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    izing democracy in the context of longstanding ethnic andreligious tensions.With an estimated population of approximately 134 million(in a land mass not much larger than California), Nigeria has ayoung population' but relatively high literacy rates by Africanstandards (68 percent of adult population). The population isdivided on religious grounds: 50 percent Muslim, 40 percentChristian, and 10 percent indigenous religions. Despiteattempts by the new government to diversify away from theovercapitalized oil sector in recent years, Nigeria remains asubsistence agricultural economy with 60 percent of its popu-lation living beneath the poverty line and great disparities inincome between rich and poor-however, there is a growingservice industry sector (including education),' which has nowreached 30 percent of employrment.Nigeria, as noted above, 'has had for many years a' strongeducational/research infrastructure including a large numnber ofresearch institutes and scholarly associations, most of whichdate back to the 1960s' and occasionally earlier. World ofLearning (2004) lists twenty-nine universities, under state orfederal jurisdiction, and over thirty colleges and polytechnics inthe public sector, all of which have libraries. Many of thesealso date back to the early 1960s or 1970s, with the exceptionof the University of Ibadan, 'established as the UniversityCollege of Ibadan in 1948. Nigeria also, according to Guptaand Gupta,8 has eight library schools providing professionallibrary education, some up to PhD level, and Nigerian librar-ians 'are enthusiastic and prolific contributors to the LIS'literature, including the Jourtnalof Academic Librarianship.The irony of this, as Nwakanma notes, is the problem createdby the very industry and ambition of Nigerian library research-.ers-publishing in international journals, their work is inac-cessible to colleagues in Nigerian libraries because of the stateof the Nigerian economy and the rapid inflation of the NigerianNaira, which makes these journals too 'expensive for purchase.Funding remains a crucial issue for tertiary libraries inNigeria, which are heavily dependant on international aidfunding.' 0 A 1997 report on education funding in a group ofsix developing countries lists Nigeria as devoting the least ofits national budget to education, despite paying lip service tothe importance of education and libraries for many years.With a history of military government, defense7has taken-thelion's share of national resources,11 although Nigerian librar-ians are hopeful that this may improve with the new civilianregime in power. In addition, some new developments andresearch reported by contributors to this column' may providenew models for the tertiary libraries in Nigeria.For example, Olorunsola.and Idada of Igbinedion UniversityLibrary, in Benin City, report that there are now six privateuniversities in Nigeria: Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo'State; Babcock University, Inisha, Ogun State; Madona Uni-versity, Okija, Anambra State; Covenant University, LagosState; Benson Idahosa University, Benin' City, Edo State; andBowen UJniversity, Iwo, Osun State.12 These, they report, havebeen established because of two reasons: "One, the issue ofcultism is gradually destroying what is left of our educationalsystem in Nigeria. The private universities have indicated theirreadiness with a common desire to frontally confront themenace of campus cult currently plaguing older generationsof universities in Nigeria.... Two, the impact of strikes on theeducational system, particularly in higher education, has beendevastating over the years., Academic sessions have been

