Librarians' ICT Proficiency and Awareness of Artificial Intelligence for Information Resources Management in Nigerian Libraries

<p>This paper investigated librarians ICT proficiency and awareness of artificial intelligence for information resources management in Nigerian libraries. The study adopted a descriptive correlational design through quantitative approach. A survey was used to gather information from 399 librarians from Nigerian university libraries. The study adopted both descriptive statistic of frequency count and inferential statistics of multiple regression analysis using SPSS v-27. The study indicates that librarians had a high ICT proficiency especially in accessing online resources and using metadata standards though proficiency levels vary a moderate level of awareness among librarians regarding various AI applications in IRM with consistent awareness of collaborative filtering and variable awareness of named entity recognition and sentiment analysis. the study further revealed that ICT proficiency of librarians has a significant positive effect on information resource management while awareness of artificial intelligence does not significantly impact information resource management. The study concludes that librarians generally exhibit high ICT proficiency particularly in accessing online resources and using metadata standards though proficiency levels vary. There is moderate awareness of AI applications with consistent awareness of collaborative filtering and variable awareness of named entity recognition and sentiment analysis.: Libraries should implement practical AI training for librarians focusing on tools like named entity recognition and sentiment analysis and build on their strong ICT skills with advanced training in digital cataloguing online resource access and electronic resource management. Libraries should invest in AI-driven search technologies to enhance search accuracy and efficiency and employ data analytics to understand user behaviour and preferences guiding collection development and improving services.</p>