COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AMONG ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES LIBRARIES IN NORTH – CENTRAL NIGERIA

The study investigated collaborative research among academic librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria. The descriptive survey method was employed for this study. The purposive sampling method was used to select 6 public universities in North central Nigeria. The random sampling method was employed to choose five (5) academic librarians from each of two universities in six states, making a total of sixty (60) librarians. A questionnaire was used to gather data from respondents. Sixty (60) copies of the questionnaire were administered, and 50 were retrieved, giving a response rate of 91.7%. The data were analyzed using simple frequency counts and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the academic librarians engage in research collaboration with colleagues within and outside the university and have collaborated with their colleagues in the last two years. The study revealed Google+ and Whatsapp as the major tools for collaborative research. The study also revealed that collaborative research has helped to increase the number of publications, and increase the rate of research, problem of access to internet connectivity and lack of collaborative research funding were the significant challenges facing academic librarians in collaborative research. The study recommended that academic librarians should double their efforts and engage in collaborative research both within and outside the country; reliable internet facilities with fast bandwidth should be provided for collaboration.