Librarians participation in professional development workshops using Zoom in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which librarians in Nigeria engaged in professional development workshops during the COVID-19 era. The study adopted a survey method using an online questionnaire. Factors such as saving money, the free nature of workshops, eliminating travel risk, in the comfort of the home, and providing an opportunity for all were mentioned as the benefits of participating in online workshops using Zoom. Buying data bundle, lack of computer/Android phone/smartphone, ignorance or lack of awareness of up-coming workshops, lack of time, power outage, nonchalant attitude towards technology, and network failures were identified as challenges of participation. The Zoom platform can be adopted for organizing workshops and meetings, and for teaching and learning in the post COVID-19 era.

Keywords

Zoom platform professional development workshops webinars COVID-19 librarians Nigeria

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the way in which things are done and has forced us to adapt and adjust our ways of working, holding workshops, meetings, and many more. What seemed unthinkable a few months ago is now the new norm. Increasingly, librarians, organizations, and professional associations are providing professional development workshops and webinars online in order to better engage information professionals who reside at a distance or want the convenience of gaining skills and information from their homes in these trying times.

Synchronous instruction takes place in a platform like Zoom with all participants online at the same time. Synchronous instruction can be used for drop-in workshops, course-related instruction, professional development webinars, and programming such as story-times (Adomi and Solomon-Uwakwe, 2019). Using synchronous sessions, instructors can show slides, lecture, demonstrate databases or applications using application sharing, conduct a poll, lead a chat discussion, have participants speak on the microphone, and break participants into small groups for a discussion or activity (Williams, 2020).

Given the ability to lead a real-time discussion or learning activity and the opportunity to answer participants’ questions in real time, synchronous sessions can foster a sense of community and social support (Parson, 2020). While synchronous session applications like Zoom offer the option for users to join through video so they can see one another, not all users will have the appropriate technology to share video, and some may prefer not to join with video. The COVID-19 era is a challenging time for everyone. It has been a very quick transition in society, changing organizations and their workplaces from face to face meetings, interstate and overseas travel to online workshops with colleagues and patrons. So we need to adapt and look at how we do things differently. One of the areas that we have had to adapt quickly is in relation to participating in workshops, that has always been done face to face, online through Zoom. According to Strauss (2020), with the coronavirus causing a surge in work-from-home activities, Zoom has become one of the most popular video-conferencing applications for virtual meetings.

In many ways, online workshops can be better than physical contacts, as theyfocus on full participation and interaction between participants. Several studies have been conducted on the use of Zoom platform for teaching and learning (Ramsook and Thomas, 2019; Agbo, et al., 2020). To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated online workshops using Zoom for librarians in Nigeria or other developing countries. The present study fills the gap by investigating librarians’ participation in online professional development workshops using Zoom during COVID-19 era in Nigeria. To achieve this, the following research questions were raised to guide the study.

Research questions

RQ1. To what extent have librarians participated in online professional development workshops during the COVID-19 era?

RQ2. What are the perceived benefits of participating in the online professional development workshops?

RQ3. What are the challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom?

RQ4. What are the names of the organizers and what are the topics/themes of the workshops that the librarians participated?

Literature review

A brief on the Zoom platform

Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing service you can use to virtually meet with others – either by video or audio or both. Zoom Video Communications, Inc. is an American communication technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides video-telephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations. Founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco Webex engineer and executive, the software was launched in 2013 (Weiner, 2017).

Zoom users can choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects, and share or annotate one another’s screens, all with one easy-to-use platform. The video conferencing services have become vital social media for millions of users, seemingly overnight. Zoom is a comprehensive software tool that allows you to host virtual gatherings. Providing cross-platform support, Zoom allows members of a team or participants in a program to assemble together from anywhere. According to Williams (2020) ‘Through the great work of our team, we have quickly discovered not only the power of Zoom for video conferencing but also for facilitation of workshops’ (p.1).

