The use of social media technologies for user education among librarians in public libraries in selected states in South-South, Nigeria

The study examined the use of social media technologies for user education by librarians in public libraries in selected states in South-South, Nigeria. The research adopted descriptive survey research design and involved 71 librarians as the population, employing a total enumeration sampling technique. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that librarians in public libraries used social media sites particularly WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger for educating their users. Librarians in public libraries perceive social media as a highly beneficial tool for improving access, communication, engagement, and operational efficiency in public libraries of Delta and Edo States. Awareness of social media technologies is relevant in determining librarians’ adoption of the technologies in rendering users education. Librarians in public libraries show high level of usage of social media technologies for user education. The extent to which librarians render user education in public libraries is moderate. The challenges encountered by librarians with social media technologies used for user education in the public libraries are infrastructural, technical, and institutional barriers, irregular power supply, high cost of ICT setup, low level of computer literacy among patrons, poor internet access and connectivity, and so on. The study recommended that librarians should devise techniques for constantly upskilling their knowledge of modern ICT facilities and other online tutorials to their advantage.