AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PATTERNS AND ISSUES WITH AI DEPLOYMENT IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA

With the hindsight of the enormous benefits of Artificial Intelligence to every sector of human development, this article explores how university libraries in Nigeria intentionally adopt and use AI-enabled tools and technologies for library operations and services. It also identifies the constraints to the deliberate use of the technologies in the libraries. The paper adopts a survey approach using a self-developed questionnaire to elicit information from the 174 members of the Association of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities about the status of AI use in their libraries. Google Forms application was used to administer the survey for eight weeks. Only 25 universities responded to the survey. Data analysis shows that AI use is infantile and inadvertent in Nigerian university libraries, and its use is constrained by paucity of funds, lack of requisite skills and poor infrastructure, especially epileptic power supply and poor internet access. The paper is among the few that investigate deliberate use of AI in Nigerian universities libraries, and it recommends the need for Nigerian university to review and restructure their strategic plan documents to include AI integration in academic activities and programmes, particularly, for providing innovative library services.