PERCEIVED IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON THE EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

In this study, the researcher examined the perceived impact of social networking sites on the efficiency and productivity of academic librarian in selected HEIs in the Philippine region. The different social networking sites were explored in this study. These included Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Yahoo Mail, Instagram, Twitter which are commonly used by academic librarians in the context of their duties. The impact was measured in terms of workflow, library services, and professional communication. More so, the challenges of using SNSs were presented in coherent manners to address the issues. The researcher used descriptive - survey method of research to present and describe the collected data graphically. A total of one hundred academic librarians were chosen purposively by the researcher and serves as the respondents of this study. A researcher made questionnaire was used in order to gather the necessary data for the study. Data were analyzed through Frequency count to determine the demographic profile and number of responses made by the respondents in the given questionnaires. To analyze the given responses of the respondents, Weighted Arithmetic Mean and One-Way ANOVA was used. Findings revealed that the top three popular social media sites used by the respondents are Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube. Majority of the respondents use social networking sites daily. Social networking sites affect the efficiency and productivity of academic librarians in terms of workflow, library services, and professional communication. In terms of workflow, SNS helps to collaborate with librarians outside of the institution. The most affected library services of academic librarian are sharing of information about library resources. When it comes to professional communication, social networking sites help academic librarians to improve interaction with the colleagues at the library.