Information Technologist (The)

Editorial

Evarest C. Madu Madu — 2026-06-19

No abstract

Feasibility of integrating artificial intelligence–driven glaucoma screening into routine ophthalmic referral pathways in Zimbabwe

Prince Mundenda — 2026-06-19

Glaucoma constitutes a critical and growing public health crisis across Sub-Saharan Africa, where the prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma is markedly higher than the global average and the rate of late or missed diagnosis is alarmingly elevated. In Zimbabwe, a structural shortage of trained ophthalmic personnel, compounded by inadequate diagnostic infrastructure, inequitable geographic distribution of eye care services, and low public awareness, has rendered conventional glaucoma screening pathways largely ineffective. Artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning–based fundus image analysis, presented a transformative opportunity to augment routine ophthalmic referral pathways by enabling automated, high-throughput, and cost-effective screening. This paper critically examined the feasibility of integrating AI-driven glaucoma screening into Zimbabwe's existing referral architecture, drawing upon the epidemiological burden of the disease, the demonstrated diagnostic performance of AI algorithms, the structural characteristics of the Zimbabwean eye health system, and the technological, ethical, and regulatory challenges attending such integration. The analysis concluded that while the technical capability of contemporary AI systems is sufficiently mature to support deployment, realising this potential in a resource-constrained setting demands concurrent investment in digital infrastructure, regulatory reform, workforce capacity building, and equity-centred design of automated triage systems.

Meeting the AI demand: Challenges and prospects for content diversification in southwestern Nigerian universities academic library consortia

Victoria Olubola Fadeyi — 2026-06-19

The growth in demand for the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in academic library consortia has raised the demand for strategic diversification of content to meet evolving users' expectations. This study discussed the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into content management and provision of services in academic library consortia. Based on the Innovation Diffusion Theory and the Resource-Based View, the researcher utilised qualitative dominant mixed methods with systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews from consortium administrators, ICT heads, and senior librarians in selected libraries, and document analysis of strategic plans and policy frameworks. The population of the study is 75 consortium administrators and sample size across five selected universities in Southwestern Nigeria is 30 purposively selected participants. Thematic analysis was employed to code and interpret qualitative data in a systematic way, and to reveal main patterns and themes on AI demand and content diversification. Findings indicate that while AI offers unprecedented opportunities for resource discovery, personalized services, and collaborative content generation, its adoption is being stifled by infrastructural limitations, inconsistent policy practices, budget limitations, and staff skill shortages. Content diversification chances are promising, particularly in the realm of collaborative AI driven resource curation, policy convergence, and deliberate capacity building exercises. The study concluded that unlocking the power of AI requires a multi-pronged strategy that include investment in technology, policy reform, and retraining workers. The findings contributed to academic discussions on sustainable AI adoption in academic library consortia and provided actionable suggestions to policymakers, library administrators, and consortium members.

The impact of chatbot on customer satisfaction: A comparative analysis of Ziva and Leo

Marbella Ikpeba — 2026-06-19

This study investigated the efficacy of two such chatbots-- United Bank for Africa’s Leo and Zenith Bank’s Ziva. It sought to draw comparisons by observing their capacities to address customer queries and achieve customer satisfaction among youths in Lagos, Nigeria. The research employed the Uses and Gratification theory and the Servqual Model to analyse user experiences. A qualitative approach, utilizing thematic analysis of 16 interviews (10 Leo users and 6 Ziva users), reveals that Leo is perceived as more efficient. In the same vein, it is concluded that Zenith's Ziva has room for improvement. To support this conclusion, several recommendations were made. These include the need to allow Leo/Ziva to connect users to a human agent, as well as to incorporate generative AI and text-to-speech features.

