Content area
Full text
Background
Digital transformation has reshaped the nature of higher education. It has created new opportunities such as learning at one’s convenience and enhanced continuing education (Bilyalova et al., 2020). Some technological developments in universities include massive open online courses, open education and open education resources. Moreover, more recent technological advancements in higher education institutions have been mostly induced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) (Benavides et al., 2020). Digital transformation technologies are powered by disruptive digital technologies and processes, which have caused a shift in education paradigms (Anuradha, 2018). Therefore, for academic institutions to stay relevant in the digital age, they need to harness digital power by adopting digital transformation. However, this requires a joint effort from all stakeholders and key players in shaping their parent institutions to thrive in the digital age (Sandhu, 2018). As university libraries are considered a major player in the digital transformation of the university, the onset of the digital revolution coupled with users’ changing needs has seen them transform.
University libraries are under pressure to reinvent and adapt to the developments in digital technologies, scholarly communication, evolving educational pedagogy and the ever-changing diverse needs of faculty, students and researchers (Saunders, 2015). To remain relevant, they must respond to current trends and anticipate users’ future needs, and at the same time develop innovative initiatives to address those needs. University libraries in the 21st century engage in digital transformation by adopting technological trends, such as implementing innovations in scholarly communication, creating spaces for collaborative and creative learning, increasing attention to research data management (RDM), preservation and curation, promotion and use of mobile technologies and social media, acquisition of electronic resources and integration of ICTs (Anuradha, 2018; Cox, 2019; Ellis et al., 2014; Jain and Akakandelwa, 2016; Hamad et al., 2018). In addition, university libraries have implemented cloud computing technologies making them “greener” (Enefu et al., 2015) and smarter (Wada, 2018), integrated library management systems (ILMS) to enhance operational efficiency by integrating library functions such as acquisition, cataloguing, management, circulation and the online public access catalogue (OPAC) (Komolafe-Opadeji and Ojo, 2019; Ponelis and Adoma, 2018; Aregbesola et al., 2019) and discovery tools (Jantzi et al., 2016; Stukalova and Guskov, 2016).
Furthermore, university libraries are affected...