INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AMONG ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS IN SELECTED UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This research paper investigates the use of social media to manage emergencies by academic librarians working in some of the selected public university libraries in Nigeria. The results show that librarians tend to regard social media as a powerful resource in responding to emergencies, particularly in interaction, sensitizing the community, and training. Nonetheless, the digital divide and lack of access to technology was found to be a significant obstacle to successful utilization. The findings also indicated that there was no statistically significant association between the academic level of the librarians, the number of years in the line of duty and the gender of the librarians and their use of social media to deal with the emergency. On the other hand, the perception of the social media by the librarians played a great role in its use during emergency management. In order to reduce the problems revolving around the use of social media in disaster management, the research paper suggests that the emergency management agencies may undertake awareness and enlightenment initiatives that will reduce misinformation in times of crisis. It also calls for government intervention through the enactment and enforcement of policies to regulate social media use. Additionally, capacity building through targeted training for academic librarians is essential, particularly in data