Evaluating the utilization of assistive technology tools and services to students with special needs: A study of federal university libraries in Nigeria

Emmanuel Chidiadi Onwubiko — 2026-06-19

The study is an empirical examination of the availability of assistive technologies and services to students with special needs. The study applied descriptive survey research design with a sampled population of 200 respondents drawn among certified librarians in forty five federal university libraries in Nigeria. With the help of self-designed questionnaires, data were collected and analyzed using frequency, simple percentile and mean and presented in charts. The outcome of the study shows inter-alia that the libraries lack major assistive technologies to facilitate assistive services to students with special needs and that inadequate funding; lack of infrastructural support, absence of inclusive library policies, as well as weak collaboration with relevant stakeholders were major challenges faced by the libraries. It is recommended inter-alia that government should adequately equip the libraries with contemporary assistive technologies, and the libraries should apply user-centered service design principles while collaborating with disability-oriented bodies and organizations.

Assessing the re-tooling needs of tertiary institutions libraries and librarians for enhanced academic activities in IMO State

Ijeoma Nneamaka Ezebuiro — 2026-06-19

This study assessed the re-tooling needs of tertiary institutions libraries and librarians for enhanced academic activities in Imo State, Nigeria. Two research questions were asked and answered while two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study employed a survey design. The population comprises 1,906 library staff in all the 10 tertiary institutions in Imo State. A sample of 331 respondents through Taro Yamane formula was selected for this study using simple random sampling technique. A 18-item researcher-constructed rating scale titled “Assessing the Re-tooling Needs of Tertiary Institutions Libraries and Librarians for Enhanced Academic Activities Scale” (ARNTILLEAAS) was used to elicit information from the respondents. A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained using Cronbach alpha statistics. Research questions were answered using mean scores and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using independent sample t-test statistics. The result revealed that librarians have ICT skills gaps which significantly hinder effective support for academic activities like e-learning, research collaboration, and digital resource management in tertiary institutions in Imo State. It was also revealed that libraries needed upgrades to support enhanced academic activities in tertiary institution libraries in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that tertiary institutions in Imo State should provide regular training and workshops for librarians to bridge ICT skills gaps in areas like digital literacy, online research tools, data analysis, and cybersecurity. This will enhance their support for e-learning, research collaboration, and digital resource management.

Impact of digital literacy training on librarians’ innovative service delivery in smart libraries in universities in South–East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria

Ngozi Chinyere Azubogu — 2026-06-19

This study investigated the impact of digital literacy training on librarians’ innovative service delivery in smart libraries in Universities in South–East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria. To achieve the aims of the study, two research questions were asked and two corresponding hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted survey research design. The population comprises 112 Librarians in 15 public Universities in South-East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria. There was no sampling technique rather total enumeration method was used to draw the entire population of the study. A rating scale titled: Impact of Digital Literacy Training on Librarians’ Innovative Service Delivery in Smart Libraries Scale (IDLTLISDSLS) which contained 15 items was used as method for data collection. The instrument was validated by three research specialists in Imo State University, Owerri. A reliability coefficient of 0.88 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha statistics. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation statistics while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses. The result revealed that digital literacy training significantly enhances librarians' competency in navigating digital tools, managing digital resources, and providing innovative services in smart libraries in Universities in South–East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that University management should prioritize regular digital literacy training workshops for librarians to enhance their competency in navigating emerging technologies, managing digital resources, and providing innovative services, ultimately improving overall library service delivery.

Pali: Parallel aligned logits integration for robust multimodal sentiment analysis under real-world missing modality scenarios

