BY B. A. SALAWU
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF NIGERIA,
RESCRIPTED TEXT OF A LECTURE DELIVERED TO N - POWER AMBASSADORS AND EMPLOYEES IN OSUN STATE ON WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2019 AT THE PREMISES OF OSUN STATE LIBRARY BOARD AS PART OF REQUIREMENTS OF AFRICAN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION INSTITUTION ACADEMY
Introduction
Library profession is applicable and relevant to all fields of knowledge and human endeavours. Given the fact that education is the bedrock of all development or pivot around which development revolves, then the key to functional and quality education is coherent and effective library services. Library provides timely and cost effective access to information. Every socio-economic development programme put in place requires effective library and information services to succeed.
Socio – economic development is a core component of national development associated with improvement in quality of life i.e. improvement in condition of health, nutrition, education, transport and communication, agriculture, industrialization, per capital income etc.
Library is a means to an end and an end in itself. It functions as an important unit or a section of a parent organization as well as a full fledged organization e.g. National library of Nigeria and state library boards e.g. Osun State Library Board. It is therefore not surprising that several organizations apart from academic institutions are employing librarians to enhance their operations and activities towards achieving their missions and goals. For instance, over the years, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been recruiting librarians for their various offices across the nation. In the same vein, quite a number of other organizations are also employing librarians to establish and manage their libraries as an important unit or section , while the number of library schools keeps increasing.. This is a pointer to the indispensable role of libraries and librarians in the accomplishment of sustainable development.
The profession is regulated by Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria which ensures compliance with the standard of practice in line with global best practices. By the virtue of the services they provide, libraries are a vanguard of life-long learning, a sine-qua-non for sustainable national development. It is very unfortunate that librarians are not involved in the special socio-economic development programmes of the government in spite of the efficient services they offer.
What is a Library?
There are as many definitions of library as there are scholars of library and information science. For the purpose of this paper, a library is defined as an agency with organized collection of information resources both in print and electronic formats housed for consultation by the members of a community. This information resources include textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, conference papers and reports, business papers, theses/dissertations, audio visuals, reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias directories, gazette, gazetteer, yearbook, almanac etc.
The goal is to meet the information needs of clientele for education, information, administration/governance, management, cultural development and preservation, capacity building and of course recreation and entertainment. Although in Nigeria library is mostly used for education/research purposes.
Information and Communication Technology Revolution
Advances in ICT has greatly revolutionized library services. ICT has become an integral part of the library and the engine that oils the profession. Internet services now forms part of library operations. Apart from print materials libraries now acquire electronic resources such as e-books e-journals, e-magazines, CD Rom etc. Another important development in this connection is the emergence of virtual or digital library. This is a library with digital collections that can be accessed online from anywhere without the physical presence of the user in the library. A process referred to as real-time interactivity.
This development has greatly improved library service delivery as the user can be provided access to vital and authoritative information from the internet as opposed to irrelevant and unreliable information from the same source. It has been rightly observed that searching for information in this digital age is easy but searching for relevant information requires skill. This is where the expertise of the librarians is needed due to that fact that not every available information on the web is authentic and reliable. Librarians have the skill to access and disseminate relevant information from their sources.
Therefore contrary to the erroneous view that ICT is undermining library profession, it has rather expanded the scope and conferred more roles on it. Many librarians have adopted new nomenclatures to reflect this trend i. e. Virtual or Digital librarian, Cyber librarian, Information scientists etc. In many libraries like those of academic, special and national libraries, the staff are a mix grid of Librarians, information scientists, computer scientists and computer engineers. Furthermore, librarians are continually upgrading their skill to enhance their competence in the handling of the ICT gadgets
Kinds of Libraries
All kinds of libraries contribute in one way or the other to individual, societal and national development. They serve different communities and cooperate to serve the macro community through a process known as library co-operation and inter-library loan system based on mutual agreement
School Library
School library refers to a library of primary and secondary schools. It is meant to serve teachers, pupils and other members of staff. Information materials in the school library cover all subjects taught in the school including newspapers, magazines, audio-visual for instructional learning. The resources must reflect the curriculum and syllabus of the school. The school library is very important as it serves as the foundation on which all other libraries are built. It therefore deserves proper attention in order to prepare pupils in school for great careers in life. A school library should be managed by a professional, that is, a Librarian assisted by a para- professional, technician to handle audio visuals and a library assistant
Special Library
These are libraries established and funded by government agencies, Non- governmental Organizations (NGO), commercial firms to meet the information needs of employees and staff in accordance with organization’s missions and goals e.g. research institutes libraries such as International Institute of Tropical Agriculture library (IITA) Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria Library (CRIN) Mass media Library like OSBC library or Tribune Library, law library and NISER library etc. Many government agencies in Nigeria which are saddled with socio- economic programmes finds library services indispensable and therefore established libraries to enable them achieve success. Adequate funding of all these agencies will not only enhance their activities but also make it possible for Nigeria to achieve breakthrough in socio- economic and overall national development
Public Library
A public library is a library established, supported and funded by the community either through local, state, regional or national governments or some other form of community organization and is open to the general public. Examples of public library in Nigeria are the State Library Boards with a very wide scope of responsibility. They are open to people from all walks of life, elites and non elites, students, administrators even artisans. There scope of work includes rural librarianship through extension and outreach services and provision and dissemination of relevant information on their daily activities especially agriculture and other occupations. They maintain varied collections to satisfy user community. Regrettably, most public libraries in Nigeria are underdeveloped. They are characterized by poor staffing, inadequate facilities
Hence many of them cannot penetrate the interior part of their respective states and their services, have remained largely elitist.
