Abstract
The study examined artificial intelligence literacy and digital communication
competencies of librarians as predictors of service delivery in state university libraries
in South-South Nigeria. A correlational research design was adopted for the study
with a population of 164 librarians engaged in the state university libraries in South-
South, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire designed by the researcher was the
instrument adopted for eliciting data from the respondents. The reliability of the
instrument yielded an alpha coefficient of 0.87, indicating the instrument is reliable.
The data elicited using the questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics for
the research questions, and the Pearson Product-Moment Correlational Coefficient
was adopted for the Hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings
revealed that the librarians do not possess artificial intelligence literacy for effective
library service delivery in the state university libraries examined. The findings
indicate that the librarians moderately possess digital communication competencies to
support library service delivery in the state university libraries. The finding indicated
that a strong positive relationship exists between librarians' AI literacy and service
delivery in the state university libraries. The findings indicated that a moderate
positive relationship exists between librarians' digital communication competencies in 4IR technologies and service delivery. It was recommended that university library
management in South-South Nigeria should regularly conduct AI training
programmes to improve librarians' literacy and enhance the use of AI in service
delivery, and state university library management should organise capacity building
efforts to boost the digital communication competencies of their librarians.
Keywords: AI Literacy; Digital Communication Competencies; Librarians;
Service Delivery; State University Libraries
Publication Date: 2025-11-08