Knowledge Sharing Practices in Academic Libraries in Imo State, Nigeria.

The study investigated knowledge sharing practices in academic libraries in Imo State, Nigeria. The research adopted descriptive survey design. Two research questions were posed for the study. The population of the study was 89 professional librarians selected from four tertiary institutions in Owerri Municipal Council which are Federal University of Technology Owerri (48), Imo State University, Owerri (15), Federal Polytechnic Nekede (11) and Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri (15). The instrument for data collection was rating scale titled Rating Scale on Knowledge Sharing Practices in Academic Libraries in Imo State (RSKSPAL). The data collected was analyzed using simple percentage and mean. The findings of the study revealed that professional librarians in academic libraries in Imo State are aware of knowledge sharing practices to a high extent. The result also showed that professional librarians in academic libraries in Imo State use the following verbal discussion, Seminar/workshop, conference, mentoring, staff meeting, email, Facebook, notice board, library portal, website, twitter, telegram, brainstorming, community practice and whatsApp to share knowledge. The study concludes that librarians strongly agreed that verbal discussion, Seminars/workshops, Conference, mentoring, notice board, Library portal, brainstorming and whatsapp are the major knowledge sharing practice use while the respondents disagree to Facebook, Twitter, email and Community practice as methods of knowledge sharing practice and recommends that seminars/workshops should be carried out for both old and fresh librarians in order to build further awareness of knowledge sharing practices among librarians. The aspect of mentoring as knowledge sharing practice should be emphasized more since librarians prefer to share knowledge through this medium