Academic Libraries
Academic Library is library attached to higher institutions such as polytechnics, college of education and universities. Academic library supports the educational programme of a tertiary institution and enables it to turn out well- informed graduates for national development from different disciplines. Academic library maintains collections of reading materials on all courses such as school textbooks and journals, newspapers, conference papers, theses and dissertations in print and electronic formats
National Library
National library is the apex library of every nation and the bibliographic agency e.g. National Library of Nigeria. The relationship of national library to other libraries is like central bank to other banks. As the depository library, it is entitled to receive as Legal Deposit copies of any new books published in a country which are then published as national bibliography e.g. National Bibliography of Nigeria which is a record of intellectual output of a nation over a period of year. It is very useful to the academic community as it serves as a selection tool for books published in Nigeria.
Expanding Roles of Libraries/ Sustainable Developmental Goals
Let me at this juncture say that all this detailed background information is not meant to bore you but to put the topic in proper perspective for good understanding
Some important developments in the global village have continued to impact on Librarianship especially public library and necessitated intensification and expansion of their activities to include several other activities that are highly beneficial to the community including rural dwellers. However as stated earlier public libraries have not been well positioned for the onerous activities.
Nevertheless public librarians have continued to intensify their efforts and expand their activities for greater impact on the society. This has become more imperative against the backdrop of Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs) later prioritized as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Agenda (2063) and Nigeria Vision 20:2020 with goals and targets for accomplishment towards improving general quality of life. For instance, the Millennium Developmental Goals has eight goals 18 targets and 48 indicators. It constituted 8- point Agenda declared by 149 leaders on how to stem the problem of poverty and attendant horrors in the Least Developed Countries (LDS) in September 2000, in line within International Development Targets (IDTs) which aims at improving economic well being, social and human development, and ensuring environmental sustainability and regeneration.
The Millennium Developmental goals was later replaced with Sustainable Developmental Goals(SDGs)set for 2030 with seventeen goals adopted by United Nations General Assembly in 2015:
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Well- being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Affordable and Clean energy
- Decent work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Reducing Inequality
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action
- Life below water
- Life on Land
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Partnerships for the goals
Consequently as a follow up to the general reforms, various programmes have been put in place by successive Nigerian government i.e. National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDs) introduced by president Olusegun Obasanjo designed to achieve wealth creation, employment generation, poverty reduction and value reorientation Thereafter, his successor President Umaru Musa Yar’adua came up with 7-Point Agenda:-
- Power and Energy
- Food Security and Agriculture
- Wealth Creation and Employment
- Mass transportation
- Land reform
- Security
- Qualitative Education and two special issues (1) Niger Delta (2) Disadvantaged group NEEDs and 7-point Agenda are concerted efforts towards achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and Vision 20:2020 The latest in the series is the N-power projects and other federal social intervention programmes.
Librarians and Libraries have an important role to play in the actualization of all these socio-economic development programmes linked to global, continental and national developmental agenda. Hence the need for involvement of librarians. Operators of the various agenda require right information to work with to be able to accomplish the targets and goals. Although information is power but information itself does not confer power but being able to control and utilize it for development. Librarians hold the key to the right information and knowledge for sustainable development.
