DLIS 117 - SCHOOL LIBRARIES

D L I S 127 – SCHOOL LIBRARIES

COURSE OUT – LINE

(1) Definition of basic concepts: school libraries, media centres, resource centres, etc

(2)  Purposes and roles of school libraries / media centres.

(3) Resources in school libraries / media centres.

(4) Administration of school media centres: personnel, funding and organization of school libraries.

(5) Problems of school / media centres.

DEFINITION OF BASIC CONCEPTS: SCHOOL LIBRARIES, MEDIA CENTRES, RESOURCE CENTRES, ETC

Through the use of a wide variety of learning and play materials made readily available to the pupil in the school library, he is encouraged to explore the world of knowledge, experiment with his hands and mind, discover, learn and develop his innate abilities to the fullest. Unfortunately very few libraries have what can be called libraries, laboratories or workshops.

 School library has been defined by the dictionary of library and information sciences as a library in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves the information needs of its students and the curriculum needs of its teachers and staff, usually managed by school librarian or media specialist. School library is synonymous with learning resources centre, and school media centre. School library was also defined as libraries of primary schools, secondary schools, teacher training colleges, and schools of arts and sciences. Another brief but straight forward definition of school library is that which stated that “the term refers to libraries that are located in the primary and secondary schools.” Another definition of school library stated that: school library is that part of school where a collection of books, periodicals, magazines and newspapers, films and film strips, video-tapes, recording of all types, slides, computers, study kits, realia and other information-bearing resources are housed for use by teachers, and pupils for learning, recreational activities, personal interests and interpersonal relationships of children in a school. That facility administered as a unit in individual schools where teaching resources are made available to students and teachers of the school.

PURPOSES AND ROLES OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES / MEDIA CENTRES

The school needs the support of an efficient school library to achieve its goals of producing students full of creativity, scientific and effective thinking, inter ethnic understanding, and holistic approach to teaching and learning. A good school library / resource centre and its staff will develop in children good reading skills and encourage long-term learning habits through listening, reading and viewing a wide variety of learning resources.

 The role and functions of the school library / resource centre will depend upon the emphasis which the educational system of a nation places on it. For a long time, the Federal, State Governments in Nigeria have paid lip service to libraries and librarians especially in pre-tertiary institutions. It was not until 1981 in the revised version of the National Policy on Education that libraries were mentioned.  The primary objectives of the school library should be similar to those of academic libraries. The objective of this library is to aid, in particular, the students / pupils. Some of the purposes of school libraries are outlined below:

·       Support the teaching and educational work of the school;

·       Develop in young people, a habit of reading both for pleasure and for the purpose of gathering information for themselves;

·       Prepare pupils to work independently so that when they leave the school they can carry out with their education;

·       Make reasonable use of their leisure;

·       Inculcate reading habit in children.

 The contributions of school libraries to education include:

·       Encouraging reading;

·       Expanding learning resources;

·       Developing learning skills;

·       Developing critical thoughts;

·       Developing values, attitudes and appreciations;

·       Assisting with developmental tasks

It can provide all these because of its wealth of materials and the learning opportunities it offers, the library is ideally suited to the task of making education more relevant to current circumstances and more meaningful to students.

RESOURCES IN SCHOOL LIBRARIES / MEDIA CENTRES

A variety of resources make up the collection in the children’s library. These resources should be selected with users’ interest and ability in mind. They include books, reference books, story books, drama and poetry, audiovisual software and hardwares, newspapers, magazines, toys and games and realia. A school library collection usually contains books, periodicals, and educational media suitable for the grade levels served. This collection of books and other resources are usually organized in designated room for use by both teachers and students alike. Their collection include pupil’s textbooks, teachers’ textbooks, fiction books, suitable reference materials and variety of teaching and learning audio – visual items. The variety and the forms of materials will depend on the librarian’s enthusiasm, finance and easy access to local and foreign materials.

ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOL MEDIA CENTRES: PERSONNEL, FUNDING AND ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES

 In most cases school libraries are funded through funds or grants from the ministry of education; funds provided by the Parent – Teacher – Association (PTA), philanthropic organizations; and alumni association.

PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL / MEDIA CENTRES

Of all the types of libraries existing in Nigeria today, school libraries / media centres are the least developed. Funding has been the major factor to smooth running of the library. Head teacher and staff do not make necessary efforts, few numbers of schools are found to launch for development of school library. Poor reading habit due to poor lit environment, noisy and overcrowded homes, sending children on errands indiscriminately and lack of libraries. Inadequate qualified personnel, inadequate resources and facilities, in adequate accommodation / space.

