Librarians’ perception and motivating factors for adoption of blockchain technology in public university libraries in selected states of South-South, Nigeria

The study investigated librarians’ perception and motivating factors for adoption of blockchain technology for service delivery in public university libraries in selected states (Akwa Ibom and Cross River States) of SouthSouth, Nigeria. The correlational research design was adopted for the study, with a population of two hundred and sixty-nine (269) academic/professional librarians from four (4) public university libraries. The proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 137 academic/professional librarians, representing 51% of the population. Data was collected using the researchers’ structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated and pretested for reliability, which yielded a correlation coefficient value (r) of 0.85. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics of percentage counts, mean scores, standard deviations, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) coefficient, while the null hypothesis was tested using simple linear regression at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that librarians positively perceived blockchain technology as a useful tool for service delivery in the university libraries. It indicated that the major motivating factors for adoption of blockchain technology for service delivery in public university libraries include enhanced security against unauthorized access and tampering with library data, easy tracking and verification of library transactions, better management of digital information assets, etc. The study showed that though librarians have positive perception about blockchain technology for enhanced service delivery, they are yet to adopt the technology in any category of their job functions in the public university libraries. It identified lack of adequate funding of university libraries, limited access to emerging technologies, lack of dedicated training and retraining of librarians, lack of technological expertise and competencies, problems of integrating blockchain technology with existing systems in university libraries, etc., as the major impediments associated with the adoption of blockchain technology for service delivery in the public university libraries. The study concluded that librarians’ perception significantly motivates the adoption of blockchain technology for service delivery in public university libraries. It recommended among other measures that management of public universities should provide adequate funds to university libraries to enable them acquire emerging technologies such as blockchain technology and other necessary facilities like internet services and constant power supply for effective service delivery to the teeming users, while management of university libraries should organize training and retraining opportunities for librarians to equip them with requisite knowledge, skills, competencies, attitude and confidence to embrace emerging technologies like blockchain technology for enhanced service delivery.