital competency. The hypotheses test revealed that digital competence (Adj R2 =0.28) significantly influence on the perception of institutional repositories by librarians in research libraries, Southwest, Nigeria. In addition the study concludes that research librarians in Southwest Nigeria have embraced institutional repositories due to their high perception and digital competence, leveraging such to enhance the efficiency and quality of library services. The study recommended that government should encourage the implementation of IR in the research institutes of Nigeria to promote equity of access.