LIBRARIANS' AWARENESS AND USE OF BIG DATA ANALYTICS AS A STRATEGY FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN STATE UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Big data analytics can contribute immensely toward information management in academic libraries. However, its awareness and rate of use are not fully ascertained especially in Nigeria. This research, therefore, is devoted to assessing the librarians' awareness and use of big data in some selected University libraries in North-East Nigeria. The population of the research comprise all librarians in the selected libraries and they were all considered as respondents of the research because they are not too much to be managed. Questionnaires were used for data collection and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Mean and frequency counts were chosen as metrics to measure the responses. Findings revealed that most librarians are aware of big data analytics and have a good perception of its use in academic libraries. Findings also show that though big data analytics is associated with challenges, still the extent to which it is used for managing information in academic libraries is high. The research recommended among others that more periodic training should be given to the librarians and robust strategies should be devised to curtail the challenges that hindered the smooth use of big data analytics.