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• Nigerbiblios: Vol. 8(2),1983

  Vol. 8 No. 2 (1983)

  EDITORIAL COMMENT

  WE NEED MORE PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA

  As we pointed out in the last comment the provision of public libraries in Nigeria is anything but impressive. It is easy to come to this conclusion when one considers what is happening at then local government levels. According to part I of the first schedule of our constitution, not taking into consideration then various increases made by state governments since the second Republic, there are 300 local governments in the Federation. A quick run-down of a randomly selected number of states will show the picture of what is happening at the local government. Anambra State with 23 local government councils have 3 divisional and 2 branch libraries: Bauchi State with 16 has 2; Kano State with 20 has only 5 divisional and 2 branch libraries whilst states like Ogun and Ondo with 10 and17 councils respectively have nothing. What is evident here is that there are many local government headquarters without any visible local or branch library at all.

           The three tiers of government in Nigeria are the Federal, State and Local governments. The nearest to the grass roots out of the three is the local government where the impact of any development is felt most. The prosperity of any local government headquarters, can be judged by the level of social amenities available in such places. Almost all the local government headquarters have appreciable number of secondary schools, technical colleges, hospitals and a few industries here and there. The local populace regards their local council headquarters as their show piece as well as resource centre. If such headquarters have no branch libraries, then it means that people in that area have no means of benefitting from the advantages one can derive from public libraries.

           It is our view in Nigerbiblios that Nigeria has got to such a stage of development were the existence of well-equipped libraries at the local government level should be a matter of priority for all state governments. Workers in industries, schools and councils located in rural areas need good libraries in order to stem the population drift to urban areas. Since the overall goal of the provision of libraries is the education and enlightenment of the citizenry, it stands to reason that development of libraries should go hand-in-hand with the provision of other social amenities like pipe borne water, electricity and others. Once more the duty of bringing these ideas to our governments must be that of the librarians themselves. They know better than other members of the populace why the development of public libraries must be a priority of the government. Unfortunately, the Nigerian Library Association has not got the organisational ability as yet to mount an aggressive pressure on our governments. This malady should be rectified. It is heartening to note that Librarians now write occasionally on their subject in our national newspapers. This trend should continue. It is our duty to educate and inform all concerned that as the various governments are planning to attract industries and bring electricity to each local government headquarters, so the provision of a well-equipped library must be a priority. The only way the literacy campaign being launched all over the country can succeed in the final analysis is if it is backed up by the provision of at least a public library in each local government headquarter all over the country. It is the responsibility of librarians to mount the needed pressure and that we must start to do as from now.

   

   

   

• Nigerbiblios: Vol. 7(4),1982

  Vol. 7 No. 4 (1982)

  EDITORIAL

  Elsewhere in this issue is a report on a survey conducted by the National Library on the National Digest of Library statistics which is worth reading by all. What strikes one in this report is the lack of adequate information on some of our Libraries. Is it that librarians do not keep these records at all or that they are kept in files where they are not accessible? Precisely how many facts do we know about our institutions? Many things are usually taken for granted and this is more disturbing when it is discovered that we are by training information conscious. Part of the report for instance states thus "judging from the information contained In the tables, It would be observed that details like library collection, space available for library purpose, current periodicals and titles held etc. which should be at finger tips of Librarians are not properly kept. These are the normal data that are expected to be given out to vlsltors".The report continues"'"' would be observed that many libraries do not have records of the length of shelve (linear metric) and the number currently In use and some do not even keep records of their book stack, periodicals etc...

  It is the view of Nigerbiblios that librarians must start today to keep charts of these records in a way that any staff of the library can answer some of these questions without much difficulty. They should probably be kept in the librarians office and up-dated at the end of each year. We should avoid burying them in files which are not always handy when such questionnaire are received. Running around with a tape rule whenever a questionnaire is received on issues like these is not the best way to provide information that is needed for planning. Fortunately librarianship is a profession that knows how to organise knowledge and what is more Unesco has a standardised format for presentation of these statistics. What is really being advocated by Nigerbibiios is that librarians should now formalise the way these statistics are being collected in-house and make sure that they are updated. We must all remember that whatever is predictable has no element of surprise any longer. Once our records are maintained possibly in form of charts and kept in the chief Librarians office, supplying these figures to inquirers will not be a difficult task. After all we need these statistics to convince our authorities about the growth rate in the library. The moment we start to make some of our proposals in statistical terms, the more those outside the profession will start to understand some of our achievements and proposals. We will be the better for it. But if we do not have the records handy what do we sayIng pursuit of the aspirations envisaged in the previous number in this column, the orientation of work has had to be adjusted. In this respect, clear lines are being drawn to ensure full concentration in the areas of pure professional activities. It is foreseen that these activities will burgeon and consequently forge ramifications that are consistent with national libraries as they are known all over the world. The scope of activities have increased in the last quarter of the century, especially since the national libraries have come to be recognised as an institution encompassing the general reference functions and needs of a nation; Therefore, it becomes imperative to intensify efforts in the direction of the development of personnel of all categories and in the various specialisations where they will be needed.

