ABSTRACT

The study examined the entrepreneurship and marketing opportunities in the era of ICT and the competence of undergraduate students in selected library schools in north central, Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study is 1814 students of Library and Information Science in Kogi State University and Benue State University. Stratified sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 363 undergraduate students. Questionnaire was the major instrument of data collection. The data collected were analyzed using frequency distribution table, mean as well as percentage. The findings revealed that; Library and Information Profession has many entrepreneurship opportunities in the era of ICT, such opportunities include Indexing, Abstracting, Networking/Intemet services and consultancy, Electronic Book editor and publishing, Knowledge management, Information brokerage among others. It was also discovered that Sourcing for fund and grant from friends and family, Identifying target market, Identifying entrepreneurship opportunities, Conducting SWOT analysis, etc are the required competencies for exploring entrepreneurship in LIS. The undergraduate students in both library schools possess such competences as; Sourcing for fund and grant from friends and family, Financial record keeping, Advertising services through social media platform, Partnership with others and Financial record keeping. The study identified Challenges like Unavailability oflecturers that are entrepreneurship conscious, Lack of entrepreneurial awareness, Lack of functional workshop workroom and laboratories, Inadequate ICT courses in the curriculum among others as inhibiting the acquisition of entrepreneurship competencies by students. The study recommended the Acquisition of needed ICT skills by lecturers, Cultivating positive spirit towards entrepreneurship opportunities, Establishing and upgrading of workshop and laboratories in library schools, Constant curriculum review by library schools among others.