Academic libraries, ICT use and sustainable higher education development

Abstract

Purpose

Education is a strong pillar to national development. It is vital to ensure sustainable higher education development (SHED) in a bid to facilitate global development. This study aims to investigate academic libraries, information and communication technology (ICT) use and SHED.

Design/methodology/approach

Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. The population of the study was 607 librarians in the 41 public university libraries in Southern Nigeria. Total enumeration and purposive sampling techniques were used for this study. The instrument of data collection was questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used for the data analysis.

Findings

It was found that qualified teachers and promotion of scholarship constitute SHED. The extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED is high. Academic libraries face a number of challenges in their effort to provide information services for the actualisation of the SHED. The extent of use of ICT in SHED is high. It was therefore recommended that academic libraries and ICT should be adequately used to accomplish SHED in Nigeria.

Research limitations/implications

This study will contribute to the body of literature on how academic libraries and the use of ICT can contribute to SHED.

Practical implications

While SHED is central to global development, the role of academic libraries and the use of ICT should be unanimously embraced by all the stakeholders in education industry.

Originality/value

SHED is inevitable in the contemporary era. This study reveals that academic libraries and ICT use are vital in achieving SHED.

Citation

Adekoya, C.O., Fasae, J.K. and Alade, A.V. (2024), "Academic libraries, ICT use and sustainable higher education development", Information Discovery and Delivery, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-01-2022-0002

Introduction

Higher education (HE) is paramount to global development. HE is provided by a series of higher educational institutions (HEIs) that are essentially complex in nature as determined by the type and complexity of the programmes they offer. HEIs are the engine of national growth and development as they provide HE for the development of manpower through teaching, learning and research. Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) (2004), on the National Policy on Education (NPE), espoused that university education shall adequately involve in national development through intensification and diversification of its programmes for the advancement of higher level manpower within the context of the needs of the nation. Sustainable higher education development (SHED) is inevitable if Nigerian education is to make a mark globally (Aziza, 2016). Sustainable development as development which meets the requirements of the present generation without compromising the capability of the subsequent generations to meet their own needs requires worldwide actions to deliver on the rightful ambition towards additional economic and social advancement which necessitate the development and strengthening the intellectual base of individual through HE (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).

SHED is central to the actualisation of United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG4 centres on education. Target 4.3 of SDGs is to “by 2030 ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university” (Australian Library and Information Association, 2018). Through rigorous teaching, learning and acquisition of knowledge, SHED will help in the realisation of goals on poverty (SDG1), health (SDG3) and peace, justice and strong institution (SDG16). SHED is therefore an enduring core educational initiative that addresses several problems related to human development and equips students with the “requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to create a sustainable future” (Blessinger et al., 2018). As a producer of knowledge, the mission of HE touches all learning spheres. This signifies that HE has special duty in the actualisation of SDGs, especially goal 4 which deals specifically with education – “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

Central to SHED in the 21st century are well-equipped libraries and the deployment of information and communication technology (ICT). SHED requires effective information resources in the process of equipping the students and lecturers with the knowledge required to foster educational development. It is therefore vital for national actors in HEIs to encourage the use of library resources and ICT in ensuring SHED. Effective utilisation of library information resources helps students to imbibe the culture of scholarship and hard work (Eze and Uzoigwe, 2013). In the attainment of SHED, libraries cannot afford to be complacent (Igbinovia and Osuchukwu, 2018). Libraries and librarians are situated to promote the accomplishment of SHED through information provision and knowledge sharing. More so, libraries are assuming pivotal role of providing information for educational development of the society which impelled strategies such as the library development strategy for 2015–2018 by the ENFIELD Council. The strategy recognises the dynamic function of libraries and positions them at the heart of every community (Okuonghae and Igbinovia, 2019).

