Librarians’ Preservation Skills of Born-Digital Resources

Abstract

Born-digital resources usually created in digital formats without print equivalents are increasingly becoming prevalent in Nigerian academic libraries due to their inherent features. The preservation of born-digital resources is essential for ensuring long-term accessibility, supporting scholarly communication and safeguarding digital heritage. This study therefore assessed the digital preservation skills of 104 librarians in Ekiti State using a descriptive survey design that employed a self-designed and validated questionnaire with a response rate of 94.55%. Results revealed moderate skill score (= 2.80) as against criterion mean (= 2.50) on a 4-point Likert scale. This indicated moderate competencies in basic preservation tasks such as retrieving and using born-digital resources (= 3.22) and searching and locating born-digital resources (= 3.18) but weaker proficiencies in more technical skills like file transforming digital files into different formats (= 2.44) and repair damaged files ( = 2.44). Institutional barriers such as poor maintenance culture, digital divide, rapid technological changes, lack of incentives for preservation efforts and insufficient funding were pronounced. The study concludes that strengthening of technical competencies of librarians and institutional support among other suggestions are essential for the sustainable preservation of born-digital resources in Nigerian academic libraries.