Abstract

The study investigated Smartphones, Internet of Things and service delivery in polytechnic libraries in South-East, Nigeria. Two objectives, two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlations design. The population of this study was seventy-nine (79) comprising 35 librarians and 44 paraprofessionals in federal polytechnic libraries in South-East Zone, Nigeria. The sample size of the study was 79 which is the entire population. The sampling technique was therefore, total enumeration sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. Face and content validity of the instrument was ascertained through the judgment of the three experts. Pilot study was carried out on 30 respondents from Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rumuola Port Harcourt and Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny which was analysed using Cronbach Alpha to determine the reliability coefficient that yielded a coefficient of 0.87. Out of 79 copies of the questionnaires administered, 75 were used for analysis. The data was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The study revealed that smartphones have a strong and significant positive relationship on service delivery in polytechnic libraries in South-East, Nigeria while technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) showed weak but significant positive relationships with service delivery in polytechnic libraries in South-East, Nigeria. The study recommended among others that there should be continuous investment in mobile technologies, staff training, digital content development, and user education to fully harness the potential of smartphones in delivering responsive, inclusive, and innovative library services