The ideal school library should be in quarters specifically designed for it. It should be a separate building of its own located centrally within the school compound but removed from noisy areas such as the cafeteria, playing field and assembly hall and such inhibiting areas such as the principal’s office or staff room. Also far from disaster areas such as erosion, flooding and fire.

Inadequate furniture and equipments: book stacks, box files or card board boxes, drawers, periodicals’ racks, newspaper stand, chairs, tables, catalogue cabinet, bulletin boards and computers.

Students can volunteer to work as library assistants, library prefects, library volunteers or members of library club. They have to be selected and trained. The library can charge library levy fee. P T A and ALUMNI can also be encouraged to contribute / donate to the library.

References

Dike, V. W. Library resources in education. Enugu: ABIC Publications

Olanlokun, S. O. and Salisu, T. M. (1993) Understanding the library: a handbook of library use. Lagos: University of Lagos Press

Opaleke, J. S., Olayemi, T. K. and Aina, R. (2006) School Library Management for Teacher – Librarian. Ilorin: Nathdex

Fayose, P. O. (2003) Library Work with Children: an African perspective. Ibadan: A E N L Educational publishers.    

DLIS 118 - LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION

D L I S 118 LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION

Management is as defined by A L A Glossary of library and information science, is the process of coordinating the total resources of an organization toward the accomplishment of the desired goals of that organization through the carrying out of a group of interrelated functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Administration involves planning functions, especially goal setting and major policy formulation. Library administration involves providing rules, regulations, policies, procedures, guide lines, objectives, etc for the library. The library people working in the library have to carry out all that.

TYPES

Libraries may be categorized according to their objectives, content and pattern of services. Every library has objectives and these are gotten from the objectives of the parent organization. The broad objective of every library is to acquire and disseminate information that can facilitate the attainment of the objectives of its parent institution.

The various types of libraries include public library, academic library, private library, and national library.

PUBLIC LIBRARY

It is a library established and maintained from public funds. It has the largest and most heterogeneous users. Public library charges small fees for registration. Examples: the public libraries are those established by the various states and local governments. Materials in public libraries are of various types.

ACADEMIC LIBRARY

This is a library established in a higher institution of learning. Academic libraries are those of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other institutions of higher learning. They are established to meet the educational objectives of the parent institutions. The clientele or users are majorly the students, staff and members of their immediate communities. 

SPECIAL LIBRARIES

 Special libraries are established by particular organizations to provide information services to their staff. They became into existence because of peculiar needs to provide information to achieve the organizational goals and objectives of their parent institutions. Their users are mainly the staff of the organization that established them. Examples are libraries in industries, media organizations like N T A, F R C N, etc and research institutions. They also include libraries of professional organizations like law, engineering, journalism, etc.

Collection – their collections are limited mostly to those needed by their staff. The library itself is not always big, a room or department is ok.

STYLE OF LIBRARY MANAGEMENT

At the head of the library is the university librarian or polytechnic librarian in the case of polytechnic or and director or chief librarian in the case of some higher institutions and other organizations.

The two broad divisions are usually headed by a professional of at least senior librarian cadre: - Technical Services Division, Readers Services Division.

The functions of the divisions and their units should be clearly spelt out.

The head of the library and the divisional heads are always the top management staff of a library.

The divisions are sub – divided into units. For example the Readers Services Division consists of circulation, references, reserved book and (in some libraries serials) units. The Technical Services Division consists of the Collection Development or Acquisitions Department and Cataloguing and Classification Department.

CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT

This is the department where activities of library staff are glaringly seen. It charges (borrows out) books to users and discharges (collects back) from the users. Registration procedures in the library are done in this department. The department also maintains a statistical records of materials borrowed by users and materials consulted in the library. It ensures that materials which have been processed are properly shelved to ensure retrieval.

Reference Department

 This is the department where materials that are read for specific information are kept. Such materials include encyclopedia, dictionary, bibliography, biography, abstract and indexes, maps, directory, yearbooks and manuals. Etc.

These materials are to be consulted in the library and not to be borrowed.

The department provides the following services:

It helps users to get information they need as they as quickly as possible

It provides indexing and abstracting services.

