Librarians’ Roles in Fostering Open Science Advocacy in Academic Libraries in Delta State

Open science has gained global recognition as a framework for promoting transparency, accessibility, and collaboration in scholarly communication.Academic librarians are increasingly positioned as key facilitators and advocates of open science practices within higher education institutions.This study examined the roles of librarians in fostering open science advocacy and support in academic libraries in Delta State, Nigeria.Specifically, the study investigated the extent of librarians' engagement in open science activities, identified the roles they perform, and examined the challenges they face in promoting open science.A quantitative research design was adopted, using a structured questionnaire as the instrument for data collection.The population comprised library professionals in selected academic libraries, with data analyzed using descriptive statistics.The findings revealed that librarians are actively engaged in several open science activities, particularly open access initiatives, data sharing practices, scholarly communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration.However, engagement in research data management was comparatively lower.Librarians identified their roles as open access advocates, data stewards and managers, information literacy instructors, scholarly communication experts, and promoters of open educational resources.Despite this active involvement, several challenges hinder effective open science advocacy, including limited resources, inadequate institutional support, rapidly changing technologies, copyright and licensing issues, and resistance to open data sharing.The study concludes that while librarians in Delta State demonstrate strong commitment to open science advocacy, structural and institutional barriers limit the full realization of their roles.It therefore recommends sustained professional development, improved funding, supportive institutional policies, and stronger collaboration between librarians and other research stakeholders to strengthen open science practices in academic libraries.