National economy can be driven through SHED. Ogunsola (2004) observed that academic libraries and modern technological development, notably ICT help in provision of occupational skills in support of HE. Mbachu and Hamilton-Ekeke (2013) averred that as HE is technology-directed in response to global competition, there is need for maximum deployment of ICT to compliment teaching, learning and research in HEIs. According to Doran (2017), the African Union’s Agenda 2063 which is a planned outline for the socio-economic transformation of Africa over the next 50 years requires continuous investment in modern technologies and uninterrupted improvement in agriculture, education, and health. Educause (2019) claimed that accepting innovations (disruptive technologies) in HE is significant in the manners HEIs approach their core mission. Brown University (2000) emphasised that utilisation of ICT facilities eases the means of access to information needed for the SHED. Although these claims are the ideal, it is not certain whether they represent the current situation or not in HEIs in Nigeria. However, if the answer is in the affirmative, do Nigerian academic librarians perceive that academic libraries are adequately used and ICT consciously deployed with a view to achieving SHED? It is on this premises that this study investigates how academic library and ICT use serve as potent instruments for the actualisation of SHED.

Objectives of the study

The main objective of the study is to investigate academic libraries and ICT use as a panacea to SHED, with specific focus on academic librarians. Specifically, the study aims at:

• ascertaining the elements facilitating SHED;

• investigating the extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED;

• identifying the challenges facing academic libraries in the provision of information services for the actualisation of the SHED; and

• examining the extent of use of ICT in facilitating SHED.

Research questions

The following research questions guide the study:

RQ1.

What are the elements facilitating SHED?

RQ2.

What is the extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED?

RQ3.

What are the challenges facing academic libraries in the provision of information services for the actualisation of the SHED?

RQ4.

What is the extent of use of ICT in facilitating SHED?

Literature review

HE at all levels (college of education, monotechnic, polytechnic and university) plays significant role in sustainable development in all nations. As the world is strategising on how to eradicate poverty, hunger, discrimination, bigotry, inter-ethnic conflicts and some other challenges such as COVID-19 pandemic which has put all the nations across the world into a state of pandemonium, it behoves on the leaders at the national, regional and global levels to appreciate that these challenges can be reduced by enhancing and supporting HE and emerging research. This accounts for the reason some countries are signatories to regional and global conventions on eradication of illiteracy, education for all and other pacts (Ikoya, 2016) which can facilitate SHED. The factor underlying this is the recognition of HE in the development of quality manpower, inspirational policy provision, technological innovation and general well-being of mankind.

The 1990 Talloires Declaration signed in France by 22 university presidents from all over the world created the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) (Jankowska and Marcum, 2010). They pledged the commitment of their HEIs to incorporate sustainability into teaching, research, outreach and university (University Leaders for Sustainable Future, 2015). Since then, library literature on sustainability has increased and gathered much concentration. The major areas are sustainability of scholarship and collections; green library operations and practices; green library buildings; and measuring and improving sustainability (Jankowska and Marcum, 2010). Link (2000) advocated that through sustainability and environmental education, HE can be transformed and by partaking in the formation of a sustainable future, libraries can be the centre of the learning communities.

SHED is an advancement and improvement of HE through progressive changes in educational delivery systems. HE has a critical role to play in every nation. SHED is important in continuous transmission of knowledge and training of human minds for the purpose of acquiring competencies needed to function and be relevant in the society (Adebisi, 2014). HE, a potent instrument for sustainable development, serves as the tool for acquiring values, knowledge and skills required for nation building (Jaja, 2013). As a way of advocating for SHED, Idiodi et al. (2016) articulated that every nation continuously requires competent and experienced people for its development and the products of HE form the tool for such development. Promotion of scholarship in diverse areas as witnessed globally today is facilitated by HE. HE as a major contributor to the solutions to the prominent problems facing the world today, such as removing inequalities, alleviating poverty, improving health and arresting large-scale pandemics such as COVID-19 has to be developed on a sustainable level. SHED entails ensuring the development of HE over time. It is a state of maturity of HEIs which results from the interplay of academic libraries and ICT deployment.

HE is very significant for economic strength and national security. Governments at all levels are expected to show more commitment to the sustainable development of HE. This is because HE acquaints students with complex ideas in an intellectually stimulating environment and so prepares them for future career by developing their creativity and analytical skills (Oghuvbu and Nafoba, 2016). Central to HE is the promotion and encouragement of scholarship (FRN, 2013) which has to be on a sustainable scale to adjust to the enduring global dynamics occasioned by general advancements in the provision of tertiary education. As such, the need for SHED rests on the fact that the competencies for driving economic and social development are acquired through HE. Odebiyi and Aina (2010) reiterated that the role of HE in the national and global development comes to the fore in the provision of competencies needed for the construction of a knowledge economy.

