SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: AN EVALUATION OF ONLINE REFERENCE SERVICES IN SELECTED NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The  study  evaluated  online  reference  services  through  social  networking  sites  in selected  university  libraries  in  Nigeria.  A  survey  approach  was  embarked  upon  to  ascertain patrons’  level  of  awareness,  their  preference,  source  from  which  they  were  inform  of existence  of the  service,  effectiveness of the  service  and their level of satisfaction with  online reference  service  through  social  networking  sites  in  their  libraries.  The  targeted  population for  the  study  includes  undergraduates  of  University  of  Ilorin,  Nnamdi  Azikiwe  University and  University  of  Benin  with  a  total  population  of  64,770.  A  sample  size  of  394  was  drawn from  the  study  population  using  Simple  sampling  technique.  A  survey  questionnaire  was design  for  collection  of  data.  The  instrument  was  divided  into  2  sections.  Section  (1)  of  the questionnaire  contains  the  bio-data  of  the  respondents  while  section  (2)  handles  the  subject matter  listed  in  alphabet  A-F.  It  was  a  close  ended  questionnaire.  Each  question  asked  in section  two  of  the  questionnaire  was  tailored  toward  answering  the  research  questions  in order  to  achieve  the  objective  of  the  study.  The  findings  reveal  that  many  patrons  are  aware of  the  fact  that  their  university  libraries  are  on  social  networks,  and  yet  not  familiar  with reference  services.  Facebook,  Twitter  and  Ask  a  Librarian  are  ranked  as  most  preferred  in delivery  of  online  reference  services.  Most  respondents  gain  an  awareness  of  the  services through  their  friend.  Respondents  agree  that  an  online  reference  service  is  more  convenient than  traditional  desk  reference  service  in  that  it  encourage  anywhere,  anytime  communication with  reference  librarian  due  to  easy  accessibility.  Findings  also  reveal  that  the  services  is  not all  that  effective  as  there  are  low  level  of  awareness,  which  is  the  reason  why  the  service recorded  not  so  many  utilization  from  patron,  subsequence  of  which  led  to  a  fair  satisfaction from  users.  In  relation  to  this,  the  study  reveal  that  the  rate  at  which  patrons  patronized  the services  was  influence  by  their  level  of  awareness  of  the  services  in  their  libraries.  This  study innovatively  addressed  contemporary  issues  concerning  the  evaluation,  and  ultimately,  the relevant  of  online  reference  services  in  academic  libraries.  It  is  of  great  benefit  to  academic libraries  and  patron  alike  as  the  study  identifies  ways  to  increase  the  visibility  and  use  of online  reference  service  in Nigerian university  libraries.