Evolving Roles of Library Personnel in the Digital Age: Case Study of the Balme Library, University of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the evolving roles of library personnel in the digital age with emphasis on the needed skills required fit into the information age. The objectives of the study were to find out the skills needed by personnel to identify and analyze user information needs, skills required for the evaluation of available information resources, to ascertain the level of personnel ICT skills among others. The Balme Library, University of Ghana, Legon was used as the study setting. The case study methodology was adopted. The study used both primary and secondary sources of data. The questionnaire was the main data collection instrument and data collected was analyzed using SPSS. The findings pointed out that, 81.8% of the library personnel had the requisite skills to identify and analyze user information needs. It was also evident that the majority of the library staff had the needed skills in information resource evaluation (92.7%) and also considered information literacy skills (94.5%) as relevant to their work and as such were highly skilled in it. Again, the findings revealed that most (50.9%) of the library personnel were not skilled in the value addition process, but the majority (61.8%) were found to be adequately skilled in ICT. Concerning management skills, it was revealed that quite appreciable number of the personnel (41.8%) were more skilled in planning. The study concluded that even though personnel at the Balme library possessed some of the skills needed to meet the emerging challenges of providing effective and efficient services as a result of digital age, it cannot be conclusive that they possessed all the skills as conceptualised within the framework. Recommendations were also made in the area of training library personnel, collaboration with the Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, formation of partnership with other institutions, and job rotation of library personnel to increase versatility.