No better time to clamour for SHED in Nigeria than now, especially that the world ranking of tertiary institutions based on 2019/2020 Times Higher Education Ranking revealed that only three of the Nigerian universities were among the first 1,000 tertiary institutions across the globe (see Table 1). University performances were ranked using 13 distinct indicators evaluating innovation, research, research impact, teaching, international outlook, etc. In spite of the fact that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa (Akinwale and Onwuamaeze, 2020) and indeed one of the first independent countries in Africa, only 3 of her universities were rated among the best 20 in Africa, while South Africa has 8, and Egypt has 5. Even though the stakeholders in educational sector started apportioning blames to one another, it was evident that Nigerian universities, even in the 21st century, are still ill-prepared to fully deploy educational infrastructure such as academic libraries and ICT in the attainment of SHED.

Universities with the highest rankings have a governance culture with a clearer orientation to SHED (Salvioni et al., 2017). HE is particularly important for technology, research and quality of life as it strengthens the economy and national security. The need for SHED transcends developing high-level human resources, intellectual capacity, scholarship and community services. Egwunyenga (2016) admitted that HE has increasingly become a significant engine of economic development of any society. The rationales for SHED are in line with the goals of tertiary education which, according to FRN (2013), are to:

• contribute to national development through higher manpower training;

• provide accessible and affordable quality learning opportunities;

• provide higher quality career counselling and lifelong learning;

• reduce skill shortages through the production of skilled manpower relevant to the needs of the labour market;

• promote and encourage scholarship and entrepreneurship;

• forge and cement national unity; and

• promote national and international understanding and interaction.

It is evident that universities in the advanced world have made significant advancement in aligning their education towards sustainability. Meanwhile, universities in the developing countries, notably Africa, are lagging behind (Mohamedbhai, 2008). African universities face the challenges of poor and insufficient infrastructure, paucity of funds, acute dearth of qualified faculty, frail research productivity and inadequate community involvement. However, a Declaration was made by the leaders of African HE institutions at the 12th General Conference of the Association of African Universities in Abuja, Nigeria, in May 2009, whereby African universities, national governments, regional organisations and development partners, were tasked to take crucial steps to facilitate African HEIs to play a consequential role in stimulating sustainable development in Africa (Mohamedbhai, 2008). It was noted in the conference that the promotion of SHED can facilitate the creation of an informed and engaged citizenry, thereby stimulating a democratic culture. More also, it was acknowledged that through their research, HEIs assist to unearth panaceas to social and technical predicaments related to sustainable development, and through community involvement they help the susceptible sections of society by promoting understanding, tolerance and peace.

The need for SHED as a powerful tool for promoting African development was realised in 1990s. The notion of Education for Sustainable Development emanated and, in 2002, resulted to the United Nations’ instigation of the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014), with UNESCO as the pilot agency (Mohamedbhai, 2008). It was also stressed at the 14th General Conference and Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Association of African Universities held in Accra, Ghana, in 2017 that Africa needs to train its youth to use new technologies, and develop new skills and tools (Doran, 2017). Mohamedbhai (2008) articulated that more pressure is on African countries to facilitate SHED through teaching, research and community engagement activities. By integrating components of sustainability in the instruction of lecturers, specialists and potential leaders, HEIs can appreciably sway their thinking and attitude towards sustainable development (Lotz-Sisitka and Pradhan, 2012).

Academic libraries are globally recognised as one of the key contributors to SHED. Academic libraries support teaching, learning, research and technological innovations. In the area of publishing, academic libraries have made several new transformative agreements with publishers in the past year so that academics, researchers and students can get access to scholarly publications that can add value to HE (ESAC Agreement Registry, 2020). The transformative agreement is a contract aiming at shifting the contracted expense from libraries to publishers away from subscription-based reading and towards open access publishing (Hinchliffe, 2019). These can be in form of “offsetting agreements, read-and-publish agreements, and publish-and-read agreements”. Since 2018, open access negotiations between publishers and institutions have been majorly read-and-publish agreements (ACRL, 2020). In recent years, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh’s UGC Digital Library facilitates access to greater e-resources along with individual university’s negotiation in Bangladesh with different publishers to support effective sustainable development goal research.

