OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING WEB 2.0-BASED LIBRARY SERVICES IN A GHANAIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES LIBRARY, GHANA

Abstract

Technology is impacting greatly on all spheres of life and libraries, the world over are leveraging these technologies to improve upon their services. Academic libraries are taking advantage of Web 2.0 applications to design and deliver a variety of new resources and services. However, this does not appear to be the case for academic libraries in sub-Saharan Africa and other places in the developing world as they are yet to fully embrace the implementation of social media for service delivery. This study reports on a study which aimed at investigating whether Web 2.0 applications could be used to deliver enhanced library services to graduate students of the University for Development Studies in Ghana. A questionnaire consisting of 23 items was administered to a sample of 155. 119 copies of the questionnaires weic retrieved and found suitable for analysis and interpretation. The collected data was analyzed and interpreted using the SPSS package and Microsoft Excel. This article provides an overview of the University for Development Studies Library, discusses the opportunities and challenges for implementing Web- 2.0 based library services to the students, and provides recommendations to make the provision of these Web 2.0 based library services a reality.