Application and Use of Social Media Platforms for Reference Services Deliveries by Librarians in Colleges of Education in North-Central, Nigeria

The study investigated the Application and Use of Social Medial Platforms for Reference Service Deliveries in Colleges of Education in North-Central, Nigeria. The study was guided by three specific objectives and corresponding research questions. Descriptive survey design was used and the target population consisted of 65 reference/professional librarians working in the libraries in the colleges of education in north-central, Nigeria. Complete enumeration of the 65 personnel was carried out, structured questionnaire were used for data collection with descriptive statistics used for the analysis of the data collected. Result showed that almost all the personnel of libraries in the study applied and used one form of the social media platforms. The respondents strongly agreed that application of social media platforms to library services most importantly the reference service will have strong effects on the service delivery of the library. It further shows that information sharing and library notification services are greatly influenced by the application and use of social media platforms. The study recommends among others that the college library staff be made to adopt and use social media in service delivery to enable them tackle emerging challenges in the 21st century electronic environment. The library management should sponsor/conduct seminars, workshops and conferences for librarians on the use of social media for personnel in the library. The library management/institution management should provide enabling environment to help the librarians in the social media section to be more proactive in the line of their duties.