However, the efforts of academic libraries in facilitating SHED are besieged by a number of factors. Iroka and Ndulaka (2018) expressed that the greatest obstacle militating against the performance of libraries as an educational tool for sustainable development is high illiteracy rate and lack of reading culture among the people. Eze and Uzoigwe (2012) posited that academic libraries are suffering from low budgetary allocation for education. Faniran and Akintayo (2012) cited by Dimunah (2017) similarly stated that underfunding of Nigerian universities has adversely affected the quality of teaching and research in Nigeria. Foley (2016) noted that funding is a challenge to primary roadblock for further development in some African countries.

In addition, the shift from traditional to modern library practice driven by ICT so as to enable libraries to provide the required services needed to cope with the goals and objectives of HEIs poses a great challenge to the attainment of SHED (Siyao et al., 2017). Poor access to information services as a result of lack of awareness of open access institutional repositories, inadequate ICT infrastructure, lack of a clear open science policy, low level of researchers’ information search and publishing skills, inappropriate training opportunities for library and information professionals and lack of authors’ desire to deposit their works in institutional repositories equally hamper full-capacity service rendering of academic libraries (Ogundahunsi et al., 2015). As such, if African libraries must provide information services that would make them to be the vehicle of change in enhancing sustainable development, the professionals must change from just being custodians of information resources to information resources content managers using appropriate technological skills to meet the needs of the 21st-century information users, especially the younger generation (Shafack, 2020).

ICT use also determines SHED. ICT is the modern vehicle for the delivery of educational deliverables in the modern time of real-time delivery of university education. Saleem et al. (2013) cited in Ola (2018) posited that in academic library, ICT is fundamentally crucial in areas such as library management, library automation, library networking, digital communication, audio-visual technology and technical communication. ICT is also needed in ensuring effective teaching and learning, notably in open and virtual universities. An overview of the countries in the world shows that some HEIs offering distance education programmes have started to leverage on ICT and internet to improve their programmes and quality (Okoye, 2016). Meanwhile, ensuring SHED involves implementing more blended learning programmes (Blessinger et al., 2018).

The open and virtual higher institutions use the combination of print, live and recorded broadcasting and the internet to deliver lectures to students. National Open University of Nigeria, the only approved open university in the Nigerian university system is not left out from this great academic achievement. Similarly, the universities approved to operate distance learning programme, as at today in Nigeria, are University of Ibadan; University of Lagos; University of Abuja; University of Maiduguri; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho; and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (National Universities Commission, 2017). These universities make maximum deployment of ICT in delivering their lectures.

ICT promotes global best practices in the application of modern disruptive technologies in HE for the purpose of ensuring SHED. ICT as an engine of educational transformation and advancement is critical for the necessary digital transmission of information in virtual domain. Adequate provision and utilisation of ICT facilities in universities bridges the digital divide existing between developed nations and the developing nations in the world of scholarship (Arubayi and Ikoya, 2016). The exponential growth of ICT improves the competencies of academics in their research effort through provision of unrestricted access to information via the internet (Adu Emunemu and Oshati, 2014). Onyekwelu (2002) claimed that HEIs should exploit the opportunities offered by the ICT. The onus is now on HEIs in Nigeria to harness the potentials of ICT in a progressive move towards the sustainability of HE development.

Embracing the role of ICT in SHED, Educause (2019) espoused that the manners to new degree programmes together with the increase in new structures of interdisciplinary studies show that HEIs want to offer students experiences that connect disciplines while rethinking how to take advantage of on existing resources. This is because HE is a complex adaptive assemblage. More so that COVID-19 is altering HE delivery system, blended learning designs have progressively amplified as a preferential course delivery model together with wholly online options. Blended learning, championed by academic libraries via ICT, is characterised by the incorporation of digital solutions most pertinent for actualising the learning outcomes of the course (Educause, 2019). Academic libraries and librarians have a long record of integrating novel technologies into their spaces and practices (ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, 2020). This is obvious as librarian plays significant role in the use of learning analytics in the management of student data in academic environment. “ACRL’s 2018 Top Trends in Academic Libraries” report recognised the application of learning analytics (LA) as a budding development in educational environment. The advocates of LA claimed that by gathering and scrutinising students’ learning data, together with data that relate to library usage, universities can have better knowledge of student learning behaviour, get involved when difficulties crop up and potentially even envisage difficulties before they arise (ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, 2020).

