DIGITAL INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS AS A PREDICATOR OF PRODUCTIVITY OUTPUT OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information literacy skills as a predicator of productivity output of academic librarians in Federal Universities in North-Central, Nigeria. Specific objectives of the study were to identify the digital literacy skills of academic librarians, ascertain the productivity output of academic librarians and examine the influence of information literacy skill on productivity outputs of academic librarians in Federal Universities in North-Central, Nigeria. Descriptive Survey research design was employed as the research design. A sample size of 162 librarians was drawn from seven Federal Universities in North Central Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of the data analysis showed a significant association between digital literacy skills of academic librarians and their productivity outputs. Findings of the study demonstrated that the influence of information literacy skill is a strong component of productivity outputs of academic librarians in Federal Universities in NorthCentral, Nigeria. Findings further demonstrated that there is significant influence of media literacy, communication literacy and visual literacy as components of digital literacy on productivity outputs of academic librarians in Federal universities in North-Central, Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study concluded that academic librarians in the study possess high level of basic digital competency, and used a variety of methods to develop those skills. The study thus recommended that academic librarians in public university libraries in North-Central Zone, Nigeria should enhance their information literacy skills through training and retraining in order to attain the highest level of information literacy skills that will lead to higher research productivity. The study also recommended among others, that workshops and seminars on media literacy should be organized concurrently while the librarians should be motivated to engage in self-training on media literacy Libraries and librarians must collaborate to teach media literacy, not only to their users and communities but to society as a whole.