In, the light of the foregoing, African library, Information Associations and Institutions(AFLIA), an affiliate of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (AFLIA) has enjoined public libraries to step up and expand their activities for greater impact on the society in accordance with global agenda e.g. empowerment training for entrepreneurship skill especially for women, bibliotherapy services, community information service which entails supply of relevant information to rural dwellers especially farmers, provision of library and information services to support special social economic schemes and initiatives such as N- Power designed to create youth empowerment and job creation as part of National Social Investment programme. Provision of library and information services is key to the success of the initiative.
For instance rural librarianship is under the purview of public library services. This is not just provision of books through mobile libraries but also dissemination of information on activities especially agriculture.
This community information service is similar to the activities in the agro module of the N- power programme. Therefore if pubic librarians are well equipped, it will be of great benefit for the Nigerian government both at federal and state level as the programme will be greatly enhanced. The national, public and research institutes libraries, and officials in charge of agro training need to collaborate for greater efficiency. For instance, public and national libraries can collaborate with research institutes libraries for supply of high quality science based agricultural information, This is highly imperative since the key to achieving agricultural production ultimately lies with the nation’s ability to disseminate relevant information on farming community to facilitate new production techniques, market prices, water conservations, equipment, policies that are closely related to agriculture and how to take advantage of them.
Librarians are equally needed in teach module of the programme. Most public schools have no good libraries whereas school libraries are very essential. Both teachers and pupils need to have access to varieties of books in multiple copies on various subjects being taught in the school. Apart from the recommended textbooks on subjects, teachers and students will have access to other textbooks on the same subject and this will deepen their knowledge. Again they will equally have access to newspapers and magazines to read. Note that some newspapers publish articles on various subject areas like English language, agriculture, health, religion. Access to this information will enhance their knowledge.
I learnt that those in the teaching model have been provided with tablets/high pads well packaged and contained everything needed like the invented tablet of knowledge by the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola. This is highly commendable, but it is not enough, they need to have access to other books to enhance their knowledge of the teaching subjects and keep them abreast of development around them. Many students do not have access to computers; their only recourse is the library. Many parents are impoverished and cannot afford to buy books for their children; the only hope for such children is the library.
In the light of the foregoing, Librarians should be employed to establish and man school libraries. A professional librarian is a person that possesses a university degree in library science. Apart from managing school libraries, Librarians can also teach the use of library. This is very essential as teachers and pupils need to be well acquainted with various information resources in the library and how to make use of them in their academic programme.
The use of library encompasses information literacy which implies a set of abilities which enable a person to know when information is needed and the ability to locate , evaluate and use it effectively. Information literacy needs to be extended to employees especially those in the tech model of the programme. Librarians possess the skill and expertise to impart the requisite knowledge
Another important aspect of information literacy is computer/digital literacy and this is the ability to use computer to retrieve relevant information from the web out of the multitude of available information. In this Knowledge Age information literacy is a survival skill, and a necessity for lifelong learning. Librarians are needed to set up and manage libraries or mini – libraries in the various centres of the N - Power programme and to maintain archive of records.
Although some people might argue that the service of librarians is not required since every information needed is available on the Web. This is misleading, for such people will only have access to fragmented and uncompleted portion of human knowledge. The contents of an electronic database remains unstable. Some Web resources like journals are available for a short time . Furthermore not every available information on the Web is reliable due to lack of peer review. Relying solely on internet information for research purposes is a blunder. Furthermore a lot of literature abounds on health which are useful for the health module which can be located and well packaged by librarians for consultation.
The Role of National Library of Nigeria
N-power as part of social intervention programmes of the Federal Government of Nigeria requires Library and information services. National Library of Nigeria is greatly committed to ensuring the success of all government programmes including N-Power. Its service in this regards will include:
Recruitment of librarians for the various N- Power training centres. In the course of performing its statutory functions of consultancy services on library development, it has set up libraries for several government organizations with professional librarians in- charge.
Current awareness service/selective dissemination of information will be provided. This entails electronic delivery of relevant documents cum information to all stakeholders.
Display of publications and relevant information especially in the area of agriculture and health in the N- Power/SDGs Corner to keep people abreast of federal government activities.
The apex library in Osun State is still operating from the temporary site at Omo-West, but once it relocates to its permanent site, a corner will be dedicated to N-Power. The management looks forward to the cooperation and support of all stakeholders towards making this proposal a reality. Your suggestions and donations in cash and kind are welcome.
CONCLUSION
It is obvious from the forgoing that Library is a potent agent of socio-economic development. Therefore authorities of N-Power and other Socio-Economic Programmes ought to involve libraries and librarians in their operations. There are quite a number of unengaged competent librarians and other information professionals . It should be noted that librarians can function in several other capacities . Being an information professional is an added advantage.