Excursion to the Kwara state branch of National Library of Nigeria

About the National Library of Nigeria

The National Library of Nigeria was established by a statutory law in September, 1964 known as the National Library Act of 1964.  Going back in history, the Nigerian division of the West African Library Association in 1962 gave birth to the Library Advisory Committee that brought up the idea to establish a national library.  This idea was supported by the Ford Foundation and the foundation showed its support by providing the expertise and funds for the establishment of the library, this was done in collaboration with the federal government and Dr. Frank Rogers who was the Director of the National Library of Medicine, USA. 

One of the major players in the establishment of the National Library is Dr. Carl White from Columbia University, New York His major contributions include:  setting up a basic collection for growing the library, laying down a schedule of duties for the foundational staff of the library, and getting the government to pass the first legislation enacted in September 1964.

The partnership between the Ford Foundation and the Federal Government of Nigeria lasted for nine (9) years after which the National Library Board in 1996 amended the National Library Act.  The national library moved to its current headquarters in Abuja according to Section 2(2) of the National Library Decree No. 29 of 1970.  The library has about 26 branches across the Nigeria including the Kwara state branch.

The Kwara state branch of the National Library of Nigeria is located beside The Herald Newspaper on Offa Road, Ilorin. This location is however temporary as the library is yet to finish up its branch office.

Excursion to National Library of Nigerian (Kwara state branch)

All students converged at the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin at 9am and we took off 9:30am due to a slight delay in logistics and transportation. We arrived at 10:15am and were given a very warm reception by Mr. Ajani, a senior staff at the library who led us to the ICT department of the library for a lecture to be given by the director of the branch in person of Mrs. Olani Kafayat.

Mrs. Olani Kafayat introduced herself and gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves individually by our first name after which the lecture commenced.  The director in an effort to start the lecture asked if anybody noticed anything on entrance into the library, she wanted to use to response to commence the lecture, this led to her admonishing us to scan any environment we find ourselves whether old or new because as librarians we should be able to provide information on any location based on what we have learn from the environmental scan.

The director then moved to ask what a national library is and different views and opinion about the national library was given forming a foundation for the lecture and other issues.  The director then listed the department of the national library and their functions which are seven (7) departments which include the National Bibliographic Control Department having three (3) main divisions and nine (9) sections operating  under the supervision of a director, Research and Development Department having three (3) main divisions, Virtual Library Services Department also having three (3) main divisions, Public Services Department, Collection Development and Processing Department having three (3) divisions, Human Resources Department and the Finance and Accounts Department all operating under a supervisor.

According to her, the functions of each department are as follows:

-National Bibliographic Control Department:  A core professional department constituted specifically for the purpose of carrying out and implementing the following major statutory functions:

1. To serve as the focal department for National Bibliography Control Services aimed at Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC).

2. To administer and mange International Standards numbers for monographs, serials, and musical works – ISSN, ISBN and ISMN

3. To ensure regular production of the National Bibliography of Nigeria (NBN) on annual basis

And so on.

-Research and Development Department:  This department is in charge of the publications from the national library.  The director mentioned Niger Biblios, NBN and the Nominal List of Librarians as some of the publications from this department.

-Virtual Library Department:  This department is in charge of all computer related tasks that concern the library which include website control, ICT services and electronic storage of information materials.

-Collection and Processing Department:  This department performs the technical function of the library which is similar to the technical services department of any library.  The department performs cataloguing and classification, C.I.P, and processing of newly acquired information materials.  On this topic, the director mentioned that all technical services are done at the Abuja headquarters of the National Library and then sent to the branches.

-Public Services Department:  The public services is charged with the responsibility to bring library services to the grass root and provide program me that will bring services that will serve the masses, this helps the national library to fulfill its responsibility of provide for the information needs of all.

-Finance and Accounts Department:  The director said this is department is in charge of all monetary transactions the library engages in, prepares the balance sheets, keeps track of all expenses and income, statutory signature to the library’s account.

A question by Abdulraheem Sodiq raised a vital topic for discussion, this was about how materials are acquired and processed in the branches of the national library. The director answered this question by informing us the national library has a Central Processing Unit that processes all books acquired by the national library before they are sent to all branches in the nation.  This implies that all cataloguing and classification and other technical activities instead of the branch.

The director mentioned the functions of the branch which are majorly to:

            -To receive applications for ISBN, ISSN and ISMN from authors and publishers in the state, after which they are sent to the headquarters in Abuja for approval and assigning of the number.

            -To provide only reference service to all individuals in the state as long as they are above the age of 18 years.  The library doesn’t lend out materials.

            -Partnering with the Kwara state public library to share resources and meet patron needs.

