ASSESSMENT OF INTER-LIBRARY COOPERATION FOR SERVICE DELIVERY IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed interlibrary cooperation for service delivery in academic libraries in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Four research questions were designed to find out types of services delivered, extent of provision of interlibrary cooperation services, interlibrary loan and cooperative acquisition. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using chi square goodness of fit at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of 86 members of staff of the Modibbo Adama University and Adamawa State University. Total enumeration was used for the study. Inter-library cooperation for service delivery checklist (ICSDC) and Inter-library cooperation for service delivery questionnaire (ICSDQ), were the instruments used for data collection. Descriptive statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation were used to analyze the data. The result of the study revealed there is high extent of interlibrary cooperation services in academic libraries in Adamawa State as manifested in interlibrary loan and cooperative acquisition. Based on the findings, it was recommended that, management of libraries should embark on continuous professional development programmes targeted to equip library staff with the necessary skills and knowledge for managing inter-library cooperation services and library administrators should prepare comprehensive proposals demonstrating the value of interlibrary cooperation, that can be used to secure financial support from the government and other supporting bodies.