Synchronous (real-time) communication technologies include voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), instant messaging, and video conferencing (Romiszowski and Mason, 2004). After surveying instructors who had online teaching experience, Branon and Essex (2011) reported that the instructors used synchronous tools mainly to hold virtual office hours, to facilitate team decision-making, to engage in community building, and to deal with technical issues. In recent years, Internet technologies have advanced significantly and the development of computer technologies has yielded applications of greater sophistication. Owing to the prevalence of broadband Internet access, educators and trainers have adopted more technologies to support synchronous online learning (Wang, 2018; Agbo et al, 2020). Researchers have initiated studies on the implementation of synchronous learning environments. For instance, Pan and Sullivan (2005) adopted VoIP (Skype) to facilitate online chat sessions and suggested that the tool facilitates synchronous interaction and provides just-in time clarification and information for students. Duemer, et al., (2012) found that chat tools effectively develop a sense of learning community. Wang (2018) suggested strategies to develop learners’ sense of community with a chat tool for teaching hands-on skills online. Most studies on synchronous-communication tools available for literature review focus on the tools’ ability to facilitate interaction between instructors and students.

Among many Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) systems, the webinar tool is one of the latest developments. Able to transmit video, audio, and images, webinars also enable users to share applications and to whiteboard, the objective being to exchange information in a real-time and two-way format. Webinars create opportunities for both educators and learners to experience different levels of interaction online, and these opportunities are essentially different from other communication approaches such as discussion-board postings and emails. There are three formats for webinar-session delivery (Duemer, et. al. 2012): (a) presenter vs. multiple participants from one site; (b) presenter vs. multiple participants from multiple sites; and (c) multiple participants from one site vs. multiple participants from one or multiple sites. Apart from studies on videoconferencing and chat tools, few studies investigate how webinar tools can facilitate interaction in online workshops.

There are five advantages of using the webinar tool to facilitate communication between two sites: (1) The webinar tool is affordable (de Gara and Boora, 2006). Users can participate in a webinar session with a computer, video/audio capture devices, and broadband network connections. (2) A webinar tool enables synchronous communication. Instructors can communicate with the learners in a synchronous format to provide immediate feedback to learners (Hotcomm, 2003). (3) A webinar tool facilitates real-time multimedia demonstrations. Instructors can share the application on the presenter’s site with all participants (Duemer, et al. 2012). (4) A webinar tool facilitates multi-level interaction. Instructors can lecture, interact with the audience, facilitate participant-group collaboration in a real-time format (de Gara and Boora, 2006), and designate certain participants to be in charge of the sessions. (5) A webinar tool provides an environment in which participants can archive seminar content for personal review or for people who missed the real-time session (Duemer, et al. 2012).

Use of the Zoom platform

Zoom is fast replacing the likes of Facebook and Twitter, which are practically dinosaurs in the social media world (Parson, 2020). Beginning in early 2020, Zoom saw increased use following the quarantine measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Strauss, 2020). According to Michael Griffin, the Director of Instructional Learning Technology at the University of Arizona, cited in Earon, (2019; p. 2) ‘we like that on Zoom it was easy to create recurring meetings so students have just one link that works every week and that there are minimal administrative requirements. We also love that it is easy to use for our students, that they click once and they are in the class'. In recent times, social media platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Zoom and Facebook have been used for collaborative learning and to create engagement among a network of students, thus making these integral media part of students’ social and academic lives (Agbo et al, 2020).

Ramsook and Thomas (2019) investigated the perspectives of full-time and part-time prospective teachers with regard to classes conducted via web conferencing, with particular reference to Zoom. The results indicated that most prospective teachers prefer a combination of Zoom and face-to-face classes, while some participants lamented about their personal levels of proficiency with web conferencing. The authors concluded that Zoom classes were satisfying for some prospective teachers, whereas others perceived them as convenient and ‘a line of least resistance’. Williams (2020) identified some of the features of Zoom that makes it suitable for virtual workshops. They are: sharing of screen; use of polls; use of recording the virtual workshop; use of the Q andA section and chat features; use of virtual break out rooms; and use of virtual whiteboard.