Methodology

Research design

Descriptive research design of survey type was used for the study. This is because of the quantitative nature of the study. More so, descriptive research correctly and methodically describes a population, situation or phenomenon (McCombes, 2020).

Population

All the 607 librarians in the 41 public universities in Southern Nigeria formed the population of the study. Sixteen of the universities were from South-west, 13 were from South-south and 12 were from South-east.

Sampling and sample size

Purposive and total enumeration sampling techniques were used for the study. Academic librarians were purposively considered for the study because they constituted manageable proportion of the academic staff of higher schools of learning in Nigeria. The whole population was used as the sample size. Baxter and Babbie (2004) recommended using the whole population as the sample if the population is small and manageable.

Data collection instrument

The instrument of data collection was questionnaire. The questionnaire had four parts (Part A–D). Part A was on elements facilitating HED. Part B pertained to the extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED. Part C was on challenges facing academic libraries in the provision of information services for the actualisation of the SHED. Part D centred on the extent of use of ICT in SHED. Parts A and C were measured on four-point Likert scale of strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree. Parts B and D were measured on four-point Likert scale of very high extent, high extent, low extent and very low extent. The self-structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents with the aid of three research assistants.

Validity and reliability of the research instrument

Two senior librarians at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, validated the research instrument. To test the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach’s alpha reliability test technique was used. In total, 25 copies of the questionnaire were administered to librarians at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, which did not form part of the study population. Reliability level of 0.77 was obtained and 0.77 was found adequate as the standard benchmark for reliability test is 0.6 and above (Nworgu, 2015).

Method of data analysis

Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data generated through the questionnaire. The analysis was carried out with the use of SPSS Version 21.

Results

Questionnaire response rate

As revealed in Table 2, 607 copies of the questionnaire were administered and 396 were filled and returned. This gave a response rate of 65.2%. The response rate of 65.2% is adequate for the study because the standard and acceptable response rate for most studies, according to Dulle et al. (2010) is 60%.

Table 3 shows that a number of elements facilitate SHED. The vast majority of the respondents with mean value of 3.34 (SD = 0.896) indicated that the presence of qualified lecturers stimulates SHED. This is closely followed by qualified faculties/departments with mean value of 3.32 (SD = 1.162). The least respondents with a mean value of 2.96 (SD = 1.333) claimed that adequate infrastructural facilities facilitate SHED.

As seen in Table 4, the extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED is high as the average mean of 3.33 is higher than the criterion mean of 2.50. Majority of the respondents with mean of 3.56 (SD = 1.261) claimed that academic libraries contribute to SHED through the provision of information resources for teaching and learning. This is followed by those who opined that academic libraries support research ( x¯ = 3.51, SD = 1.257). The least are those who responded that academic libraries contribute to SHED through the provision of accessible and affordable quality learning opportunities ( x¯ = 3.13, SD = 1.259).

Table 5 reveals the challenges that academic libraries facing in the provision of information services for the actualisation of the SHED. The major challenge is inadequate funds with mean of 3.59 (SD = 1.281). This is followed by poor library infrastructure ( x¯ = 3.52, SD = 1.259).

Table 6 shows that with the average mean of 3.92 which is greater than the criterion mean of 2.50, the extent of use of ICT in ensuring SHED is high. The majority of the respondents, with a mean of 3.37 (SD = 1.223), indicated that ICT is used in SHED to boost the collection development base of academic libraries’ e-resources. This is followed by those who opined that ICT helps in provision of access to the existing knowledge in electronic form ( x¯=3.36, SD = 1.273).

