AUTHORS
EZRA SHILOBA GBAJE,Ph.D.
SARAH DAUDA YANI,Ph.D.
&
IMOISILI OJEIME ODIGIE
DEPARTMENT LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LOKOJA, KOGI STATE.
INTRODUCTION
Digital scholarship is a product of the advancement of digital and communication technology as well as its use in scholarly endeavors. A growing number of scholarly activities over the past two decades have included digital tools, massive data sets, simulation, visualizations, and even virtual worlds, expanding the sources of information beyond the written word (Wolski & Richardson, 2014;& Mulligan, 2016). Lippincott (2017) made the argument that academics from all disciplines are increasingly using digital tools and methodologies in their research and instruction to support these claims. This has had a big impact on the library as well, with new positions arising and others shifting. The acquisition of digital information resources, the encouragement of the production of digital scholarship output, and the provision of services and technological tools that support digital scholarship are all currently done by libraries. Although academics are aware of the definition of the phrase "digital scholarship" is ambiguous because different research communities, researchers, and librarians engage in different types of activities.possess individual conceptions of digital scholarship (Zhifang, & Huifang, 2018; Greenhall, 2019).
Rumsey (2011), on the other hand, characterized digital scholarship as the use of digital evidence and methodology, as well as digital writing, publication, curation, and archiving, as well as digital use and reuse of research. Digital scholarship, according to Mitchem and Rice (2017), is the practice of producing, evaluating, and disseminating scholarly works using digital resources. According to Weller (2011), digital scholarship encompasses more than just employing technological tools to make it easier to publish academic work in print publications and make Power Point lesson plans. By connecting data sets, information, and scholars, digital scholarship encourages and supports research collaboration in interdisciplinary approaches to challenging topics. Additionally, researchers can better interpret and comprehend complicated quantitative data thanks to digital scholarship tools.It is crucial to scholarly activity because it provides quantitative and qualitative research data. Mulligan (2016) claims that more and more research is including text mining, simulations, big data sets, digital technologies, and massive amounts of data. The digital work environment has been created as a result of these developments, and libraries are now obligated to offer workspace and the right equipment to support digital scholarly practices.
SUMMARY
The study emphasized the contributions libraries provide to the development, support, and preservation of digital scholarship. The study also looked at the kinds of digital tools, services, and resources offered by university libraries as well as the trainings that academic libraries have received to enable them to promote digital scholarship activities in Nigeria.
FINDINGS
1. Online databases and secondary sources of research data were the most common types of content that the university libraries acquired. The Libraries also offered a special area and ICT-trained librarians to promote digital scholarship, although the ICT knowledge of the librarians in the sample was only adequate to provide services and tools for sources of information from written words.
2. While few libraries did not collaborate with any unit outside the library, many collaborate with their university's ICT Units to support a small number of digital scholarship tools and services.
3. Failure to acquire these tools could lead to the non-provision of services and tools for data mining, geographic information systems, and data forms that generate customized results on demand could be as a result of lacking access to these technologies and the necessary training to use them.
4. Providing services and tools to support digital scholarship was significantly hampered by university librarians' lack of training in the use of digital scholarship tools.
5. Only a small number of university librarians have had the chance to take training sessions on digital scholarship tools that deliver customized results upon request.
OBJECTIVE
1. To list the different digital resources, tools, and services that Nigerian university libraries offer to promote digital scholarship.
2. To find out what kind of training Nigerian university librarians have received on how to support digital scholarship in their libraries.
METHOLOGY
The researchers used a case study approach and quantitative research methodology to evaluate how digital scholarship is practiced in a few particular Nigerian university libraries. A survey created with Survey Monkey served as the research instrument. 170 librarians who were the directors of Federal, State, and Private University Libraries in Nigeria made up the study's population. Respondents were selected by a convenience sample technique from the Association of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities' mailing list (AULNU). This is a listing of all Nigerian university libraries' directors. There were 89 Heads of University Libraries that enrolled for this email list in total. For individuals who would like to participate, the identical questionnaire's online link was also distributed on the AULNU WhatsApp network for individuals who would like to complete the survey on their mobile devices. A reminder was issued each week during the 4-week data collection period. After four weeks, 45 heads of university libraries had completed the questionnaire and provided their answers. Frequency and percentage were used to assess the data that had been gathered.
CONCLUSION
According to the study's findings, Nigerian scholars and researchers are undoubtedly engaged in digital scholarship. As a result, support for digital scholarship in libraries is crucial for librarians to continue to be valued in universities and the broader research community. Numerous institutions in Nigeria offer a limited number of digital scholarship tools and services, but they do not have access to digital data such as numerical data, dynamic models, or interactive databases that may produce customized results upon request. The sampled librarians' training on digitization, digital preservation, and web hosting of digital collections had a close relationship with the tools and services the university libraries offered.
RECOMMENDATION
i. More one-on-one consultations on digital scholarship services and tools should be offered to scholars in the library as part of their support for their work in addition to infrastructure and training.
ii. Training and retraining of librarians in digital scholarship tools and services should be funded by university managements and other relevant stakeholders.
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