LIBRARIANS' AWARENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE FOR INFORMAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA.

This study investigated librarians' awareness of social media usage for informal scientific communication in university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The study helps to examine the extent of librarians' awareness of social media as well as the various social media tools available to librarians. The descriptive survey method was used for the study. The population of this study was 284 librarians in university libraries in South-south Nigeria. The researcher adopted the entire 284 population as the sample size for this study using the complete enumerative sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and 284 copies of questionnaire were administered for this study. In response, 202 copies were retrieved and found useable, thereby indicating a response rate of 71%. The data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, statistical mean and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient r. The study contributed significantly to knowledge as it has been able to establish that a significant relationship exist between librarians' awareness of social media usage and informal scientific communication. The findings indicated that study revealed that librarians in university libraries in South-South Nigeria use that Facebook, Whatssap, Google+, twitter and YouTube for informal scientific communication. The study also revealed that librarians are aware of social media usage for informal scientific communication, although the extent of awareness is low. The study recommended that University Librarians and other library administrator should sensitize library staff on the use of different social media tools for informal scientific communication because the world is now a global village. The study also recommended that Library associations should encourage the creation of invincible colleges using different social media tools such as Facebook, whatssap, and blogs as this will promote the use of social media for informal scientific communication among librarians. The study concluded that for there to be an improved informal scientific communication among librarians (especially those in University libraries in South-south), there is need for librarians to be aware and fully adopt social media and other emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]