PurposeThis paper aimed to determine the extent to which academic libraries and information services were extended due to the emergence of COVID-19 in the Gauteng Province, South Africa.Design/methodology/approachFounded on a pragmatism paradigm, the sequential explanatory research design was adopted to engage with participants and respondents on their experience of library services extensions to support users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using online questionnaires and interviews. Cluster and purposive sampling were used and data for the quantitative part were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst qualitative data were analyzed manually.FindingsFindings revealed that academic libraries operating in a higher education environment provided extensive support to remote users during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done through the utilization of a variety of technology utilization, ranging from traditional e-mail support to the use of technology related to Artificial Intelligence such as the BOTsa, which is a Chatbot aimed to assist users in receiving speedy responses to library-related inquiries.Originality/valueThis study is unique in that it focuses on academic libraries that operate in higher education environments where support for achieving academic endeavors becomes imperative to ensure the smooth execution of teaching and learning activities within the restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adaptions and improvements to academic library services during and post-COVID-19 era were successful in ensuring that remote users could obtain similar services and access to information as was the case before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An infodemic can be defined a disproportionate aggregate of information regarding a problem that makes exposure to reality challenging in a manner that compromises logical thinking. It can also be categorized as a pervasive and deliberate spread of misinformation geared towards deceitfulness. In the 1st WHO Infodemiology Conference, it was affirmed in the context of the coronavirus pandemic that infodemic had heightened deception to the point that necessitates a harmonized response because of the overabundance of misinformation that the world is inundated with, so much so that finding dependable sources and reliable guidance when urgently needed has become an uphill task. Consequently, misinformation blows out of proportion at a remarkably faster pace and further compounded the complexity to health emergency response. The abundance of information on social media oftentimes without authentic sources leads to a dilemma in distinguishing facts, mere opinions, propaganda, or prejudices. Social media has become an avenue for all sorts of misinformation that initially seems credible but later proves fraudulent. Conversely, by the time the authenticity is confirmed to be false, the damage may be irreversible.
PurposeThe Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have challenged the academic libraries system with a paradigm shift that has never been experienced before. This article highlights how the library staff offered support with the 4IR to the remote during the COVID-19 era; to ensure that the provision of information resources does not halt because of the imposed lockdown COVID-19 regulations. The purpose of this study was to examine the library staff support with 4IR's application to provide information resources to remote clients during the COVID-19 library services.Design/methodology/approachThe study was anchored by the positivism research paradigm and used a quantitative research approach. Microsoft Form was used to design an online questionnaire to collect data from the library staff working in a distance education environment in Gauteng Province of South Africa. The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).FindingsThe findings discovered that the library staff was keen on job innovation; however, the COVID-19 restrictions were a major cause for the library staff not to provide information resources to remote clients effectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe 4IR has both positive and negative effects on the library staff and the remote clients. To ensure that academic libraries fully embrace the 4IR; it is imperative to examine how the remote clients affected by digital divide can benefit from this revolution since they do not have access to adequate gadgets such as laptops/personal computers/tablets/smartphone/iPods and data for Internet connection.Practical implicationsThis study contributed to the Library and Information Science's (LIS) field by adding value to the knowledge base concerning how the library staff working in academic libraries operating in a distance education environment in Gauteng Province of South Africa offered support to the remote clients during the COVID-19 pandemic that impacted the drastic adoption of the 4IR.Social implicationsStakeholders, library management and policymakers gained insight to revisit the existing library staff support regarding mentoring, coaching training remote clients on how to access and download online information resources. This is inspired by the fact that COVID-19 significantly influenced library services' value for knowledge by facilitating policy changes and aligning with 4IR.Originality/valueThe study greatly influences policymakers and information practitioners to mobilize new methods of library staff support.
Academic libraries are now enduring a substantial shift, which is influenced by the advancement of information technology (IT) that has drastically changed the operating system of academic libraries. The changes have impacted significantly on the skills and competencies required of library staff. This chapter shed light on the background of modern academic libraries, the IT tools used by various academic libraries (for both remote clients and library staff) around the world to provide and access information resources and/or library and information services (LIS) to meet the information needs of remote clients. IT is becoming a tool in modern academic libraries designed to facilitate library operations to meet the information needs of academic library clients. In light of this, library staff is obliged to be equipped with IT skills and competencies to assist the institution to achieve its objectives by supporting teaching, learning, and research.
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