A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ELECTRONIC SECURITY SYSTEMS OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the impact of the usage of Electronic Security Systems (ESSs) in selected public and private universities in South-West, Nigeria. Design/Method/Approach: The survey research design of ex-post facto type was used for this study. Library personnel in South-West Universities in Nigeria constituted the study population. The study sampled four Universities (University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos (UNILAGi), University of Ibadan, Ibadan (UI), Covenant University (CU), and Babcocki University) in South-West, Nigeria, using purposive sampling technique. Sixtyseven Librarians and 130 Para-professionali library staff (62 in UNILAG, 51 in UI, 44 in CU and 40 in BU) were sampled using simple random sampling technique, totaling 197 respondents. Instrument used for this study was questionnaire. The ESSQ was used for data collection while a reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained through Cronbach alpha of testing reliability. Mean, standard deviation, frequency count, percentage and Independent Ttest were used for data analysis. Findings: The results showed that the impact of ESSs in academic libraries in South-West Universities, Nigeria was considered to be positive. The findings also indicated that the condition of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera was good and it was ranked highest, followed by electronic security gate and RFID, whereas biometrics was poor in ALs. The result likewise confirmed that magnitude of loss of library materials through theft, mutilation and vandalism was extremely high. The result equally revealed that there was significance difference of ESSs in academic libraries across the selected public and private Universities in South-West, Nigeria. Implication: It is suggested that the various public and private Universities that are yet to deploy the use of electronic security systems in their libraries should embrace the systems, or they will always have theft, mutilation and vandalism of their library materials. Originality/Value: The study recommended that the academic libraries that are yet to deploy the use of ESSs should do so, because the manual methods of safeguarding library collections are inefficient. There is the need to carry out further study about the deployment of ESSs in other regions in Nigeria.