ht. Libr. Rev. (1991) 23, 135-140

Faculty Status for Professional Librarians. A Survey of Nigerian University Libraries* SAM A. OGUNROMBIt

ABSTRACT

This study summarizes a survey conducted to discover the extent to which professional librarians in Nigerian university libraries have achieved academic/faculty status. The survey revealed that: (1) almost all professional librarians (16 or 80%) in Nigerian universities have full faculty status, coupled with mandatory research and publication for promotion, in 17 (85%) of the libraries; (2) publications in subject-fields and in library/information science carry equal ratings; and (3) academic librarians in Nigeria are entitled to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as their teaching counterparts. This paper urges the Nigerian Library Associ- ation and the Committee of University Librarians to set standards for the attainment of faculty/academic status for professional librarians in Nigerian universities and colleges.

The issue of faculty status for professional librarians has generated and will continue to generate a lot of discussion. Faculty status requires the active involvement of librarians in research and publication. The attainment of faculty status also embodies that the librarians compare favourably well with the academic teaching staff in research and enjoy corresponding rights to rank, promotion, leave and research grants.

For the purpose of this study academic status and faculty status will be used interchangeably. This study summarizes a survey conducted among librarians in Nigerian universities to determine the extent to which they have achieved faculty status.

* This research benefited from the University of Ilorin Senate Research Grant. t Senior Librarian, Oyo State University of Technology, PMB 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

0020-7837/91/020135+06 $03.00/O 0 1991 Academic Press Limited

136 SAM A. OGIJNROMBI

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Though a lot of studies have been carried out on the issue of faculty/ academic status for librarians in colleges and universities, the researcher will only concern himself with those that have bearing with the present study.

In his clamour for faculty status for librarians, Dow (1977)’ affirmed that the term “academic staff’ cannot be restricted only to those who teach, therefore the library should be made a genuine teaching agency with ample support for bibliographical instruction, research and study projects.

On the Nigerian library scene, while Oluwakuyide ( 197 1) * concerned himself with the problems that faculty/academic status poses to Nig- erian University Librarians, Osundina ( 1972)3 examined what it takes for librarians to attain academic status. Onyechi (1975)* postulated that Nigerian academic librarians can attain full faculty status only through the organization of library operations on the basis of subject specialization.

Olanlokun ( 1 982)5 warned that librarians in Nigerian higher edu- cation institutions must show through their training, contributions, service and scholarship that they have attained full faculty/academic status, and are an integral part rather than an appendage of the aca- demic teaching staff in learning, teaching and research.

Salisu ( 1980)6 observed that the yearning for faculty/academic status will be best appreciated when it is realized that the teaching staff are well regarded by the Nigerian government. Thus, academic/faculty status for librarians in Nigerian universities will entitle them to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as their academic teaching counterparts, such as rights to rank, promotion, tenure, leave (research and sabbatical), and research grants. Though Salisu’s study on the status ofacademic librarians focused attention mainly on the University of Lagos, the present study is a survey of academic/faculty status in Nigerian university libraries.

METHODOLOGY

A questionnaire containing five questions was mailed to the head of all the 28 university libraries in Nigeria, comprising 20 Federal and eight State government-owned universities. Each questionnaire was accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope to facilitate a favourable return rate, yet only 20 (7 1.42%) of the entire sample returned the questionnaire.

The questions requested data concerning the number of professional

FACULTY STATUS FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANS 137

TABLE I

Summary of responses from Nigerian university libraries with or without faculty status

Item - Number of staf Less than 20 2OG30 3140 Total Do your librarians have faculty status? Yes No No answer Total Is Publication necessav for promotion? Yes No No answer Total Type of control Federal State ‘I‘otal Type of uniuersity Conventional Science and technology-based Agriculture-based ‘rota1

Frequency

12 4 4

20

16 3 1

20

17 3 0

20

17 3

20

15 3 2

20

Relative frequency (To)

60.0 20.0 20.0

100.0

80.0 15.0

5.0 100.0

85.0 15.0

0.0 100.0

85.0 15.0

100.0

75.0 15.0 10.0

100.0

librarians, the formal status oflibrarians in each university, and whether or not research and publication was mandatory for promotion.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table I summarizes the findings from the survey. For the question pertaining to status, 16 (80%) 1 b i raries reported that librarians held faculty/academic status, three (15%) reported administrative/ professional status, and one (5%) did not provide any answer.

Administrative/professional status denotes a classification based solely on competence in library operations, for tenure and promotion, as opposed to both professional expertise with respect to research and publications for librarians with faculty/academic status. Moreover, in

138 SAM A. OGIJNROMBI

Nigeria, librarians with faculty status enjoy parity of ranking with their teaching counterparts.

