The Evolving Role of Academic Libraries in Supporting Data Use and Reuse

This study explores the evolving role of university libraries in supporting the use and reuse of research data within the university communities, with a specific focus on federal university libraries in South-East Nigeria. Adopting a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach, data were obtained from 196 academic library staff across five universities through a census-administered questionnaire. The data were analysed using SPSS version 25, employing descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Findings reveal that libraries are increasingly recognised as key enablers in the research data lifecycle. Respondents affirmed that strategies such as developing local data curation capacity; archiving, preserving and curating datasets for future use and reuse; documentation and providing metadata on research; integrating and documentation of dataset for use and reuse in reproducing new research; and identifying data/datasets that could be candidates for repositories are crucial strategies in promoting data use and reuse but unfortunately neglected by the university libraries. Hence, the outcomes of the study indicate that the libraries are generally perceived as underperforming in implementing robust data services, largely due to systemic challenges such as inadequate training, insufficient infrastructure, and the absence of institutional policies. Notwithstanding these challenges, the study emphasises that academic libraries have a strategic role as data stewards in advancing open science, enhancing research reproducibility, and maximising the impact of scholarly outputs. To fully realise this role, libraries must therefore provide the necessary infrastructure, policy frameworks, and professional support to empower researchers in managing and sharing data effectively. This study contributes to understanding how academic libraries can evolve from traditional service roles to become central actors in the academic data ecosystem