Prince Ndaruza — 2026-06-19

Multimodal sentiment analysis has gained significant attention due to its ability to integrate multiple modalities for richer understanding of human emotions. However, existing approaches often fail when one or more modalities are missing and this leads to degraded performance. Real-world applications often suffer from missing modalities due to sensor failures, network issues, high data costs or data corruption. Existing approaches treat robustness as a fusion problem. This paper reframed the challenge as a representation learning problem and proposes a new methodological framework called Parallel Aligned Logits Integration (PALI). Unlike traditional fusion or imputation methods, PALI operates in the logit space by training modality-specific encoders in parallel and aligning their output distributions through a contrastive alignment loss. During inference, missing modalities are handled by a dynamic logit weighting mechanism that adaptively scales contributions based on estimated modality reliability. PALI is presented both as a model‑output integration strategy (named PALI strategy) and as a comprehensive methodological framework that applies this strategy (named PALI methodology) to combine model outputs for robust multimodal sentiment analysis. Empirical evaluation shows that PALI outperforms several popular fusion baselines on an “MVSA single” benchmark dataset in both complete-modality and missing-modality settings by achieving an accuracy of 82.11% 82.11%. This accuracy rate represents a substantial improvement over existing state-of-the-art models, whose performance ranges between 73.77% and 75.78%. An improvement of more than six percentage points over the best performing benchmark model (MSACA at 75.78%) is practically significant. The contribution of this paper is methodological. It offers a modular and interpretable integration framework for robust multimodal sentiment analysis.

Challenges of collection development in IMO State Public Library, Owerri

Cajethan Anumkua — 2026-06-19

The work focused on challenges of collection development in Imo State Public Library, Owerri. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. Survey research design method was used to conduct the study. The population of the study comprised the entire 92 staff of the public library studied. Questionnaire in a rating scale was used as instrument for data collection. Descriptive mean statistics was used to answer the research questions. Findings of the studied showed that there were challenges confronting collection development in Imo State Public Library, Owerri, which include; non – adherence to collection development policy, irregular revision of collection policy, inadequate coverage of all disciplines, ambiguity in interpreting collection development policy, inadequate fund for purchasing of selected information materials, high cost of library materials, theft of library materials, administrative bottle neck, management sentiments in acquisition of information resources and bad fiscal government policies that have hindered the development of public libraries in Nigeria since Nigeria independence in 1960. Based on the result of the findings of the study, recommendations were made that public library administrators must ensure that all challenges of collection development are solved with greater enthusiasm that will assist in improving and increasing the reading skills and learning habits of students and members of the general public. They should acquire information resources that conveying values, experiences and techniques that can be used actively to engage 'learners’ in the learning process.

Artificial intelligence packages as correlate of curriculum development in tertiary institutions in IMO State, Nigeria

Ngozi Chinyere Azubogu — 2026-06-19

The study investigated artificial intelligence packages as correlate of curriculum development in tertiary institutions in Imo State. To achieve the aims of the study, three research questions were asked and three corresponding hypotheses were formulated and tested. The research design adopted in this study is a correlation design. The population of the study comprises of 1,081 lecturers from three universities in Imo State. The sample size for this study is 292 lecturers from 3 universities in Imo State determined through the Taro Yamen formula using a purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data-collection in this study is “Artificial Intelligence Packages and Curriculum Development Questionnaire (AIPCDQ)". The instruments were dully validated. Reliability coefficient of 0.77 for AIPCDQ was obtained using Cronbach alpha statistics. Pearson “r” statistic was used to answer the research questions while the hypotheses for the study were tested using t-test of the significance of Pearson “r” statistics. The results revealed that; there is a moderate and positive coefficient of relationship between TensorFlow and Curriculum Development in Tertiary Institutions. It was also revealed that there is relationship between IBM Watson package and Curriculum Development in Tertiary Institutions in Imo State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that Curriculum planners should incorporate tools like TensorFlow, IBM Watson, and Microsoft Azure Machine Learning into the curriculum design process. This integration can enhance teaching methodologies and provide students with practical skills in emerging technologies, thereby better preparing them for the labour market.

Comparative study of deep learning and standard clinical assessment methods for early glaucoma diagnosis

