Assessing the quality of services at an academic library.

Customers usually have high expectations on the services they receive. The LibQUAL model was employed in this study to investigate the quality of services at an academic library. The participants were chosen from the five colleges in a university using simple random sampling. Two hundred participants were chosen from each college. In all, 1000 participants (including faculty members, postgraduate and undergraduate students) were selected for the study. The study revealed that users knew and used the library's services. The researchers delivered the questionnaires to the respondents at the library. The results showed that the library service quality (LSQ) fell short of users' expectations. There was a statistically significant difference in LSQ between gender of users. The users' expectations of the library's level of service were out of sync or mismatch. The variations could be attributed to differences in information needs of users. This requires the library to assess its services from users' perspective regularly. The use of the LibQUAL model provides useful information that library management can employ for developing service quality measurement scale and planning for service quality. The study also provides information about services that needs improvement, so that library staff could manage users' expectations and satisfaction in a better way. University authorities expect good return of investment made into the development of the library. Therefore, libraries should improve upon their services to boost the image of the Universities.

Leveraging social media in digital scholarship: Perspective from developing country students.

Albeit the increasing relevance of digital scholarship in contemporary educational settings, the onset of global pandemics like COVID-19 has necessitated the need for academic institutions to rely on social media for digital scholarship. Digital native students are leveraging on social media for digital scholarship to enhance communication and information dissemination. However, a study from higher institution in a developing country is missing from the global discussion on leveraging social media for digital scholarship. This study seeks to examine students' knowledge level in the use of social media for digital scholarship and the challenges associated with the use The study adopted stratified and non-probability voluntary response sampling methods because of the flexibility of these techniques. Data was collected from both undergraduate and postgraduate students of University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Students possess more than the average knowledge in social media for digital scholarship activities. However, students use of social media was for video presentations, online class, information sharing, publication of articles, search for academic related information, building proficiency in the search for information and making connections with individuals. Additionally, the conventional notion still holds that social media as a digital scholarship is susceptible to poor internet connection, jamming of digital systems and lack of adequate information on how to use digital scholarly platforms. The information literacy department of higher institutions are recommended to revise the content of their curriculum and incorporate mechanisms to leverage social media for digital scholarship to efficient disseminate scholarly outputs.