The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Library Users

Library services had always been rendered to users with ease and satisfaction before the emergence of corona virus in the year 2019. At the dawn of the year 2019, the world witnessed a paradigm shift in her history, one of its kinds in more than a century. That is what many scholars within the main stream termed the COVID-19 Era. This pandemic incepted some peculiar challenges to the academia, leaving the stakeholders of education system at a cross road, hence the question of to be or not to be? In a dramatic turn, the abrupt and unexpected outbreak of the pandemic forced the library professionals, to ascertain ways of working in a rapid time frame to still maintain their value. Hence, in other to solve this bedeviling challenge to the advantage of the Library users, there was a shift to digital platform. Given the nature of the challenges faced by librarians in providing library services during this pandemic era, the purpose of this paper is to decipher the effects this era has caused in the academic activities of the Users of the Library and to profer solutions. However, one must not fail to acknowledge the positive impact of technology during this era and how technology became the academic saviour during the period of lockdown. Conferences and lectures were attended through webinars via zoom, Google meet, etc. In the midst of the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, one could also witness a blessing in disguise, following the enthronement of technology in academic activities and other spheres of life. Hence, as much as the era is quite challenging, it has brought a revolution in the academia and moreso in the use of Library. Most librarians are now computer literates in order to meet with the taste of time and still be relevant in the profession.

Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Library, Library Users.