The Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) By Librarians for Information and Knowledge Management in Academic Institutions in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Academic institution activities of teaching, learning, research, community engagement and academic citizenship has become more demanding due to increased users, workload of lecturers, changing workspace of library environment and multifarious tasks that librarians need to attend to on daily basis. This necessitates the study on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by librarians for information and knowledge (IKM) in academic institutions in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Librarians being the mouthpiece and gatekeeper of information and knowledge in academic institutions must become proactive in personal upskilling to use the ICTs for IKM in the academic institutions. The infiltration of digital technologies has also changed librarians’ roles, available resources and services rendered in academic institutions. Three research objectives were used to guide the book chapter to include: examine the types of ICTs used by librarians for IKM in academic institutions; determine role of librarians in the use of ICTs for IKM in academic institutions and explore strategies to improve the use of ICTs by librarians for IKM in academic institutions. The qualitative research approach using interpretive content analysis of research articles harvested from online database of Google Scholar was adopted for this study. The author conceptualises and internalise key terms of ICTs and IKM in this book chapter. Findings reveals that there is a shift from the conventional ICTs of computer, printer, fax machine, scanners, photocopiers, digital camera, and microphones to digital technologies tools of webinar tools for teaching and learning, online educational resources, collaborative tools, social network sites, Web 2.0 technologies, online courseware, used for IKM in academic institutions in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The roles of librarians have shifted from physical interaction and support to users to more of virtual where the users do not have to necessarily come to the physical library, with support of Internet connectivity. Finding further reveal strategies of continuous exposition and training of librarians to use recent ICTs in preparedness for IKM in academic institutions. The book chapter recommends proactive support by management of academic institutions to librarians for better and quality service delivery in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.