NIGERIAN LIBRARIES AND NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

BY

AGBATO, E.F.

LIBRARIAN 1

FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (SPECIAL), OYO

folasadeagbato@yahoo.com

And

AKINDEHIN, O.F.

LIBRARIAN II

FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (SPECIAL), Oyo

folajimiakindehin@gmail.com

Abstract

When the president of this country was to assume office, he rolled out his transformation agenda. In transforming a nation, the library and librarians also have a germane role to play. There are different kinds of libraries and organizations that run their own library system. Every libraries stands out to represent her own uniqueness. Among such are special libraries, public libraries national libraries and academic libraries. This paper discussed national transformation and its impact to national development. The paper also examines the roles of Nigerian libraries in national transformation such as information for political participation, cultural development, impact of internet, current awareness services, user education, information literacy programme and reservation service. Based on the discussion, conclusion, and recommended were made

INTRODUCTION

Library is been described as a public institution or an establishment charged with the care of a collection of books the duty of making them accessible to those who require the use of them and the task of converting every person in its neighborhood into habitual library goers and readers of books.  Iyanda and Salawu (2006) on the other hand sees library as a building, an instructional and self development centre, which operate as an integral part of the school environment.  Roberson (2005) defines a library as an institution that manages the intellectual products that individuals can gain access to readily.

Libraries provide resources for knowledge acquisition, recreation, personal interests and inter-personal relationships for all categories of users.  The philosophy of librarianship is based on the concept of library services and provision of relevant resources for users.  For this reason, librarians continues to strive to collect, store, organize and disseminate all forms of recorded knowledge in order to satisfy both present and future information needs of users.  Libraries are broadly categorized into different types based on the target users.  The major types of libraries are academic libraries, national libraries, public libraries and special libraries.  These libraries perform some specific functions such as research work, decision making, solve uncertainties and problems.  It is therefore expected that libraries provide services that will meet these critical needs.

NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

Transformation is a complete change of a situation or condition.  Transformation is critical and essential to the sustenance and growth of any nation.  The pride of any government is the attainment of higher value level of transformation.  National, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English refers to a phenomenon that embraces a whole nation.  National transformation therefore can be described and the overall development or a collective socio-economic, political as well as religious advancement of a country or nation.  There are several approaches to transformation by the past government such as austerity measure of the Shagari administration, structural adjustment programme introduced by the Babangida administration, vision 2010 and host of others till the present day government with transformation agenda.  The transformation agenda of the present government tends to focus on politics, economic, agriculture, education, youth empowerment.

IMPACT OF NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 Development is essential and critical to growth and sustenance of any country.  National development will bring about transformation in electoral legitimacy, peace and security, stability of government policy such as economic policy and education sector.  Another aspect of national development is the rule of law which helps to ensure respect for individual rights, settlement of conflicts, enforcement of proper accountability by the government to the governed.  Lastly is on the issue of anti-corruption. Nigeria is widely cited in the development literature as an example of a country where institutionalized and systematic corruption has continuously undermined over several decades. All these can be achieved through transformation and good governance.

Roles of Nigerian libraries in National Transformation

          The library in a community provides a unique service that should be accessible to everybody. The provision of library and information services should be one of the fundamental human rights of every citizen. These are roles performed by libraries in national transformation:

-    Lending Services: This is perhaps the most important service provided by a library. It is essentially a social service in which users of a library have the privilege of borrowing library have the privilege of borrowing library.

-    Materials either for reading or consultation. There are other resources in the library that can be loaned out include slides, audiocassettes, periodicals, pamphlets, compact disc etc.

-    User Education: The library provides user education in order to equip a user with enough knowledge on the use of the library. This will enable the user to sue the library resources effectively and efficiently. This is because library processes could be so complex that an average user may not easily comprehend. In this age of information explosion, new resources are being introduced into the library. The advent of ICT has penetrated almost all the activities of many libraries, it is important to explain the workings of a library to a new in detail. The ultimate objective is to enable users to exploit the resources of a library to the fullest. Through user education, the user is able to get any information desires as well as developing the skills to use the resources of the library independently. User education could be through one-to-one sessions or library orientation.