Prince Mundenda — 2026-06-19

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness globally, and its early detection remains a persistent challenge across both high-income and resource-constrained health systems. Standard clinical assessment encompassing Goldmann applanation tonometry, standard automated perimetry, optical coherence tomography, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and gonioscopy constitutes the established diagnostic reference standard but is burdened by inter-observer variability, test-retest measurement fluctuation, patient-dependent performance, and an inherent structural inability to detect pathological change prior to significant functional loss. Deep learning algorithms, and in particular convolutional neural networks and vision transformer architectures applied to colour fundus photography and optical coherence tomography imaging, have advanced substantially in diagnostic accuracy and now achieve performance metrics that are comparable to or, in many documented instances, superior to those of trained human clinicians on equivalent imaging tasks. This paper presented a structured comparative analysis of deep learning and standard clinical assessment approaches for early glaucoma diagnosis. It examined the diagnostic performance, practical capabilities and limitations, and the clinical contexts in which each approach is most appropriately deployed. The analysis concluded that deep learning systems demonstrated compelling diagnostic utility that is well-evidenced in the peer-reviewed literature, and that their integration within hybrid diagnostic workflows in which automated image analysis augments rather than replaces specialist clinical judgement represents the most clinically defensible and practically effective pathway to improving early glaucoma detection at both individual and population levels.

Digital reading and reading interest among polytechnic students in Oyo State: A quasi-experiment

Oyewo Rasaq Oyekanmi — 2026-06-19

This quasi-experimental study studied the influence of digital reading on the reading interest of polytechnic students in Oyo State, Nigeria, and explored the moderating effects of gender and study level. A sample of 61 polytechnic students was selected using a multi-stage sampling approach and allocated to either an experimental group (digital reading intervention) or a control group (conventional print reading). The Reading Interest Test (RIT), a 20-item questionnaire, was employed for pre- and post-testing. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was utilized to test the hypotheses. The data demonstrated a highly significant main impact of the digital reading treatment on reading interest, with an F-value of 281.394 (p < 0.001) accounting for 83.2% of the variance (Partial Eta Squared = 0.832). Both gender (F = 4.486, p = 0.039) and study level (F = 16.246, p < 0.001) also exhibited significant main effects. Furthermore, the interaction effect between the digital reading treatment and study level was shown to be extremely significant (F = 176.947, p < 0.001), explaining 90.3% of the variance. The study indicated that while digital reading can be a useful tool for improving reading enthusiasm, its influence is complex and varies based on gender and academic level.

Impact of professional development programme on academic librarians’ attitudes towards educational technology and digital learning resources for inclusion: The Nigerian case

Emmanuel Chidiadi Onwubiko — 2026-06-19

This study took a look at the Impact of Professional Development Programme on Academic Librarians’ Attitudes towards Educational Technology and Digital Learning Resources for Inclusion in Federal University in Nigeria. The study was guided by three reseacrh questions and adopted quasi-experimental research design with a sampled population of 85 academic librarians selected from 10 federal universities in Nigeria through random sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was Likert type structured 6 points questionnaire. Data collection was done digitally through email with a link to the online surveys both at the start and at the end of the program periods. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze data collected with which answers to the research questions as they concern federal university libraries in Nigeria academic librarians attitudes towards educational technology and the effect of group on changes in participants’ perceptions of the benefits of DLR for inclusion were provided. The results were presented in table and the outcome among others revealed that federal university libraries in Nigeria academic librarians’ attitudes towards eduational technology were generally positive and that one of the greatest challenges facing academic librarians in federal universities libraries in Nigeria today is balancing their attention between the library as a whole and students with special and complex needs who demand extra support. The study based on the findings recommended among other things that academic librarians in Federal Universities in Nigeria should be sufficiently in a practical ways exposure to technology over time and that university library management should provide the needed enabling environment for students with learning disabilities.

Zimbabwean farmers’ risk perceptions on agro-cyberfraud

Nyasha Alford — 2026-06-19

Farmers are vulnerable to agro-cybercrime as they have little knowledge about agro-cyberfraud. The world is becoming interconnected, and Zimbabwe is not left behind. Farmers have to use online buying and selling platforms to survive as the world is going digital. They do not have to meet the buyer nor seller to be able to make transactions as they can do this by using online platforms like computers and cell phones. This study found that farmers did not know about cybercrime as the interviews showed. They have heard from friends and relatives who have had money stolen by relatives. They would like to know more about cybercrime through meetings and workshops in their communities. They are also willing to listen to programmes about cybercrime through radio and TV as well.