Purpose of academic libraries

Traditionally, the purpose for the establishment of an academic library is to select, acquire, organize and provide access to information materials that will suit the information needs of individuals within and outside its parent body which usually consists of staff and students.  It is from this basic purpose that the academic library supports its parent institution in attaining goals and objectives especially academic ones.  The academic library through collection development grooms a well informed community of staff and students which will serve as a fertilizer for ideas and innovations that increase the standard of a higher institution and the educational system at large.  Students and staff in an institution can learn new things and be nourished with the wide range of information materials the academic library has in stock.

Chisita (2009) quoting Beenham and Harrison noted that the main purpose of an academic library is to serve the needs of the academic community, to provide reference materials at appropriate levels, to provide study areas for students, to provide lending services and an active information service, all these point to and add to the overall purpose of ensuring that members of an educational community where the academic library is located are well informed.  In addition to this, the author noted that the three main functions of a modern university are teaching, research and extension services. Syllabus and courses offered by the students and taught by the staff are major pointers to the information needed by students and staff for both teaching and research.   It is therefore important that academic libraries periodically evaluate and compare the overall information need direction including the goals and objectives of the parent institution with its own collections to maintain its value in the institution and align its mission and vision with that of its parent body.  The academic library through its collection is capable of providing information needed for these functions.

With the advent and expanding use of digitized information materials and online information retrieval systems, the academic library still serves its basic purpose but has to conform to this trend by providing online services through web blogs, websites, electronic journals, online newspapers and Online Public Access Catalogue to satisfy its patrons, remain relevant and achieve its purpose in the educational system and the 2.0 world.

To further examine the purpose of academic libraries, the University of Ilorin Library being a perfect example of an academic library has the following objectives:

-To assist in the achievement of learning through dissemination of knowledge.

-To support the success of teaching and research activities of the University of Ilorin.

-To meet the academic, research and personal advancement of the university and its communities respectively through the abundance of information resources in its stock.

-To offer to its clientele rich and current information resources.

-To offer to its clientele a balanced traditional novel and productive services for the main purpose of ensuring that the library disseminates knowledge and advancement of scholarship. University of Ilorin Handbook (2010)

These objectives show a typical example of the purpose of academic libraries and what is expected from it in its parent community.