Effects Of ICT Adoption On Library Service Delivery:A Case Study Of Jiangsu University And University Of Ghana

Information Communication Technology(ICT)has become a tool that is often used in highly developed information societies for gathering information,processing,storing,retrieving and dissemination.The development has brought about a noticeable shift in the provision of information resources by many information centres and libraries.ICTs adoption is greatly contingent on the availability,the state and adequacy of computer facilities.The adoption and use of ICTs has brought about immense transformation in the information environment.Libraries play significant role within universities by supporting their objectives of teaching,learning,research and other services to their communities.The degree to which universities are able to work to achieve their objectives,shows how much support the university libraries have been providing,by way of making important information resources available to their users.However,the delivery of library services in most academic libraries is now characterised by inefficiency and ineffectiveness.There is also loss of quality time or man-hours due to the use of manual or traditional methods in library operations and functions.The study therefore aimed at investigating the effects of ICT adoption on library service delivery among two university namely,University of Ghana library and Jiangsu university library.Four objectives were developed to carry out the study.The first objective sought to assess the level of ICT adoption in library service delivery in the two University libraries.The second objective of the study was to assess the level of effectiveness in service delivery in the two University libraries.The third objective sought to assess the challenges in adoption of ICT on library service delivery in the two University libraries.The fourth and final objective sought to assess the effects of ICT adoption on library services in the two university libraries.In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above,a comparative study was conducted between Jiangsu University Library(JU)of China and the University of Ghana Library(UG)of Ghana.The research data was gathered using structured questionnaire.A sample size of 62 staff from Jiangsu University Library and 80 staff from the University of Ghana Library were selected.In all,a sample size of 142 respondents were used.Mathematical statistics methods,such as mean scores,standard deviations,independent samples t-test and structural equation modelling were used in making meaning of the data gathered.Results from analysis of the data from the first objective revealed that overall,there was no significant difference in the level of ICT adoption in the two Universities.This was based on the result of the mean difference obtained.The mean difference of 0.048 was not statistically significant(t =.278;Sig.=.781).On library service assessment,the results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the library service on the dimension of reference services,digital content services and part of circulation services.Both university libraries were found to have performed poorly on the dimension of social media as the mean difference for all three dimensions among the two universities were statistically insignificant at 5%.Results on challenges of ICT adoption revealed that UG library was most challenged when it comes to the adoption of ICT in library operations.Finally,results on effects of ICT adoption on library services revealed that the level of ICT adoption in library operations significantly influenced the level of library service delivered by both JU library and UG library.The study concludes by recommending that universities,especially those in developing countries,seeking to improve their library performance should invest in ICT.Also,UG library should therefore focus much attention on the internal factors hindering the smooth adoption of ICT in its library operations.