Importance of professional development workshops

Professional development refers to all training, certification and education that workers need to succeed in their careers. Through professional development, workers can learn the skills they need to become better, more efficient workers (Huffstetler, 2020). Professional development may cover areas such as engaging in research in order to contribute to the literature, attending conferences/workshops, mentoring, receiving specialized training, or attending continuing education classes. Baro, Fyneman and Zoukemefa (2013) studied job satisfaction among cataloguer librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. With regard to training opportunities, the study found that opinions were divided, with a little over half of the respondents (51.2%) disagreeing and strongly disagreeing that when new technologies or new products are adopted that affect the job, sufficient training is provided. Librarians were not given the opportunity to participate physically in professional training workshops.

Huffstetler, (2020) reported that professional development is beneficial to employees in the following ways. Employees that engage in professional development will feel more confident, knowing that they have the skills needed to succeed in their line of work. Employees will also become better workers through professional development. By learning the right skills for their career, employees will be more productive and efficient, thus helping the business for which they work to succeed. Finally, professional development can open the doors to new opportunities for employees. If employees are struggling to get promoted to higher, more lucrative positions, professional development may help them secure this promotion.

Methodology

The study adopted a survey method. The collection of data was through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed using SurveyMonkey software (see Questionnaire as Appendix I). Questions 1-3 on the questionnaire inquired name of institution, staff rank/designation and gender. Questions 4-7 inquired on the benefits and challenges of participating in professional development workshops using the Zoom platform, the institutions/organizations that have organized such virtual workshops during the COVID-19 era, and the various topics/themes of the workshops. The target audience were professional librarians working in universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, public libraries, and institutes.

To respond to the online questionnaire, the link was forwarded to various WhatsApp groups such as CertifiedLibrariansConnect (a national WhatsApp group), the Nigerian Library Association’s (NLA) online forum, and other WhatsApp groups in the various states. Respondents were asked to respond only once. Studies have shown that professional librarians in Nigeria actively belong to at least three to four WhatsApp groups (Adomi and Solomon-Uwakwe, 2019; Udem, Aghoghovwia and Baro, 2020).

Data collection started in May 2020 and ended in October, 2020. In total, 135 librarians from various institutions in Nigeria responded to the study. Using Creswell’s (2012) process for data analysis, codes and categories were constructed and reconstructed, eliminating redundancies and searching for commonalities, outliers and new insights. The data were finally grouped into similar themes for analysis and ranked in order. The results are presented in tables.

Results

Distribution of respondents by institution

Out of the 135 respondents, the highest number were from universities (95: 70.4%), followed by participants from colleges of education (20: 14.8%), and 13 (9.6%) participants from polytechnics in Nigeria. The least numbers were: 4 (3.0%) participants from the leather institute and 3 (2.2%) participants from public libraries (Table 1).

Table 1.

Distribution of respondents by institution

s/n	Institution	Status of Institution	No of Respondents
1	National Open University of Nigeria, Lagos Center, Lagos State.	University	3
2	Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Anambra State.	Polytechnic	4
3	College of Education Warri, Delta State.	College of Education	5
4	Public library Warri, Delta State.	Public library	1
5	University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.	University	3
6	Delta State University, Abraka	University	2
7	University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State.	University	7
8	Delta State College of Education, Mosogar, Delta State.	College of Education	2
9	Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Abia State.	Polytechnic	3
10	National Library of Nigeria, Jabi Center, Abuja, FCT.	Public Library	1
11	Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina	University	2
12	Niger State Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.	Polytechnic	4
13	Federal College of Education, Bichi, Kano State.	College of Education	1
14	Federal Polytechnic, Nassarawa State.	Polytechnic	1
15	Enugu State University of Science and Technology.	University	1
16	University of Abuja, Abuja.	University	5
17	Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State.	University	2
18	Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife	University	5
19	University of Agriculture, Makurdi. Benue State.	University	2
20	Federal College of Education, Asaba, Delta State.	College of Education	3
21	Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Sokoto State.	University	1
22	University of Port-Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State.	University	1
23	Auchi Polytecnic, Auchi, Edo State.	Polytechnic	1
24	Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.	University	4
25	Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State.	University	5
26	Kwara State University, Malete.	University	2
27	Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.	University	9
28	Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, Lagos State.	College of Education	4
29	Bowen University, Iwo	University	5
30	Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) Samaru, Zaria, Kadunna State.	Leather Institute	4
31	Osun State Library Board, Osun State.	Public Library	1
32	American University of Nigeria, Yola	University	6
33	Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State.	University	2
34	Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State.	University	4
35	University of Ibadan	University	10
36	University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State.	University	5
37	Adeyemi College Education, Akure, Ondo State.	College of Education	5
38	University of Lagos, Lagos State.	University	6
39	Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.	University	3
	Total		135

