Service Paradox in Contemporary Nigerian Academic Libraries-Finding a Meeting Ground Between “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants

Abstract

This study identifies two categories of contemporary academic library users as “digital natives” and “digital immigrants”. It went further to note the information seeking behavior and source preferences of each category of users and then attempt to find a meeting ground for effective academic library services to both digital natives and digital immigrants, without any group being at a disadvantage unwittingly or otherwise, in this era of ICT.  The meeting grounds include: making the academic library an information ecosystem, provision of digital literacy, building a digitally inclusive user community and adoption of embedded library service. This would enable academic library to create a convergence service zone for all categories of users, regardless of the rung they occupy in the ICT knowledge ladder. The study notes that though the Web is a great and desirable source of information, it is a poor substitute to full service academic library. A combination of the two is crucial for effective information access and use in academic libraries.