Digital Literacy and Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools among Librarians in Academic Libraries
Keywords:
Digital Literacy, Artificial Intelligence Tools, Librarians, Academic Libraries, Library ServicesAbstract
The study explored the digital literacy and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools by the librarians working in academic libraries. This study is based on Davis (1989) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The population under study was 10 Professional Librarians in Dame Patience Goodluck Automated Library. A census sampling technique was used to select 10 librarians for the sample size. A questionnaire with a structured template named “Digital Literacy and Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools Questionnaire (DLUAITQ)” was used for data gathering. The instrument was validated by the educators with respect to the Library and Information Science field, and the reliability was tested by applying the Cronbach Alpha method. The data gathered were analyzed by the use of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The results showed that the librarians have a high level of digital literacy with a grand mean score of 3.18. The study also revealed that the librarians employ different AI technologies like AI search engines, automated cataloguing systems, chatbots and intelligent information retrieval systems, with a grand mean score of 2.88, respectively. Furthermore, the results revealed that the librarians in their daily library work have a moderate level of use of AI tools, with a grand mean equal to 2.70. The study brought to light that while librarians have good digital skills and are coming into contact with various AI technologies, the widespread use of AI tools in library work is still in the early stages. The study called for a regular digital literacy training program, providing more access to AI technologies and infrastructure and providing more institutional support for integration and utilisation of AI tools in academic libraries.
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