It provides current awareness services such as selective dissemination of information, academic profile and circulation of contacts pages of current materials.

Serials Department

This department is responsible for the management of journals, magazines, and newspapers that are issued at regular or irregular intervals. These materials are sometimes called periodicals.  They are very important in the library as they contain latest research output in their fields.

TECHNICAL DIVISION

Collection Development or Acquisition Department

This department is responsible for the selection and acquisition of library materials. It also gives every material bought an accession number. It stamps all materials bought to determine their ownership.

Cataloguing and classification department

The organizes library materials into their subject areas to bring related subjects together on the shelves.

This is done through the following ways:

Cataloguing: this is the art of making records in a way that they will be easily identified, located, and examined.

Classification: It is the arrangement of things according to likeness and unlikeness. It is the arrangement of books in classes according to common characteristics. This brings about what is called class mark or call number with which a reader can locate a book on the shelves.

The department prepares the catalogue cards and updates them. After books are prepared for readers to use in the cataloguing and classification department they are sent to the circulation department where they can be consulted.

Services Provided in the readers services division of a library

The readers services division otherwise referred to as R S D consists of the circulation, reference, reserve book and at times serials departments. Some of the services provided in this division are:

1.     Registration of users:- users are registered to use the library. The process involves asking a user to bring his / her two photographs. Filling their card with some particulars and obtaining the borrower’s cards and identity card.

2.     Charging and discharging of materials to users:- users who are given borrower’s cards can take books out to use for specific period, usually two weeks. The division permits this after processing the materials.

3.     Reserving books for users who demand for them after they have been borrowed out by other users.

4.     Providing abstracting and indexing services.

5.     Providing photocopying services.

6.     Enforcing rules and regulations governing the use of the library.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA LIBRARY

University Council

University Council

University Librarian

Secretary to the university librarian

Head, Readers Services Division

Head Technical Services Division

Head Circulation

Head Reference

Head, Collection Development

Head, Cataloging & Class. Dept.

Head Reserve Book Unit

Head Serials Dep

FUNCTIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN

1.     He is the head of the university library: he coordinates the day to day activities of the library;

2.     He is responsible to the vice – chancellor as far as the university is concerned;

3.     He prepares the library annual budget;

4.     The university librarian advices the management in staff recruitment and other staff matters;

5.     He represents the library in the university management meetings;

6.     He is a principal officer of the university.

PROBLEMS OF ACADEMIC LIBRARY

1.     Lack of adequate funds to run the library. Majority of academic libraries in Nigeria are faced with inadequate finance to run them effectively. By law, 5% of the total budget of any higher institution in Nigeria is to be set aside for library development. But this is not always available.

2.     Inadequate staffing: - some academic libraries are not well staffed, especially the professionals (trained librarians) are not enough to properly manage the libraries. Academic libraries open up to ten hours a day, wherever the institutions are in session. There is the need to operate staff at two shifts. The staff are not enough to do this.

3.     Non cooperation from the heads of institution where such libraries are found. An academic library that has an arrogant vice – chancellor or Registrar has a big problem to grow. If the cooperation is not there, the head of such library will find it difficult to operate effectively and efficiently.

4.     Lack of ideal library building: at times it longer periods before an ideal building is provided for academic library. An example is that of university of abuja library which has been operating in temporary site for over twenty years.

5.     Deviant behaviors from users: some users of these libraries engage in stealing and mutilating of library materials. Some of these materials are difficult to be replaced due to scarcity and high cost of replacement.

6.     Irregular supply of electricity: the non – regular supply of electricity has hindered the development of academic. As a matter of fact, it is becoming difficult for them to change from manual library procedures to automated systems. Where this is done, maintenance of records has become difficult because power supply is not regular.

NATIONAL LIBRARY

A national library is a library established and financed by the Federal Government of a country. It is given the task of collecting and preserving books and non – book materials produced in such country. The collection of a national library is usually large and its physical size.

FUNCTIONS OF A NATIONAL LIBRARY

1.     The library is to assemble, maintain and extend a collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, musical films and records, as appropriate for a library of the highest standards.

2.     It establishes and maintains a branch in each of the states of the federation.

3.     It makes the facilities of its materials available to members of the public and others on proper terms.

4.     It advices and gives recommendation on library development in any state or local government of the federation.

5.     It is the bibliographic centre of the country.

6.     It serves as legal deposit for the country.