In the face of rapidly increasing technological changes to the educational and information environment, the academic library has continued to play a significant role as a social organisation in support of knowledge creation and research within the higher education system. Academic libraries are thus expected to comply with rapid global developments in education through efficient delivery of services in order to contribute to the growth of the institution it serves. In Nigeria, quality management models have been identified as the appropriate management structures that can provide libraries with the necessary techniques to improve their value through efficient services to their user communities. Even though a few studies have identified the benefits of quality management adoption and implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs), there are no studies reporting on quality management adoption and implementation in Nigerian university libraries. A sequential mixed methods approach was used to explore quality management practices in academic libraries in south-western (SW) Nigeria in a two-phased study in which the second phase was dominant. The choice of the approach was because it was found appropriate for answering the research questions of the study. The approach afforded the opportunity of gaining a better insight into the investigation, with the two methods complementing each other as opposed to a single method. The first (quantitative) phase involved an exploratory online survey which was conducted to assess management practices and quality service delivery in 24 university libraries studied. The study found a wide range of views on management practices and service delivery. The findings suggest that the respondents were aware of QM practices, service delivery and its impact on the mission and vision, learning outcomes, employee satisfaction, staff development and performance. They were therefore able to give informed views on the issues being investigated in the study. It was also revealed that despite the fact that participating universities fell into different categories, the majority of the university librarians agreed on the need for QM practices as a means of improving academic library services. In the second phase, semi-structured, in depth interviews with 15 heads of libraries and 10 focus group discussions with non-management staffs (73) of the libraries were conducted to build on and confirm the findings from the quantitative phase of study. The study found that the application of QM principles in the university libraries was not in line with any best practice to shape QM and as such could not lead to consistent QM implementation. The study found that most of the university libraries adhered to the external quality assurance system prescribed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the university for the purpose of accreditation of academic programmes. There were no quality management tools in place for use in Nigerian university libraries, but rather libraries employed the principles to guide their procedures without any systematic procedures. A QM maturity assessment was conducted to ascertain the positioning of the libraries in QM practices. The findings from analysis of data from the survey, interviews and focus groups are discussed in relation to the key objectives of the study, explaining the key observations and findings. The findings were also triangulated for a better understanding of the situation of libraries investigated, while factors perceived as vital to the actualisation of QM were also highlighted. An exploratory model of QM implementation programme for university libraries is proposed which seeks government intervention in formulating and implementing effective quality improvement in university library operations. A maturity model to help in post-implementation assessment of QM maturity levels of libraries is also developed. This study makes a contribution to knowledge by developing an empirically supported model that seeks the intervention of major stakeholders in the HEIs for QM implementation in university libraries. The model acknowledges the roles of both internal and external actors of the library in actualisation of a library quality improvement programme. Though the model was developed on the basis of evidence gathered from libraries in SW Nigeria, it may be transferable to other university libraries in other zones in Nigeria and possibly within the West African region. Furthermore, this thesis presents the contributions and limitations of the study and suggests areas of future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:682307 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Egberongbe, Halima S. T. |
| Contributors | Willett, Peter ; Pinfield, Stephen |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/12533/ |
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