Infopreneurship and Technopreneurship Readiness for Job Creation Among Nigerian Library and Information Science Graduates

Abstract

It has been established in studies that infopreneurship and technopreneurship are potent avenues for job creation in the 21st century. This study explores infopreneurship and technopreneurship readiness for job creation among Nigerian Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates. It raises three objectives and corresponding questions. This study uses a descriptive survey design. The population of the study consists of 268 LIS graduates who were willing to participate by completing a questionnaire designed using Google Forms, which was distributed through various WhatsApp platforms for librarians. Data obtained were analyzed using tables, frequency counts, percentages, and means (????̅). Findings revealed that respondents are highly ready to create jobs through research services and current awareness services (????̅ = 3.43), as well as information repackaging (????̅ = 3.36). Similarly, the respondents indicated a high readiness to create jobs through digital publishing (????̅= 3.24), social media management (????̅ = 3.16), and operating cyber cafés (????̅= 3.00). Barriers to the respondents’ readiness include poor internet bandwidth (????̅= 3.49), the unstable cost of living (????̅ = 3.48), inadequate sources of capital (????̅ = 3.46), unfavorable government policies (????̅= 3.40), and insufficient local technological industries that could be leveraged for technopreneurship (????̅= 3.37). This study concludes that Nigerian LIS graduates are highly ready to create jobs through infopreneurship and technopreneurship. The study recommends that Nigerian ministries, bodies, and agencies, such as the Ministry of Digital Economy, Information, the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN), prioritize training for both practicing and potential info/technopreneurs.