-    Current Awareness Service (CAS): This is essentially important to keep users up to date with the happenings in their subject areas of interest. It is to ensure that users are aware of recent developments, hence users are informed of latest documents available to the library. The information can be made available to the users through e-mail messages, periodical routings, library bulletins. current  awareness is always provided to users in broad subject categories not necessarily targeting a particular user. Information is usually provided on documents like journals, books, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, magazines and newspaper.

-    Information Literacy Programme: This is otherwise referred to user education. Many libraries especially university and research libraries emphasis the need for users to acquire skills that will enable the search information independently on any aspect of knowledge using both traditional and electronic methods of accessing information. Information literacy programme is geared towards attaining a competence in the use of library and computer technologies for nation’s transformation.

-    Impact of Internet: Libraries were changed irreversibly by the flourishing of the remarkable tool know as the internet. It is an important product of information and communication technology. It is a collection of vast information sources of interlinked computer networks. This brings about library automation such as circulation, acquisition, serial control, cataloguing etc. the aim of library computerization is to make the services of a library more effective and efficient. There are other advantages of library automation such as easy accessibility to current information, accuracy, high storage capacity, easy retrieval of information etc.

-    Repackaging of information: This can be done in form of translation of some library materials to local languages other than English. This will enable users to read and comprehend and it will also encourage them to visit the library regularly. Aboyade (1984) advocates oral transfer of information supported by a variety of media. Namponya (1986) and Aina(1991) suggest that illiteracy hampers the delivery of information to rural dwellers, and so information providers should be willing to interpret, repackage, and apply information to the user’s situation and help communities act on the information they have received. This means that library service could effectively shift from the exploitation of print towards the repacking of information for transmission in oral and other forms.

-    The use of e-library: The librarians Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) has mapped out strategies to train librarians in Nigeria to e-library as a complimentary to the existing libraries as in conformity with the present government transformation agenda. To actualize this objective the council is collaborating with the United States Embassy in Nigeria on how best to deploy the technology. The council also intends to partner with the National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA) to develop the minimum standards for setting up e-libraries.

-    Review of curricula of library and information science programmes: The council (LRCN) has also commenced the review of the curricula of library and information science programmes in Nigerian universities, request had also gone out to library schools to submit their curricula and course contents for this purpose.

-    Preservation of library materials: This is an integral aspect of library activities. Equipment used in the libraries needs special care. For longevity and prompt services, adequate care and maintenance of library materials should be taken. Majority of library materials is made of organic materials substance that are prone to decay and deterioration. Many atmospheric and human factors contribute to this, hence the need for preservation. How easy it is to lose acquisitions accumulated for over a millennium in one day if a disaster it will be to replace such materials. “Prevention is better than cure”, but in this case there is no cure.

Conclusion

          Library services are essential to the educational, political, and social transformation of any nation. The information gap between the urban and rural areas can be bridged by effective library services. For this reason, Nigerian libraries must raise up to their responsibilities in providing adequate services in order to take this country to a greater height.

Recommendations

          The beauty of any transformation agenda or plan is the faithful implementation of such plan, which its success lies with the implementers. The following recommendations are important to national transformation and library services in Nigeria.

-    Training and retraining of staff in ICT and related areas should be a continuous exercise in our libraries.

-    Adequate funds should be made available for the acquisition of information resources and the provision of quality library services to the rural population.

-    Information and communication infrastructure should be given urgent attention as appropriate to the present goabl information economy.

-    There should be enlightments programmes to enlighten the citizenry and government on the importance of libraries

-    More establishment of libraries especially in the rural areas.

-    Librarians should use their knowledge of professionalism to advise the government on the way forward.

-    The government should make a policy that ensures that libraries in rural areas have internet connectivity.

References

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