Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the availability and utilisation of Internet facility in academic libraries in the South-West Nigeria.The subjects of the study were academic librarians with minimum academic qualifications of the masters degree. The study looked into the functions performed by the use of Internet. The expost-facto research design was used for the study. The study population consisted 195 academic librarians in twenty-five higher institutions in the South-West Nigeria. The total enumeration was adopted. Two instruments namely Interview guide and questionnaire were to gather data from the 195 academic librarians. Data were collected from 153 academic librarians making the retrieval rate 78.6 percent. daa collected were analysed using simple percentage.The finding indicated that out of the 25 academic libraries surveyed, only 17 academic libraries indicated introducing internet access. out of the 17 libraries, 9 of them have internet access via LAN/WAN, while 8 of them have WIRELESS  internet connection.12.4 percent of the librarians have internet experience  for morethan 5 years, while 32.6 percent have experience of internet use between 2 and 4 years. 88 percent use the internet for cataloguing and classification purposes, 56.8 percent  to check the LC subject heading; 44 percent to search for materials;38.6 percent for selection and purchase of E-Books;31.3 percent for E-Journals.The study revealed some challenges that have militated against the availability and use of the ICT, internet inclusive. some of these challenges were inadequate funding, librarians attitude towards ICT use and erratic power supply were seen as challenges faced by the studied librarians. The study concluded that availability and utilisation of Internet facility in no measure improves the academic librarinas roles. As the academic librarianscontinually use the internet, their jobs will keep on improving.