Of the 16 universities credited with granting faculty status to librarians, 12 (75oj,) h ave a staff strength of about 20, two have between 20 and 30, while the other two have between 30 and 40 professional librarians.

Almost all the 12 university libraries with an average of 20 librarians are those of the “second generation” universities, established in the mid 70s. These universities probably borrowed a leaf from the experience of Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan that conferred faculty/academic status on her professional librarians right from its inception in 1948. The observed trend may also be as a direct result of the current trend in academic librarianship in continental Europe and the United States, from which Nigerian university libraries cannot insulate themselves.

Relationship Between the Control of University and Faculty Status Seventeen (85%) of the 20 responding libraries are owned and con- trolled by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission, while three others (15%) are state government-owned. Of the 17 libraries, only 14 (70%) claimed that their librarians enjoy faculty/academic status, while the three other libraries where librarians enjoy a similar status, are owned by state governments.

The only library that operates on an administrative/professional model is a Federal University, but surprisingly, publication of research is mandatory for promotion in this library (see Table I).

If the responding universities are grouped according to specialization it is revealed that 15 (75%) are conventional universities offering courses in the arts, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and medical sciences, three ( 15%) are purely science and technology- oriented, and two (loo/,) are agriculture-oriented.

Publication Requirements Faculty/academic status is the key element in establishing research and publication as a requirement for librarians. Of the 20 responding university libraries, only 17 (85%) replied that it is mandatory for librarians to publish before they can be promoted; 16 (80%) of these are institutions where librarians have faculty/academic status. For librarians in the other three libraries (15%) publication is not a requirement for movement up the career ladder (see Table I).

An interesting aspect of the publication issue was noted. Of the 17 (85%) libraries reporting that publication was mandatory for

FACULTY STATUS FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANS 139

TABLE II

Parity of ranking between academic teaching sta$ and academic librarians in Nigerian universities

Academic teaching staff Academic library staff

Professor Associate Professor (Reader) Senior Lecturer Lecturer I Lecturer I I Assistant Lecturer Graduate Assistant

University Librarian Deputy University Librarian Principal Librarian Senior Librarian Librarian I Librarian II Assistant Librarian/Librarian-in Training

promotion, one did not confer academic/faculty status on its librarians.

Teaching and Library Ranks in Nigerian Universities Table II shows the parity of ranking between academic teaching staff and academic/faculty library staff. It is pertinent to affirm here that academic/faculty status for librarians in Nigerian university libraries entitles them to corresponding rights to rank, tenure, leave and research grants as their academic teaching counterparts.

CONCLIJSION

The analysis of the responses of 20 Nigerian university libraries to the survey concerning faculty/academic status for librarians revealed that (1) almost all librarians (80%) enjoy academic/faculty status; (2) of the 20 libraries surveyed, publication is mandatory for promotion in 17 (85O/“); (3) the majority of the libraries (75%) that assign faculty status to their librarians have around 20 professional librarians on their staff (see Table I),

Scholarly research, as displayed through publication, is fast becoming mandatory for the attainment offaculty/academic status by professional librarians. It is therefore necessary for the Nigerian Library Association and the Committee of University Librarians to take the question of academic/faculty status seriously and come up with a policy statement on standards to be attained by professional librarians in Nigerian uni- versity and college libraries before they are awarded full academic status. The two bodies should take a cue from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL, 1972)7 model for attaining faculty/ academic status.

140 SAM A. OGtJNROMBI

Finally, it appears that the results of the survey are indicative of‘thc extent to which Nigerian professional librarians have at last achieved faculty/academic status.

REFERENCES

Dow, R. F. (1977) Academic librarians: a survey of benefits and responsibilities. College tY Research Libraries 38, p. 2 19. Oluwakuyide, A. (1971) Status: the problem ofNigerian librarians. Special Libraries 62(7/8), pp. 2833286. Osundina, 0. (1972) Academic status for university librarians in Nigeria: what it takes. Nigerian Libraries 8(2), pp. 117-122. Onyechi, N. I. C. (1975) Full academic status for Nigerian university librarians through the divisional library/subject specialist plan. Libri 25(3), pp. 1833198. Olanlokun, S. 0. (1982) Path to full faculty status for Nigerian academic librarians. Nigerian Libraries 18( l-3), pp. 18-19. Salisu, T. M. (1980) Status of academic librarians: a case study from Nigeria. College tY Research Libraries 41(4), pp. 3333338. Association of College and Research Libraries (1972) Standards for faculty status for College and Research Librarians. College &’ Research Libraries 33, pp. 2 1 O-2 Il.