Abstract

The mam purpose ofthe study was to investigate the availability andfunctionality oflibrary management softwate (LMS) in university libraries in South-East Nigeria The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Six specific objectives and research questions guided the study. Thepopulation ofthe study comprisedlibraries ofthe 23 NUC accredited universitiesin South East Nigeria. Convenience ramping methodwas used to select 13 university libraries made up of4 slate universities. 5federal universities, an P'na e untverst tes. ie librarians in the 13 university libraries, totalling 249 were chosen as respondents (census) because the num ei w as ot. accessi e an manageable. The major instrument used for data collection was questionnaire Out ofthe 249 copies ofques tonnaire a minis eie. 223(89.6%) was completed, relumed and usedforthe analysis, while 26(10.4%) were either not relumed or not correctlyfilled. collected with the instrument were presented in tables and analysed using frequency counts, simp e percen age an mean ta l‘eanalyses were based on the research questions. Findings ofthe study revealed that KOHA. Greenstone, exan ria. i an were the LMS available and used in the libraries. 9(69%) ofthe libraries used KOHA ILS. Functiona ''yan perfoimance was high and encouraging. The study identified various challenges to the effective functionality oft ie sof 'a,e- f > nforeater improved Management support andpolitical will ofuniversity librarians to implement library automation piojef ' venerator chunk ofTetfund Annual Library Intervention to ICTfacilities and equipment and Internet suppoit. e tea e p for the university libraryfor constant powersupply, among others. Keyword: Availability, functionality, library management software (LMS), university libraries