Distribution by staff designation

The respondents were asked to provide information about their current designations. From Table 2, the highest number (40: 29.6%) that responded to the survey indicated that they were Senior Librarian/Lecturer I, followed by Librarian I /Lecturer II with 31 (23.0 %) respondents, and Principal Librarian/Senior Lecturer with 22 (16.3 %) respondents.

Table 2.

Distribution by designation

s/n	Designation	No of respondents	Percentage
1	Professor /University Librarian	1	0.7
2	College Librarian	1	0.7
3	Polytechnic Librarian	1	0.7
3	Deputy University Librarian	6	4.5
4	Principal Librarian/ Senior Lecturer	22	16.3
5	Senior Librarian/Lecturer I	40	29.6
6	Librarian I / Lecturer II	31	23.0
7	Librarian II / Assistant Lecturer	12	8.9
8	Assistant Librarian/Graduate Assistant	21	15.6
	Total	135	100%

Gender distribution

Respondents were asked to indicate their gender. The results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3.

Gender Distribution

Gender	No of respondents	Percentage
Male	63	46.7%
Female	72	53.3%
Total	135	100%

Out of the 135 respondents, 72 (53.3 per cent) indicated as female, while 63 (46.7 per cent) indicated as male (Table 3).

Participation in online professional development workshops

Table 4.

Number of online professional development workshops librarians participated during the COVID-19 era

Number of online workshops librarians participated	No of respondents	Percentage
1	17	12.6%
2	29	21.5%
3	15	11.1%
4	21	15.6%
5	37	27.4%
6	10	7.4%
7 and above	6	4.4%
Total	135	100%

The results in Table 4 show that, of the 135 respondents, 37 (27.4%) have participated in 5 online workshops (the highest), followed by 29 (21.5%) who have participated in 2 online workshops, and 21 (15.6%) respondents who have participated in 4 online workshops. Only 6 (4.4%) respondents indicated participating in more than 7 online workshops in the period of general lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benefits of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom

Respondents were asked to mention the benefits of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom. In this section, the qualitative data were listed by topics, and the responses finally grouped into similar themes for analysis, and ranked in order. Among the benefits mentioned by the respondents, participating in online professional development workshop using Zoom ‘saves money’ ranked highest, followed by the ‘free nature’ of the workshops, and participating in virtual workshops ‘eliminates travel risk’ (Table 5).

Table 5.

Benefits of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom

s/n	Benefits	No of responses	Rankorder
1	Saves money	112	1st
2	Free nature of workshops	97	2nd
3	Eliminates travel risk	89	3rd
4	At the comfort of your home	60	4th
5	Opportunity for all (not waiting for sponsorship by institution)	56	5th

Challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom

Respondents were asked to mention some of the challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom in Nigeria. The data collected were listed by topics, and the responses grouped into similar themes and ranked in order. Among the challenges mentioned, ‘buying data bundle’ for Internet is expensive ranked highest, followed by ‘lack of computer/android phone/smartphone’, and ‘skills/experience’ in using the Zoom app (Table 6).

Table 6.

Challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom

s/n	Challenges	No of responses	Rank order
1	Buying data bundle is expensive	135	1st
2	Lack of computer/Android phone/smartphone	99	2nd
3	Skills/experience in using Zoom app	80	3rd
4	Ignorance or lack of awareness of such up-coming workshops	72	4th
5	Lack of time	68	5th
6	Incessant power outage	43	6th
7	Non-chalant attitude towards technology	34	7th
8	Network failures	30	8th

Local and international institutions/organizations that organized online professional development workshops in which librarians participated

Respondents were asked to mention institutions/organizations that have organized Zoom workshops within and outside Nigeria during the period of COVID-19 in which they participated. Several local and international professional associations, institutions, and publishing organizations that have organized online professional development workshops for librarians or information professionals in Nigeria using the Zoom platform. These organizations included the Nigerian Library Association (NLA) at the national level, some state chapters of the NLA, associations at the regional level, and international publishing organizations (Table 7).

Table 7.

Local and international institutions/organizations that organized online professional development workshops

s/n	Local and international institutions/organizations that organized online professional development workshops using Zoom
1	Nigerian Library Association (NLA) –National.
2	Association of African Universities (AAU)
3	Elsevier
4	INFLIBNET
5	NLA (Oyo chapter)
6	University of Ibadan
7	Lagos State University (LASU)
8	ADUN digital skills workshop.
9	NLA, (Ondo chapter)
10	Library and Information Technology Today (LITT) (a section of NLA)
11	Lead City University, Ibadan.
12	African Library and Information Association (AfLIA) in partnership with IFLA
13	IFLA
14	SAGE Publishing
15	Emerald Publishing
16	Elsevier and Sky University Nigeria

Topics or themes of workshops organized during COVID-19 for librarians/information professionals in Nigeria

In this section, respondents were asked to mention the topics/themes of the various online professional development workshops they have participated in during the COVID-19 era. Among the topics the respondents mentioned, the majority are on academic writing and publishing (Table 8).

Table 8.

Topics or themes of workshops organized during COVID-19 for Librarians/Information Professionals in Nigeria.

s/n	Topics or themes of workshops organized during COVID-19
1	Preparing acceptable scholarly papers and avoiding predatory publications.
2	Technology driven library services for sustainable development: options and best practices.
3	Technological innovation as a precondition for lifelong learning in Nigerian universities.
4	Advocating for public Internet access in African libraries.
5	Elsevier South East Asia Publishing workshop: An introduction to scholarly publishing.
7	Library publishing: a catalyst for change.
8	Scholarly communications and institutional repositories: Strategic pathways for quality library services delivery in Nigerian universities within and post COVID-19 Era.
9	Quality assurance in higher and tertiary education learners-centered teaching skills: The foundation of education.
10	NLA Oyo State Webinar 2020
11	Digital skills workshop for educators and administrators
12	How to get published and how to do peer review.
13	How to get published – article writing.
14	Writing without plagiarism and proper citations using Mendeley.
15	Technology driven library services for sustainable development: Options and best practices.

Discussion of findings

Number of online professional development workshops librarians have participated in during the COVID-19 era

The results in Table 4 shows that the majority of the respondents participated in 5 online workshops, followed by those who have participated in 2 online workshops, and 4 online workshops during the COVID-19 period. Only 6 librarians indicated to have participated in more than 7 online workshops in the period of general lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benefits of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom

Results in Table 5 revealed that some of the benefits of participating in online professional development workshop using Zoom are: saves money, free nature of workshops, saves travel risk, in the comfort of your home, and opportunity for all (not waiting for sponsorship by institution). Usually, participating in professional development workshops involves travelling to the venue of the workshop which involves money. Therefore, staying at home and connecting to virtual workshops not only saves money, but saves participants from the risk of accidents on the road. In a normal situation, staff members apply to their institution’s management for sponsorship, and those approved are the ones to attend the workshop. But with virtual workshop using Zoom, everybody has the opportunity to participate. Zoom can handle up to 1,000 video participants for workshop meeting and 10,000 webinar viewers (Williams, 2020).

Challenges of participating in online workshops using Zoom

Concerning the challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom, the study revealed that all the participants mentioned that buying the data bundle for the Internet is expensive, and can therefore frustrate them. Using the Zoom platform requires a higher bandwidth, which will be problematic for participants who lack strong Internet connections or have limited data plans. One of the most salient requirements for effective Zoom sessions is a stable and reliable Internet connection.