  1. One important area of activity now demanding serious attention is information and documentation service at the base leading ultimately to the development of information systems network. This demands substantial long-term investment in manpower training. The National Library in this regard is looking forward to the establishment of a National Information and Documentation Centre as part of its service to the nation. Also connected with this is the place and the role of other libraries in Nigeria, not only as they relate to the National Library but also in the concept of the national network. The libraries and related agencies have a duty to prepare themselves for this new phase of development of services, to the nation.
  2. Other areas crying for attention now have to get it. The cooperation programme featuring acquisition and interlending and involving many libraries is one such area. There is also the copy right information service, a programme initiated a few years ago, but still In gestation. Readership promotion country wide is a national library function. This is a supportive service to public libraries especially. The foregoing is an attempt to portray the complexity of the functions the National Library of Nigeria finds itself called upon to perform in addition to that of conventional reference and research service and research service.

   

   A. OLUWOLE OLAFIOYE

        Editor

• NIgerbiblios: Vol.7(1),1982

  Vol. 7 No. 1 (1982)

  EDITORIAL

  January/April 1980 with the announcement that our journal has now become a professional one, we have noticed the tremendous interest shown as reflected in the contributions from colleagues all over the country. This is how things should be in a dynamic Director's situation where there has been a phenomenal growth in the number of libraries since the beginning of our Second Republic. Starting a library from scratch, as we all know, is a very rare opportunity which demands a lot of planning, hard work, initiative and drive. With the number of new Universities, Colleges of Technology, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education being set up by both the Federal and State Governments in the last few months one would believe that our It gives me infinite pleasure to reopen this forum colleagues must have been having a lot of challenges which closed down in the dark days of the connected with building up their collections from Nigerbiblios when it struggled against odds for scratch, not to talk of the problems of recruiting staff survival. One of the first, and the most formidable, from a very lean market.

  problems of this journal was the means of How have you been coping with such situations. We like to refer our colleagues to the contribution of Mr. B.U. Nwafor of the University of Jos which he production. Backlogs quickly grew to such a proportion that made any contributions on this forum meaningless because it didn't fit the times. The called "The problem of the Blank Cheque in National Library's manpower position at a certain Nigerbiblios (1-2) January/April 1980 pages 9-15 period was another contributory factor. These two That was from a university that had influential problems now appear to be behind us and our patrons parent in University of Ibadan. subscribers as well as contributors - can look We know that the majority of our new Universities,forward to a lively, informative and regular

  Colleges of Education and Polytechnic libraries have Nigerbiblios. On the editorial bridge are competent

  no foster parents as such, thus providing very fertile hands, now assigned to take charge of the grounds for uncommon experience. This is why we will very much like to hear from colleagues with such publications programme and activities of the challenging but very exciting experiences institution.It is pertinent to use this forum to disclose some anew feature we have just introduced with this aspects of the work of the National Library of Nigeria particular number is Conference Reports. We will like to have reports of Seminars, Workshops and as projected for the year 1982. As we operate the system all divisions present an evaluation of Conferences you have attended. It is all part of what achievements in the preceding year and a broad we want to disseminate. outline of areas for attention in the new year, with .We welcome back to this page our age-long indications of expected achievements. The overall column From the Director's Desk which was a focus to which all branches and departments must regular feature in past issues of our Nigerbiblios contribute and keep in view is effective service when it was a house journal of the National Library. This is the first contribution from our Director since we became a professional journal. This column will delivery. Our existing physical facilities are not yet with us fully on this, but the human factors will be fully motivated to rise above the temporary now share the same page with our comments in disabilities.

