Ghana Library Journal

Editorial

2026-07-15T09:14:45+00:00

It is with great pleasure that I present Volume 31, Issue 2 (July 2026) of the Ghana Library Journal (GLJ). This regular issue continues the journal’s commitment to publishing rigorous and relevant scholarship that advances library and information science research while responding to emerging challenges and opportunities across Africa and beyond. The seven papers featured in this issue reflect the breadth of contemporary scholarship,covering organisational development, leadership, service quality, digital transformation, indigenous knowledge,scholarly communication, and information behaviour. Collectively, they demonstrate the evolving role of libraries as institutions that support learning, research, innovation, cultural preservation, and community development.

Anchored in Change: Librarians’ Organisational Commitment during Institutional Transformation at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC)

2026-07-15T09:20:21+00:00

This study explored organisational commitment among librarians at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC), Ghana, following institutional transformation. Using a qualitative design and guided by Meyer and Allen’s Three-Component Model, interviews with twenty librarians were thematically
analysed. The study fills a gap in African library scholarship by examining commitment within a newly merged university system, integrating change-management and affective-engagement perspectives. Findings reveal strong affective commitment shaped by professional identity and participatory leadership but challenged by
workload, uncertainty, and limited recognition. The paper contributes theoretically by linking organisational commitment to transformation management and practically by suggesting leadership and human resource strategies for sustaining staff engagement in an evolving academic environment.

Leadership Styles and Service Delivery of Staff in Public Polytechnic Libraries in South-West, Nigeria

2026-07-15T09:34:52+00:00

Service oriented organisations are always concerned with the quality of their service delivery. Service delivery is a major yardstick in determining the relevance, effectiveness and significance of academic libraries. The study investigated the influence of leadership styles on the service delivery of polytechnic library staff in South-west, Nigeria. Survey research method using questionnaire was adopted to gather data for the study. The population of the study is three hundred and twenty-five (325) staff from twenty-three (23) public polytechnic libraries in South-west, Nigeria. Total enumeration technique was adopted for the respondents for the questionnaire. Quantitative data provided insight into the prominent leadership styles of library staff towards the quality of service delivered. Specifically, the finding revealed that autocratic (Means = 3.2648; SD = 0.628) and democratic (Means = 3.2457; SD = 0.508) styles are the prominent leadership styles adopted by the library staff in Southwest, Nigeria. It was found that leadership style is positively related to service delivery (r = .425; p<0.05). It was thus recommended that hybrid method should be employed by heads of libraries to provide effective library services since one type of a leadership may not produce the needed quality service delivery

Library operations performance objectives: empirical evidence from users’ expectations

2026-07-15T09:47:17+00:00

This study aims to investigate the expectations of library users based on operations performance objectives (OPO) such as quality, flexibility, speed, dependability, and security of services and resources to adopt a strategic direction in which the creation and delivery of library resources and services would meet the expectations of
library users. A survey was conducted to collect data from 506 students of fifteen (15) academic universities in Ghana using questionnaires and the data was analysed descriptively. The results indicated that the general student populace prioritised speed as the key operations performance objective determining user satisfaction
with library operations. Besides, undergraduate students prioritised speed and dependability, whereas postgraduate students prioritised flexibility. Finally, the outcome indicated that public university students prioritised dependability higher, while their counterparts in the private sector prioritised quality. Findings of the study might aid the adoption of a strategic direction in which the creation and delivery of library resources and services would meet the expectations of its users.

Information provision on Academic library websites in Ghana: Pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic analysis

2026-07-15T09:57:08+00:00

Academic library websites are used to provide relevant information and services to the immediate academic community and beyond. This study aimed to determine the kind of services and information provided by academic libraries in Ghana on their websites before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using content analysis, the study adapted Pareek and Gupta’s (2013) academic library website checklist as a tool for collecting data on the websites of nine selected academic libraries in Ghana before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Paired sample t-test was used to compare the two data sets. The findings revealed that the websites are used mainly as avenues for information provision on some aspects of resources and services provided. However, there has been a reduction in the number of websites, the extent of information and service provision when the data from pre- and post-COVID-19 were compared. Service provision on the websites, which is the current demand from library users, is very minimal, and the libraries lack information on their websites about their unique and rare collections. Evidence from the websites of Ghanaian academic libraries gives an indication that the libraries are not making extensive use of their websites to meet the demands of the 21st-century information service provision through virtual service delivery. This prevents global access to the contents of the library collection. It is therefore recommended that libraries see their website as a modern marketing tool and develop strategies to optimise its use

Bridging the Awareness-Adoption Gap: A Content Analysis of Institutionalised Social Media Use for Library Promotion in Nigerian Federal Universities

2026-07-15T10:06:44+00:00

Promoting library resources through digital marketing has become a key strategy in modern librarianship for increasing user patronage and awareness. However, awareness of social media’s importance does not always translate into institutional adoption or the creation of dedicated digital marketing units. This study used digital content analysis to assess the institutional use of social media for library promotion in Nigeria, focusing on 51 federal university libraries. Data were collected from official YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts. Posts were analysed based on visibility, recency, followership, feedback, and relevance to library promotion. Findings revealed low institutional adoption of social media, a preference for Facebook, poor alignment of posts with library content, and low user engagement. The study recommends advocating institutional adoption of social media, creating dedicated promotion units, and providing librarian training. It also urges library schools to integrate social media into their curricula to enhance library visibility in a competitive information environment.

Preserving Indigenous Knowledge through Older Adults in Ghana: Challenges and Information Management Strategies

2026-07-15T10:12:36+00:00

The dominant framing of indigenous knowledge preservation as a technological problem, solvable through better documentation tools, digital archives, and metadata systems, misdiagnoses what is actually at stake in Ghana. Knowledge held by older adults does not decay because it lacks a recording device. It decays because the social conditions that make it meaningful, transmissible, and worth transmitting are eroding. This narrative review argues that any preservation framework oriented primarily toward capture rather than toward the renewal of community conditions is likely to produce archives that communities do not use, do not control, and do not trust. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published primarily between 2018 and
2025, with selective reference to foundational works where these provide irreplaceable empirical baselines, the review maps the principal forms of elder-held knowledge in Ghana, spanning traditional medicine, oral traditions, agricultural adaptation, and governance, and analyses the structural challenges that impede their intergenerational transmission. It then synthesises information management strategies organised around the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO, 2003) and the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Carroll et al., 2020), two frameworks chosen precisely because
they centre community authority and collective benefit rather than institutional efficiency. The review also insists on a point that preservation literature tends to avoid: not all indigenous knowledge is equally valued or uniformly beneficial within the communities that hold it, and preservation frameworks that bypass community
deliberation about what deserves to be preserved, and on whose terms, risk romanticising tradition rather than serving communities. Sustainable preservation depends less on technology than on trust, community selfdetermination, and policies grounded in Ghana’s existing institutional landscape

Exploring Diasporic Information Needs for the “Motherland”

2026-07-15T10:16:39+00:00

Centuries after the infamous slave trade era, there has been an influx of the diaspora to visit the continent of Africa. These nationalities, a lot of whom call the continent the “motherland”, undertake these trips for a variety of reasons, including reconnecting with ancestors. This study explores the information needs of the African American diaspora when travelling to Ghana, and compares their accounts with local Ghanaians. Using qualitative methodology, the findings suggest that for tourists, this lack of information has sometimes led to disappointment as the reality can sometimes be different than expectations. These travelers need accurate information related to food, culture, politics, language, and society. The results of this research are useful to the African American diasporic community, librarians in area studies or at universities where students may embark on trips to Africa, or for public librarians who engage with people interested in diasporic tourism.