Bridging the Great Divide: Librarian-faculty Collaboration in Selected Higher Institutions in Lagos State Nigeria

This paper examines librarian-faculty collaboration in selected academic libraries in Lagos State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling method was used to select five out of a total population of nine higher institutions in Lagos State. Questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data gathering among librarians in the selected institutions. The study found that librarians are willing to collaborate with faculty in the areas of providing Current Awareness Services (CAS), working with accreditation teams, and helping to develop both the media and information literacy skills of students. The study also found that librarians believe that faculty board meetings and library committee initiatives are effective platforms for promoting librarian faculty collaboration. Further, the study identified essential skills for librarian-faculty collaboration. Overall, findings show that a weak negative correlation exists between gender and area of collaboration at N = 38, r = −0.136, p < 0.05. The survey also found a significant weak negative relationship between age and area of collaboration (N = 38, r = −0.379, p < 0.05). No significant relationship was found between work experience and area of collaboration (r = −0.067, p = 0.696 > 0.05). The study therefore suggests that stakeholders in higher education should imbibe the culture of expanding and strengthening collaboration between librarians and faculty.