They study also revealed that one of the challenges to participating in virtual workshops is lack of a computer/Android phone/smartphone. As mentioned by majority of the participants, not all librarians have a desktop, laptop, Android phone, or smartphone to participate in an online workshop. This must have hindered many others from participating in the online professional development workshops. This finding agrees with those of Agbo et al., (2020), who found that ownership of desktop, laptops, smartphones is a condition for use of social media. Another challenge mentioned by the participants is lack of skills/experience in using the Zoom application. This agrees with the findings of Baro and Godfrey (2015), that challenges such as lack of skills, power failure, lack of time, lack of facilities (computers with Internet access), and conservative attitude of some librarians were deterrents to the use of Web 2.0 tools in Africa.

The study also found that the lack of awareness of such workshops coming up as one challenge that could hinder colleagues from participating in them. Awareness of the workshops can increase the level of participation. One major source of information regarding upcoming workshops is through the different WhatsApp groups. Library and information science professionals use this channel to disseminate timely information related to up-coming conferences, training opportunities, workshops, call for papers and so on (Udem, Aghoghovwia, and Baro, 2020). Unfortunately, not all librarians/information professionals belong to WhatsApp groups.

The respondents also mentioned lack of time, incessant power outage, nonchalant attitude towards technology, and network failures, as other challenges of participating in online professional development workshops using Zoom. Technical problems such as network failures can be distracting for participants and facilitators, and may result in participants arriving late or being unable to attend. Locatis, et al., (2013) used videoconferencing to broadcast instructions to audiences at various US locations and reported that technical issues delayed synchronous communication. Frequent power outage or irregular power supply makes it difficult to charge computers, smartphones or Android phones for connecting to participate in a virtual Zoom workshop. These findings are in line with the existing literature, especially the publications of Agbo et al. (2020) and Semode, Ejitagha, and Baro (2017), who have found that power failure, bad network/low bandwidth, lack of time and lack of interest by some librarians are the major challenges in using social network sites in Nigeria.

Local and international institutions/organizations that organized online professional development workshops

The study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, many organizations, publishers, and local and international library associations organized online professional development workshops using the Zoom platform. Among the local and international institutions and organizations that have organized such workshops are the Nigerian Library Association at the national level, some state chapters of the NLA, associations at the regional level, and international publishing organizations such as Emerald, SAGE, and Elsevier. Although these and many other organizations or institutions must have organized other online workshops for information professionals, the present study only asked the respondents to mention the ones they participated in during the COVID-19 era.

Topics or themes of workshops organized during COVID-19 for librarians/information professionals in Nigeria

The results in Table 7 show that the majority of the topics or themes of the online professional development workshops were on writing quality academic papers and publishing. This shows that publishing organizations such as Emerald, Elsevier and SAGE took time to engage librarians in Africa, especially Nigeria, during the COVID-19 era.

Conclusion

The study revealed that only a few librarians out of the 135 respondents participated in more than 7 online professional development workshops; the majority of the respondents participated in less than 5 different online workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as saving money, free nature of workshops, avoiding travel risk, being able to participate in the comfort of your home, and opportunity for all were mentioned as the benefits of participating in online workshop using Zoom. Buying data bundle, lack of computer/android phone/smartphone, ignorance or lack of awareness of such up-coming workshops, lack of time, incessant power outage, nonchalant attitude towards technology, and network failures were mentioned by participants as challenges of participating in online workshop using Zoom.

It also emerged that many organizations, publishers, library associations both local and international such as Emerald, SAGE Publishing, Elsevier, organized online professional development workshops during the COVID-19 era. The majority of the topics or themes of the virtual workshops were on writing quality academic papers for publishing.

From our perspective, the general lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic presented some great opportunities to do things differently, mostly organizing workshops and teaching and learning using online platforms, which we hope will remain permanent even after the COVID-19 era.

Footnotes

Acknowledgement

The researchers sincerely appreciate all the very busy librarians for taking their time to respond to the study.

ORCID iD

Ifeanyi Adindu Anene

Appendix I: Questionnaire on Use of Zoom for Professional Development Workshops

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