            -To receive legal deposits before they are sent to the headquarters.

Mr. Ajani who is a senior staff at the library took over from the director by mentioning the section that is currently present in the branch. They include the reference section, serials section, Nigerianna section that has materials about Nigeria, written by a Nigerian and published in Nigeria, E-Library section, document section and reading section.

The visit was concluded with a tour to all sections of the library for us to see and touch the materials present in the library’s holdings.  After this we were treated to a cup of orange juice each.  The vote of thanks was given by the class representative (Badaru Ayotunde) and his assistant (John Oyegunle) and we left the library at 12:45pm.

Experiences Gained

-Knowledge about the national library and its internal functions.

-Policies guiding the operations of the national library.

-Arrangement of catalogues according to author, title and subject.

The Nature of a National Library

THE NATURE OF A NATIONAL LIBRARY BADARU AYOTUNDE SEUN   APRIL 2013

INTRODUCTION

I am sure from the word “national” you will have an educated guess of what this type of library is and probably what it entails.  This idea you posses will definitely help you to understand other important aspects of this topic. 

Any national library is a reflection of a nation’s level of development in creativity, education, literacy among others, it is therefore important that individuals have knowledge of this important aspect of the nation’s development.  Therefore, knowledge about the nature of a national library is vital to every individual in a country.

This paper will focus on the national library using the formation, funding, functions or services as parameters to determine its nature and its entire makeup.

 A National Library

A national library is a library established by the government of a country and is backed up by law; this law guides its operations, functions and services, being a library established by the government, it seen as the apex library in any country; it is the library with the highest authority in any country. 

A national library therefore being the apex library in a country is expected to oversee all other libraries in that country either public, academic or special.  In addition to this, a national library in terms of structure is usually known for having a large physical structure mainly because of its possession of information materials published in the entire country and beyond, this is evident in most national libraries around the world.  Speaking of possessing information materials, a national library acquires its materials mainly through legal deposit; this will be explained later in this paper.

In terms of funds, a national library is funded by the government through its budget allocations, international grants, public funds and taxes levied.  Funds allotted to the national library are usually used for purchase of information materials, event planning and other logistics.

Acquisition of information materials from every part of the country automatically translates to the fact that a national library can serve anybody in the country regardless of status or field of study.  From the president who is the first citizen to the prisoner, the national library is obligated by law to embrace individuals from all works of life; this brings us to an important question.

Can a National Library be categorized as a Public Library?

A national library can be seen as a public library in the sense that a national library is meant to serve individuals from every aspect of the country and even beyond, this is the same as the public library.  A national library although larger, powerful and highly recognized is a public library literarily, because it isn’t restricted to certain users.  The variety of information materials in a national library also makes it a public library; information materials acquired cut across every aspect of human endeavor in a country, this therefore makes the national library public.

In terms of hierarchy and recognition, a national library in a country is obviously higher than a public library in a state or community, making the national library more glorified than the conventional public library.  A public library is also one that is available at the grassroots and sometimes remote areas of a country, this gives it better closeness to the people within its catchment area unlike a national library which is usually located at the capital city of a country making it open in most cases to only elites.

Formation

A national library is formed with a legal backing which can be an act (the National Library of Nigeria was formed with the enactment of the National Library Act of 1964).  Although in some cases, the establishment of a national library is a product of a person’s idea and observation which will then be taken up by the government and a law is setup to suit the establishment (the National Library of Greece was formed from the idea of one man which was later taken up by the government).  In any case, a national library is formed and empowered to perform its functions with the backing of the law and violation of any aspect of the law will definitely attract penalties.

Functions

-Satisfying information needs:  This is perhaps the first and major function of a national library.  A national library is primarily established to satisfy the needs of individuals in a country irrespective of status.  A national library therefore, will put in place operational plan to ensure that these needs are satisfied and that every individual gets the information they need.  A national library also goes beyond its country with this function by spreading its tentacles to other national libraries and corporate bodies in need of information.

-Legal deposit: A national library is tasked with the function of accepting legal deposits from authors, publishers, and libraries alike.  Legal deposit is a function of a national library that obligates anyone that writes a book in a country, or about a country or about persons in a country to deposit a number of copies depending on the country.  This function is the major reason for the library’s extensive collection of books in any country.

-Issuance of ISBN/ISSN: A national library also performs the function of issuing International Standard Book Number for books published and International Standard Serials Number for serials published.  These numbers are uniquely different one from another and are mark of quality and approval for book or serial published.

-Library or last resort:  A national library just like a Central Bank is also performs the function of last resort.  This function a national library performs is directed to any other type of library in the country.  All libraries in cases of emergency or need refer back to the national library for assistance in terms of intellectual property, research, corporate loans and other resources beyond their reach.

