Awareness, ownership and use of weblogs by librarians in Nigeria

Purpose - The paper aims to report the level of awareness, ownership and use of weblogs by librarians in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach - The study adopts a survey research approach using online survey software to elicit information on issues relating to librarians' awareness, knowledge, ownership and use of weblogs. Findings - Data analysis shows that librarians demonstrate remarkable level of awareness and knowledge about weblogs and their benefits to professional practice and services but they neither own nor use the technology. Research limitations/implications - The study was limited by a low response rate to the survey. Less than 7 per cent of the members of the online NLA forum used for the data collection responded. This implies that internet culture is still in its formative stage among librarians in Nigeria. Practical implications - The paper concludes by enunciating the need for awareness creation, training and re-training programmes for librarians to start creating and maintaining personal and institutional weblogs and other social networking media that could enhance professional practice and services. Social implications - The study promises to sensitize librarians and other information professionals in Nigeria and other developing countries to the social values of weblogs and similar technologies in terms of communication, networking, knowledge sharing and other usefulness. Originality/value - The paper contributes to empirical research on library use of Web 2.0 technologies in Nigeria and literature in the field of library and information science.