  A great deal of attention therefore will beevery issue of this journal. It is our hope that you will expended on the service points at Yaba, Lagos, and in always find something interesting in what we have to the state branches. Say Service delivery in the national framework is also an With this first issue for 1982 we want to assure our objective for improvement. All the previous efforts in numerous readers that this journal will now appear the direction of resource sharing featuring regularly on schedule. We have done a lot of ground cooperative acquisition, interlending and work to make sure that we can keep our promise in information networks will be intensified. Our achievements and developments will be made this regard. This we know as we go along. The Nigerbiblios is your journal.

   

  Editor

   

• Nigerbiblios: Vol. 6 (3&4),1981

  Vol. 6 No. 3&4 (1981)

• Nigerbiblios:Vol.5(3&4),1980

  Vol. 5 No. 3&4 (1980)

• Nigerbiblios: Vol.5(1&2),1980

  Vol. 5 No. 1&2 (1980)

  EDITORIAL COMMENT

   

  Nigerbiblios came into existence in 1976 to serve as the house journal of the National Library of

  Nigeria. Its full title in its inception is Nigerbiblios: House journal of the National Libraryof Nigeria. As

  I house journals do, it directed all its focus towards documenting and disseminating information on the

  activities of the institution. This it did by publishing papers emanating from our monthly staff seminars,

  conference proceedings organised by the institution, staff news and other topical news of professional

  interest. Only on rare occasions were contributions entertained outside the membership of the National

  Library Staff. Any observer of the national scene will find, evenwith minimum effort that for the past five or  six years there has not been any effective medium whereby librarians and information science practitioners in this country could inter-communicate on the various activities and problems in their constituencies. To the chagrin of all, the premier journal in librarianship in this country, Nigerian Libraries had run into production problems to the extent that it is many years in arrears and has practically gone into coma. A big gap has been created by this state of affairs.

  Consequently librarians in this country have had to send their thoughts and ideas outside and take recourse to seek avenues for ventilating their articles to foreign journals for publication.

  Although the avenues sought are courteous and hospitable we cannot presume that foreign journals too do not have problems of coping with the articles submitted by their own nationals, and that all our needs would be satisfactorily met. On the other hand we at the Nigerbiblios have been receiving unsolicited articles from Librarians all over the country, which is a clear evidence of need. It. therefore devolved on us to review the situation as it affects this country as a whole with reference to the profession of librarianship and information science. Accordingly, the Management of the National Library having considered the situation, and reflecting on the success of the house journal decided to raise its status to one of a national communication tool and extend its scope to accommodate contributions from professional practitioners outside the for institution publication,  the Nigerbiblios. After all, articles in then Nigerbiblios are reviewed and indexed in reputable professional documentation services like Library and

  Information science Abstracts, Library literature etc. The journal could profitably be used to remove the existing blockage to free flow of Information and ideas in this way. The move, we expect, should serve as stimulus to writing and communication so that international librarianship can have, increasedaccess to Nigeria. From this issue, therefore, Nigerbiblios becomes a professional journal in this sense, articulating and reporting on developments and services in the field of librarianship and information science in Nigeria. It has now thrown its doors open to all librarians and information scientists who have something concrete to contribute to the availability of information and knowledge about library and information science in Nigeria. Every attempt will be made to publish what in the opinion of the editor is useful contribution.

  However, the editor reserves the right to reject what it considers as unsuitable. In publishing articles from various contributors outside the National Library, no attempt will be made to defend any reaction that may arise from views expressed. In essence a contributor is free to articulate his views and be prepared to defend his opinions when occasions arise.

  Due to some operational "constraints the numbers for 1980, now in arrears, are being combined in order to clear the backlog. There will now be 4 issues of the journal every year appearing in January, April, July, and October. The combined issues for 1980 are Vol. 5 Nos. 1 and 2 January/April; 3 and 4 July/October. The first issue for 1981 will be Vol. 6 No. 1 January 1981. The title is just Nigerbiblios. We wish all our readers profitable reading and hope for mutual exchange of ideas. We also hereby formally invite contributions to the journal. It is our hope that, with this new change of policy, we are contributing our quota to the dissemination of information about happenings on the Nigerian sceneto our professional colleagues in all parts of the world. Please feel free to write to us as we now intend to feature a correspondence column.

• Nigerbiblios: Vol. 3(4),1978

  Vol. 3 No. 4 (1978)

• Nigerbiblios: Vol. 3(3), 1978

  Vol. 3 No. 3 (1978)

• NIgerbiblios:Vol.3(3), 1978

  Vol. 3 No. 2 (1978)

• Nigerbiblios: Vol.3(1),1978

  Vol. 3 No. 1 (1978)