-Resource sharing and corporate loans: A national library also performs the function of resource sharing i.e. the national library through its vast resource can come to the aid for other libraries to share resources.  Corporate loans are also a function that is similar to resource sharing, corporate loans is usually done for a stipulated time.

-Compilation of National Bibliography: A national bibliography is a systematic listing and description of books (in terms of author, title, year or production and so on) that are present in a library’s holdings.  A national library owns virtually all the publications in a country, thereby making it possible for it to perform the function of compiling the national bibliography of that country.  In most cases, the library catalogue of most national libraries can serve as national bibliography because it is very similar and performs almost the same function.

-Research Support:  A national library also provides research support to researchers, experts, professionals and corporate bodies through its possession of vast and extensive books.  The national library also houses historical information materials such as speeches of important country men, national calendar, national conference proceedings and so on which are useful to research papers around the world.

Conclusion

A national library is a symbol of a country’s intellectual capacity and a repository of knowledge for any individual irrespective of nationality or status.  A national library therefore, through its resources promotes cultural, educational and recreational activities in a country.   It is therefore important that a national library is equipped to perform its functions effectively and proper awareness is provided to ensure that individuals are not ignorant of the immense benefits of a national library for research and intellectual support.

Resource sharing, consortium and inter library loan is also a major channels that national libraries can connect for better service delivery and eventually spread ideas of development and innovation from developed countries to the developing ones.

The Library: Not just about books!

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Nature of Academic Libraries

Nature of Academic Libraries

The nature of the academic library consists of the characteristics, qualities and features its components possess; each of the components making up an academic library such as collections, location and so on has certain qualities differentiating it from other type of libraries.

-High population of patrons:  The population of staff and students of a university or any other higher institution is always on the high side, this implies that patrons the academic library serves is also high; the academic library is expected to serve all individuals in its immediate institution which includes staff, students and others which is usually in thousands for a single institution.

Lecturers, undergraduates, research institute staff, postgraduate students, medical staff and many other individuals too numerous to mention form a high patron base of the academic library.

-Large size of personnel:  An academic library is characterized by a large number of staff members which range from university librarians, readers services librarians, technical services librarians, principal librarians, senior librarians to library officers and so on depending on the library’s organizational structure.  Some large academic libraries might even have more than one university librarian apart from the deputy university librarian.  So therefore, the larger the academic library the higher the number staff members.

The various department and units the academic library possesses requires the appointment of staff with varying positions, the technical services department alone for example will typically appoint technical services librarian, acquisitions librarian, serials librarian, cataloguers which will consist of chief cataloguers and junior cataloguers, and other support staff for typing and updating of catalogues, stamping of newly acquired information materials, accessioning and other “behind the scene” activities in the academic libraries.  Non academic staff such as security staff, cleaners, messengers, porters and store keepers are also not excluded which increases the number of staff the academic library employs.

-Wide and varied service provision:  Due to the numerous amounts of patrons the academic library serves, the needs of these patrons are heterogeneous, requiring varying services to satisfy these needs.  The academic library with the mandate to provide for the information needs of a wide variety of patrons has to expand and widen the scope of its services for its mandate to be achieved. 

Information materials and services required by lecturers will vary based on their field of study and interest; this is the same with students and other support staff in an institution.  Services offered by the academic library will be discussed later in this paper.

-Extensive and complex collection of information materials:  Academic libraries usually have a policy that guides the acquisition, processing and organization of information materials. This is necessary to ensure that the library does acquire information materials that are in line with all the courses and syllabuses in the institution.  The academic library in an effort to accommodate all fields of study in its parent institution acquires an extensive and complex information material collection, no wonder the Library of Congress Classification Scheme is popular known as being suitable for academic libraries.

-Complex Administration and Management:  An academic library in its organizational structure usually has administrative staff members which are usually headed by a university librarian especially for a university.  However, administration in an academic library is usually complex depending on the size of the library.  Management of an academic library sometimes goes beyond the university librarian to the administrators of the parent institution which shows some level of complexity.

-Inter-related departments and units:  The departments and units that make up an academic library are inter-related with one department and unit connecting to another in certain way.  Academic libraries consist of two major divisions which is the technical services division and readers’ services division.  Departments in the technical services division work “behind the scenes” and do activities such as acquisition, processing (stamping, accessioning and registration), cataloguing and classification and others.  Information materials from the department in the technical services division moves to the departments in the readers’ services division for shelving, use and dissemination and then back to the technical services division for preservation techniques.

From this simple explanation, it should be noted that each department cannot function alone but requires the combined effort of all departments for complete and efficient service delivery.