    disrupted for as much as six months in a few instances....The private universities have the mission to put in place strikfree academic sessions...."13As these new universities set out on their charter, they toostruggle to find the necessary IT and library resources tsupport their learning programs. Olorunsola compares two othese new universities, Igbinedion, privately owned and operated, and Babcock, a mnission-based institution, with otheNigerian universities in their founding years. Igbinedion's10,000 books and fifty-six foreign journal titles and Babcock'40,000 books and' 140 foreign journal titles compare, nounfavorably, with Edo State University's 60,000 (in 1981 fo15,000 students), Ogun' State's 33,000 (in 1982 for 8000students), and Ondo State's 122,000 (in 1982 for 6500 students(the new private universities appear to have far fewer students)The only exceptions to this are the universities establisheduring colonial times, e.g., lbadan established in 1948 wit650,000 books and Lagos in'1962 with 450,000 books.14However, there are considerable discrepancies in fundinbetween the two, as Olorunsola: and Idada report. The newlibraries have applied for generous funding to establish theicollections and services but'do not-all receive funding at thilevel-both Igbinedion and Babcock libraries applied for sumaround five to six million Nairas.15 Igbinedion received arounNGN 500,000 for their budget for 2001/2002. Babcock received a sum of over NGN 9,000,000-2.5 million in excess owhat was requested. Olorunsola comments that private universities will continue to be disadvantaged by the falling exchangrate of the Nigerian Naira, and by inadequate funding folibraries in private universities, since administrators do nounderstand the role of libraries in an institution of highelearning. Technology services fall far behind tertiary'librarieat all levels in developed countries, with reliance on manuasystems still the norm, and only Babcock having e-mail anCD-ROM facilities. Babcock's significantly better budget anfacilities may possibly be attributed to the establishment oflibrary committee to oversee the development of the librarand the appointment of a University Librarian dating back tbefore the university opened (Igbinedion has only a DeputUniversity Librarian and one librarian/second class, supporteby six paraprofessionals). Olorunsola concludes that while thtime for private universities has clearly arrived in Nigeria,their libraries' are to offer adequate' services to : staff 'anstudents, they will need to increase their budgets to 10 percenof the institutional budget (the norm in Nigeria for tertiarlibraries), employ more professional staff, make significanincreases in their book collections, and introduce electronilibrary services. Ihi earlier papers, Olorunsola has argued for thneed for Nigerian academic libraries to get away from thtraditional structure of reader services and technical serviceand focus on access services, information services, speciacollections, and training activities, but this would be a solutiofor larger institutions, with more generous staffing and otheresources. 16'Another way of increasing revenue and enhancing servicein Nigerian academic libraries was explored by Samuel Adyoyin, who investigated the use of charging for services in fouNigerian libraries-a federally funded university, a state fundeuniversity, a private university, and a research institute.'7 Thmajority (65.9')percent) of respondents favdred charging foservices (such as interloans and online searches): This is in linwith 'a number of developments in Nigeria-to enhance service

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    in the current economic circumstances such as charges beinglevied on patients in public hospital for some services and forprescription drugs. Adeyoyin indicates that this policy ofrevenue generation is in line with govemment policy for theeducation sector.More sustainable and effective solutions may be found insome of the solutions suggested for the mainstream tertiarylibrary sector across the sub-Saharan continent. These includecollaboration and resource sharing and the applications oftechnology to support these activities. Despite the difficultiesof establishing and maintaining computer networks in Africa,there are some successful initiatives bringing gains to Africanlibraries, education, and research. While noting the irony that"although information is more available worldwide todaythan in any other era of human history, most of -it isinaccessible in African countries," Alemna and Antwi list anumber of consortia being established in the southem part ofAfrica (most often based in South Africa and dependant onSouth African library resources) and some in Ghana andKenya, with support from international aid agencies such asthe Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).However, lack of bibliographic tools that can support suchventures and lack of political will, as much as the lack offinancial resources, management expertise, and technologyinfrastructure, Alemna and Antwi note, mean that suchdevelopments are slow to materialize.However, some significant advances have been made byhealth librarians that could provide a model for other sectors.According to Akhigbe, who summarizes current endeavors tosupport international cooperation in Africa in the health andmedical information sector, the prohibitive cost of communi-cation and the unaffordability of subscriptions to the medicalliterature means that critical new research on endemic diseasesand other diseases is not available to clinicians and medicalresearchers alike. In addition, information produced in Africaabout local health problems and initiatives is not widelyavailable due to the inadequate infrastructure, both biblio-graphic and technological.With strong support from the World Health Organisation(WHO), the International Congress of Medical Librarians(ICML), and the International Federation of Library Associ-ations (IFLA), the African Medical Library Association hasestablished an international network, AHI-LA, to promotecooperation between health libraries in the region. AHILAmaintains a communication network among members andwith international colleagues, using Ahila-net to add to theexisting printed and mailed newsletters. In addition to itsinternational connections, AHILA has two intemal concerns-sharing scarce resources through interlibrary cooperation anddeveloping systems for improved bibliographic control of thehealth literature produced in Africa. Against this are setproblems such as the lack of a common language, irregularpublication schedules of local journals, and the lack of trainedstaff to support such developments. Stop-start internationalfunding exacerbates problems of sustainability. Despite this,AHILA can point to gains such as Ahila-net, the development ofan African Index Medicus, regular congresses, and continuingeducation programs for health librarians.