Discussion

The development of education that will contribute meaningfully to national and global advancement has to be on a sustainable level. The findings of this study reveal that some elements constitute SHED, among which are qualified lecturers, qualified faculties/departments, promotion of scholarship, excellence in research, etc. This is in agreement with Van Wyk (2012) that qualified lecturers impacting knowledge to students who will become future responsible citizens, effective decision-makers and voters for change, thereby laying solid foundation for the sustainability of educational development and national growth. FRN (2013) noted that promotion and encouragement of scholarship facilitate SHED in Nigeria. Also, Oghuvbu and Nafoba (2016) espoused that HE promotes scholarship and acquaints students with multifarious thoughts in a scholarly and intellectually inspiring environment thus prepare them for prospective profession by budding their creativity, insight and analytical skills. The finding that well-equipped libraries and the deployment of ICT are significant elements in SHED, showed that the development challenges confronted by Africa can be tackled through ICT deployment and research emanating from HEIs. This is in conformity with the assertion of Akarah and Achugbue (2016) that library as an element of HE provides information resources for library community, and the emergence and application of ICT has caused a great revolution in the delivery of HE. This is also in agreement with the assertion of Yusuf and Iwu (2010) that libraries are the hub around which scholarship revolves.

It was found in this study that academic libraries contribute to SHED through the provision of information resources for teaching and learning. This affirms the position of Tyonum and Ezeogu (2015) that academic libraries provide various information resources for teaching and learning thereby upholding the sustainability of HE development and the attainment of the goals of HE. ESAC Agreement Registry (2020) stressed that academic libraries made several collaboration with publishers in the past year to enable students, faculty members and researchers have access to scholarly publications that can add value to HE.

This study also found that academic libraries provide information resources to the library users via utilisation of ICT facilities, support research and provide media literacy programmes for students and researchers. This is in agreement with the finding of Tyonum and Ezeogu (2015); and Okuonghae and Igbinovia (2019) that academic libraries provide information resources to the library patrons and give necessary support for institutional research. The information provided and the research output are the major contributory factors in ensuring SHED as research outputs determine the ranking of HEIs. This study found that academic libraries aids educational development through higher manpower training and provide accessible and affordable quality learning opportunities as a mean of sustaining HE development. This has a close link with the assertion of Okiy (2015) that without libraries, verbal instruction would be the mean of instruction in schools. By this, Okiy admitted that academic libraries are an integral contributor to the actualisation of SHED. This is the reason why Scheeder (2017) stressed that there can be no sustainable development without access to information and there can be no meaningful inclusive access to information without libraries.

In a bid to provide information services to support SHED, academic libraries face a number of challenges. The finding that academic libraries are hampered by inadequate funds, poor library infrastructure, inadequate/irregular training of library staff and poor networking among libraries, upholds the position of Tyonum and Ezeogu (2015), Drotner (2015), Jaiyesimi (2016) and Okuonghae and Igbinovia (2019). These writers stressed that academic libraries face the challenges of poor funding, asymmetrical training of library staff and poor library networking in supporting SDGs. Foley (2016) similarly noted that funding is a challenge to primary roadblock for further development in some African countries. Eze and Uzoigwe (2012); and Diminah (2017) also attributed the challenges of HE to low budgeting and underfunding of education. This did not agree with the opinion of Iroka and Ndulaka (2018) which stated that the greatest challenge libraries face as an educational tool for sustainable development is high illiteracy rate and lack of reading culture. The finding is similarly different from those of Ogundahunsi et al. (2015) and Siyao et al. (2017) which attributed poor access to information services to lack of awareness of open access and of OA institutional repositories, lack of a clear open science policy as well as some other factors. The finding disagrees with the assertion of Shafack (2020) which stated that if African libraries must provide information services that would enhance sustainable development, professionals must change from just being custodians of information resources to information resources content managers.

