Awareness of Internet of Things and its potential in enhancing academic library service delivery in a developing country

The potential benefits of Internet of Things (IoT) to academic library service delivery have been identified as enormous. Through sensing devices such as radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, infrared sensors, global positioning systems, laser scanners and various other devices, objects are enabled to “think”, “feel” and “talk” thereby facilitating interconnection of all objects and humans, objects and objects leading to ease of communication, monitoring and control. It is however not certain if academic librarians in Nigeria would be able to explore these benefits due to their level of skills in relation to information and communication technology and availability of enabling infrastructure that could facilitate maximum use of new and emerging technologies that are consequential to Internet of Things. The broad objective of the paper was to ascertain the level of awareness of IoT among librarians as well as perceived benefits it holds for enhanced library service delivery in academic libraries in Nigeria. Future pathways for librarians in Nigeria were also discussed.