    In addition, Healthnet run by Satellife (an initiative of theWHO that is based on satellite communication networks toovercome some of the problems of lack of physical infrastruc-

    international journal literature and WEHO reports.18 WithICT networks in place, countries like Nigeria are better plato take advantage of the willingness of major health sciepublishers, including Elsevier, Blackwell Science, OxUniversity Press, and the British Medical Journal PublishGroup, to permit free access to the major health scieliterature for subscribers accessing their journals from deoping countries-which includes most countries in AfricaTo readers from the developed world, despite continucomplaints of underresourcing and the escalating amouninformation to be accessed and managed, a brief glimpsthe problems faced by countries in Africa and the willingof our colleagues in Africa to tackle them with ongoing hand goodwill are sobering. Initiatives to support educationresearch with free access to information, from more publisin the field of science and technology, might be possiblemore pressure from concerned academic librarians aroundworld. In the meantime, may the endeavors of our colleagin Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa all contribute to a healtenvironment for their tertiary and research libraries.

    NOTES AND REFERENCESl.Forty six percent of the population were under fifleen at Jan2003, the population distribution having been significantly affeby the AIDS epidemic.2.Carnegie Corporation of New York, Revitalizing African librathe challenge ofa quiet crisis. Carnegie Challenge 2000.cago: Carnegie Foundation, 2000. http://www.carnegie.opdf/aflib.pdf. Accessed 2/02/04.3.Ibid.4.International Africa Institute, University Libraries n Africa:view of their current state andfiuturePotential, 1997.5.Carnegie Corporation, Revitalizing African libraries,p. 5.6. ustin Chisenga. "Global information infrastructure and the qtion of african content", in: Tatiana V. Ershova, Yuri E. Ho(Eds.), Libraries in the Information Society, Munchen: S2002.7.Carnegie Corporation, Revitalizing African libraries,p. 5.8.S. Gupta and D.K. Gupta, "Development of library and infotion science education in Africa", Library Science wvith a SlaDocumentation andInformation Studies 35 (1) 1998:59-67.9.Nwakanma, Chukwuemeka D. "Research publications in liband information science (LIS) in Nigeria: publishing towrong audience?", African JoutrnalofLibrary, Archives an dformationScience 13 (2) (2003): 93-106.

    10. Anyanwu, Emmanuel U. and Pearl Akanwa, Funding of LibrinNigeria: The Way Forward. Internationalnformation&LibReview 33 (4) (2001) 347-358.11. J.C Anafulu, "Trends in the funding of academic libraries inNiia" Paper presented at the 35th National Conference/AGM oNigeria Library Association, Arewa House, Kaduna, 5-9 M1997.12.Richard Olorunsola and D.A. Idada, "Private university lries in Nigeria: a comparative study" Research report complat Okada: Igbinedion University Library, 2003.

    13. Ibid.14. Ibid.15. There are approximately 140 Naira (NGN): USS1.00.16. Ijeoma J. Ibegbulam and Richard Olorunsola. "Restructuringdemic libraries in Nigeria: issues to consider" Library Manment 22 (8/9) 2001:381-386.17. Samuel 0. Adeyoyin. "Commercialization of library serviceNigeria" Research report completed at Igbinedion Universitbrary, Okeda, 2003.

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    COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

    TITLE: Issues Facing Academic Libraries in Nigeria

    SOURCE: J Acad Libr 30 no4 Jl 2004

    WN: 0418802605011

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