It was also established in this study that the extent of use of ICT in SHED is high as ICT boosts collection development base of academic libraries’ e-resources, aid provision of access to the existing knowledge in electronic form and facilitate global access to electronic information resources on HE. This is possible as a result of access to various database subscribed to by the academic libraries, access to resources in institutional repositories, off-line resources and those that are in open access (Omeluzor and Ogo, 2018). Equally as at today, scholarly communication revolution has begun to transform the scientific practice in areas such as open access, open data and open science. Academic libraries are now offering advanced research data services. This is in agreement with the position of Iwhiwhu and Okorodudu (2012) that ICT are used intensively in the provision of information resources in electronic form to boost the collection development base of academic libraries as well as to provide access to the existing knowledge in electronic form through open access. Also, Tsakonas and Papatheodorou (2006) observed that ICT enables worldwide access to electronic information resources, most of which support HE.

The findings also show that the extent of use of ICT in the provision of electronic teaching system/blended learning, and support virtual/open/distance learning are low. This could be attributed to some factors such as poor infrastructure, poor networking as well as inadequate/irregular training of library staff that are affecting Nigerian educational system. In contrast to this, Educause (2019) noted that blended learning – characterised by the incorporation of digital solutions most pertinent for actualising the learning outcomes of the course – is now being promoted by academic libraries. Because blended learning designs have progressively amplified as a preferential course delivery model together with wholly online options, ICT could be deployed by academic libraries to improve on the low rate recorded, more so that COVID-19 is altering HE delivery system in Nigeria.

Limitations

This study investigated how academic libraries and ICT use facilitate SHED. The study was restricted to the librarians in the 41 public universities in Southern Nigeria. Librarians in Northern Nigeria were not represented in the study. More so that the issue of SHED is of immeasurable concern to librarians all over the globe, the study is supposed to spread beyond Nigeria. Based on the limited scope of the study, generalising the results of this study may be misleading. More comprehensive studies with wider coverage are therefore needed to get a global view of the way librarians on the way academic libraries and ICT use facilitate SHED.

Conclusion

The prospects of actualising the goals, objectives and ideals of HE towards SHED are realistic and achievable if the goals are in tandem with the provision of the needed library information resources and deployment of ICT. This implies that the role of academic libraries and the use of ICT should be unanimously embraced by all the stakeholders in educational industry in an effort to achieve SHED. This study has revealed that academic libraries and ICT use are very crucial in SHED. However, the quest for SHED has not been given sufficient and required consideration in Africa, particularly Nigeria, as only 20 African universities made the first 1,000 universities in the world and only 3 Nigerian universities were ranked among the best 20 universities in Africa based on 2020 Times Higher Education Rating. SHED must be wholly entrenched within the HEIs. This may necessitate re-allocating resources and implementing essential changes in the management of the institutions. A foremost key step is to integrate SHED within the institutions’ mission statement and strategic plan. As we move nearer to the 2030 SDG agenda, it appears evident that the actualisation of SHED rests on embracing the invaluable contribution of academic libraries and ICT deployment. Academic libraries must also devise modern ways to serve their parent institutions, considering the degree of dynamics in the provision and delivery of HE. Also, there must be massive deployment of ICT in the various activities of the institutions, including the teaching and non-teaching activities in Nigeria.

Government and HE regulatory bodies are expected to advocate the need for SHED by recruiting qualified lecturers, and supporting research in an effort to provide quality education for manpower needs of the nation. Sufficient fund should be allocated for academic libraries to purchase information resources and ICT facilities to facilitate effective teaching, learning and research that would stimulate the actualisation of SHED. The major stakeholders in HE administration should be charitable in their assessment of the roles of HE in the development of the national economy. Librarians should organise sensitisation campaign for the library users using varieties of media to instil the necessity and importance of utilisation of library information resources in an effort to ensure SHED. Finally, ICT should be maximally deployed in the performance of various activities of the institutions, and librarians in academic libraries should ameliorate their ICT skills and contribute significantly towards incorporating modern ICTs in carrying out their duties.

