DIGITAL DIVIDE AND THE USE OF THE ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN COVID’19 ERA IN EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine digital divide and the use of academic libraries in covid’19 era in Edo State. For the study, there were six set objectives and six set research questions. More so, Van Dijk's Theory of Digital Technology Access and Societal Impacts for the dependent variable (Digital Divide) and Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory for the independent variable (Uses of Academic libraries) were used to guide this study. This study used a correlational research design and an accidental sampling technique to choose a sample size of 150 participants. A well-structured and validated questionnaire entitled: ‘Digital divide and the use of the Academic libraries in covid’19 era in Edo State (DDUALES)’was used to collect data, and mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data for this study. The findings of the data analysis were presented in tables 4.1-4-6. The output of the mean and standard deviations show that during Covid'19, there was no relationship between using academic libraries and any of the various digital divide conceptions. Also the study showed that Libraries and library outreaches should invest more in digital library tools that are not restrained by distance, the government and management of academic libraries should make provisions for affordable robust broadband internet service to academic libraries and the users. In conclusion, The output of the result indicates that all the variables that could lead to digital divide were not related to use of academic libraries in Edo State.