Table 1

2019/2020 Times Higher Education Rating (2020)

Name of university	Country	African rating	World rating
University of Cape Town	South Africa	1	136
University of Witwatersrand	South Africa	2	194
Stellenbosch University	South Africa	3	251
Aswan University	Egypt	4	401-500
Covenant University	Nigeria	5	401-500
University of KwaZulu-Natal	South Africa	6	401-500
Mansoura University	Egypt	7	401-500
University of Ibadan	Nigeria	8	501-600
North-West University	South Africa	9	501-600
Suez Canal University	Egypt	10	501-600
Beni-Suef University	Egypt	11	601-800
Cairo University	Egypt	12	601-800
Ferhat Abbas Setif University	Algeria	13	601-800
University of Johannesburg	South Africa	14	601-800
Kafrelsheikh University	Egypt	15	601-800
Makerere University	Uganda	16	601-800
University of Pretoria	South Africa	17	601-800
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University	Morocco	18	601-800
University of Western Cape	South Africa	19	601-800
University of Lagos	Nigeria	20	801–1000

Source: Table courtesy of The Time Higher Education World University Ranking (2020)

Table 2

Questionnaire response rate

Regions of the universities	No. of universities	No. of copies of questionnaire administered	No. of copies of questionnaire retrieved
South-west	16	242	171 (43.2%)
South-south	13	196	114 (28.8%)
South-east	12	169	111 (28%)
Total	41	607	396 (65.2%)

Source: Field study (2020)

Table 3

Elements facilitating SHED

Elements	Mean ( x¯)	SD
Qualified teachers	3.34	0.896
Qualified faculties/departments	3.32	1.162
Excellence in research	3.31	1.096
Academic freedom	3.28	1.026
Promotion of scholarship	3.23	1.063
High level of talented students	3.20	1.038
Well-equipped facilities for learning	3.18	1.147
Effective administration	3.18	1.287
Well-equipped libraries	3.17	1.141
Adequate funding	3.16	1.194
Deployment of ICT	3.13	1.153
Investment in research and development	3.12	1.445
Pursuit of academic excellence	3.08	1.229
Adherence to the goals of the institution	3.03	1.273
Adequate infrastructural facilities	2.96	1.333

Source: Field study (2020)

Table 4

Extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED

Contributions	Mean ( x¯)	SD
Provision of information resources for teaching and learning	3.56	1.261
Support research	3.51	1.257
Provision of media literacy programmes for students and researchers	3.48	1.406
Giving out instructions on the most efficient use of appropriate resources	3.45	1.519
Provision of Information resources for library users	3.40	1.407
Current awareness services regarding current trends in higher education	3.34	1.228
Advancing digital inclusion through access to ICT	3.32	1.177
Provision of network of delivery sites for educational programmes	3.27	1.205
Contribution to educational development through higher manpower training	3.25	1.198
Promotion and encouragement scholarship	3.23	1.233
Reduction in skill shortages through the production of skilled manpower relevant to the needs of the labour market	3.21	1.092
Provision of higher quality career counselling and lifelong learning	3.16	1.261
Provision of accessible and affordable quality learning opportunities	3.13	1.259
Average mean	3.33
Criterion mean	2.50

Source: Field study (2020)

Table 5

Challenges facing academic libraries in the provision of information services for the actualisation of the SHED

Factors	Mean ( x¯)	SD
Inadequate funds	3.59	1.291
Poor library infrastructure	3.52	1.259
Inadequate/irregular training of library staff	3.46	1.266
Obsolete research infrastructure	3.42	1.150
Poor networking among libraries	3.24	1.220
Inadequate institutional support	3.16	1.261
Lack of academic freedom	2.92	1.211
Increased exchange rate for foreign journals	2.61	1.218
Poor library usage by Nigerians	2.56	1.193
Inadequate technical know-how	2.41	1.288
Lack of commitment by library staff	2.38	1.196

Source: Field study (2020)

Table 6

Extent of use of ICT in SHED

Use	Mean ( x¯)	SD
Boosting collection development base of academic libraries’ e-resources	3.37	1.223
Provision of access to the existing knowledge in electronic form	3.36	1.273
Global access to electronic information resources on higher education	3.36	1.323
Management of information and knowledge on higher education	3.32	1.212
Management of staff data and record	3.27	1.230
Management of students’ enrolment and academic performance	3.11	1.266
Stimulation of research and intellectualism	2.53	1.239
Facilitation of inter-university cooperation	2.48	1.197
Provision of electronic teaching system/blended learning	2.29	1.281
Support virtual/open/distance learning	2.09	1.224
Average mean	2.92
Criterion mean	2.50

Source: Field study (2020)