ABSTRACT
This study investigated the prospects and challenges of digitization
of academic library resources for effective service delivery in Edo State,
Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study. A survey research design was
adopted, the
total population for this study was 199 professional and Para-professional of
all the university libraries in Edo State, and purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the population which constituted
the sample. Questionnaires and observation checklist were used for data
collection. A total of 161
questionnaires were distributed to the respondents who comprised of the
professionals and Para-professionals library staff from the university
libraries under study and 115 questionnaires were retrieved and analyze using
mean score, standard deviation, percentage and frequency counts. From the
analysis of data collected, the findings revealed that increased access to
library materials, effective preservation of library materials, improve library
services, speedy retrieval of document and improving library visibility are the
major purposes for digitization of library resources. However, the result shows
that inadequate funding, high cost of purchasing equipments, inadequate skill
personnel, erratic power supply, poor internet connectivity, copyright
issues/management are some of the major challenges inhibiting effective and
efficient digitization of library resources in academic libraries. Based on the
findings, recommendation were made such as alternative power supply, seeking
for financial aid from donor organization, establishment of copyright
management, proper selection and procurement of facilities/equipments, and
training and retraining of librarians to acquire all the relevant and
up-to-date skills for effective digitization.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study
With the advent of information and
communication technology (ICT) and the internet facilities, the traditional
functions of the library as a place for storage and preservation of information
sources has changed dramatically. Academic libraries are duly bound to acquire,
preserve and disseminate information for whatever source to its clientele, in
this information age. This has led to academic libraries in Africa and Nigeria
in particular, to embark on integration of technology in their operations. This
serve as a mechanism for improvement and development especially in a situation
where attention is drawn to the academic contents and ways of preserving them
for future use.
Otubelu and Ume (2015) opined that there is
need for such sources of information to be kept, preserved and made available
in a more convenient and accessible formats. Prolonging the life-span of
information resources and knowledge assets of man is better carried out with
information and communication technology (ICT) for easy access to and
dissemination of information resources for effective service delivery.
Oyedun (2007) in Krubu and Osawaru (2011)
defines academic libraries as those libraries that are mainly found in tertiary
institutions, they are established to support learning, teaching and research
processes. Academic libraries can be regarded as the focal point or heartbeat
of its parent institution as they are primarily established to provide
information resources to support the academic programmes. Igwesi (2010) noted that
proper fulfillment of this role provides a sound basis for the transmission and
advancement of knowledge. Over the past few years, academic libraries have been
affected by advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) and
it application to libraries. It introduction has revolutionized the way
information is packaged, processed, stored, retrieved, and disseminated but
also, how users seek and access information in the twenty-first century.
A number of scholars have defined the concept of digitization
differently. According to Gbaje (2007), digitization is the process of
converting non-digital born documents into digital format. Witten and Bridge
(2003) defined it as the process of taking traditional library materials that
are in the form of books and papers and converting them into electronic form
where they can be stored and manipulated by a computer. Thus, digitization
entails all the sequence involved in the course of converting conventional
information materials into machine readable format (digital format).
Digitization therefore involves more than the conversion of prints document to
digital formats but includes policy enactment, planning and budgeting,
acquisition of appropriate technology, scanning, uploading to the web or
repository, preserving, maintaining archival media, and the organization of the
digital content into a navigable format (flexible and compatible programmes)
for increased access and effective service delivery of the digital content to
the target audience.
The digitization of academic library
resources and the intellectual output of an institution has a lot of invaluable
benefits such as increasing the visibility of the library’s resources, improve
services delivery to the myriad of users, enhanced access to current and vast
amount of information from remote sites/location as users can easily access
library resources from different parts of the world no matter the distance;
flexibility of information search and retrieval; it ensures better preservation
of library resources by a reduced handling of the original print materials and
alleviating the problems normally associated with conventional library
environment such as mutilation of information resources, theft, space constraints,
scarcity or limited number of copies, limited hour of operation and poor
storage environment normally associated with the manual preservation. It is a
veritable information source of e-learning and it offers a platform for
collaboration and interoperability of libraries globally.
Digitization has the potential of making
Africa global producers of indigenous information and thus helps in
preservation of our cultural heritage rather than being passive consumers of
imported information. Hence, digitization paves way for the globalization of
local content and the accessibility of global information resource (GIR)
locally. In Africa, most digital initiatives are collaborative. For example,
the Digital Image Project of South Africa (DISA) is a cooperative project of
South African Librarians, archivist, and Scholars. Another is Kwetu Net, which
has signed up African governments and Universities, as partners and has
developed a full-test database on East Africa (Amollo, 2011). Asogwa (2011)
noted that, since the evolution many digital library projects such as that of
the Association of Africa University (AAU), the Rhodes University in South Africa,
the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and the Africa Digital Library (ADL), are
some of the digital library projects being implemented in Africa.
In Nigeria, a lot of impressive efforts have
been made in digitizing library collections all over the country. According to
Musa et al., (2014) some of the
academic libraries who have already embarked on digitizing their local contents
includes Kashim Ibrahim library, which is the main library of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, their project started in July 2005; University of Jos in
2009 becoming the first institution (University) to establish an institutional
repository (IR) and second in West Africa after University of Science and
Technology, Ghana; University Nigeria joined the trend in 2008, as it commenced
the digitization of it resources; Federal University of Technology, Akure,
started in 2011, using Dspace (application software) in managing the
institutional content of their repository and Covenant University in the year
2012 becoming the first private university that owns institutional repository.
In the same vein, Igwesi (2010) noted that Nnamdi Azikwe University, (UNIZIK)
Akwa; Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), and Obafemi Awolowo
University, (OAU) Ile-Ife have all started digitization of it collections.
Other digital initiatives in Nigeria as noted by Ochai (2007) in Igwesi (2010)
include: The Nigerian University Library Consortium which created the capacity
for libraries to negotiate for reduced licenses for EBSCO host and it contains
over 8000 academic journals in all fields. Also, the Nigeria Virtual Library Initiative
by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) which aims at bringing electronic
information to Nigerian Universities.
According to Akintunde and Anjo (2012) the
idea of institutional repository in Nigeria is a current theme in tertiary
institution that have seen it as a necessity for making available their
institution resources, thereby increasing their visibility and better ranking
of the World Universities in particular. They further stated that this has been
a healthy competition because more and more of the institutions have been
devising creative means to increasing their digital contents in the public
domain (online), resulting in more Nigerian contents on the internet, and
particularly more openness and share-ability of institutional resources. The
digitization of library resources and research outputs of an institution is a
step in the right direction, since the aim and overall objective is to preserve
and improve access to library resources. The manual system of searching for
information sources and utilization in the conventional library does not permit
multiple uses of the same materials by different users. It is also inefficient
and time consuming, space constraints unlike the online library system (digital
library). Hence, the need to exploit the benefits of digitization and digital
library system to provide online services as well as enhancing effective and
efficient information service delivery in the twenty-first century.
Brief History of the Libraries under Study
Ambrose Alli University Library
The Ambrose Alli University Library was
established in 1982, to support the teaching, learning and research activities
of the parent institution. The creation of Edo State in 1992 had its name
changed to Edo State University and has gone through an Act signed by the then
Executive Governor of the State (Chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion). In 1991,
the school was renamed Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, after the founder
Professor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli.
The University Library had Prof. Sam I.
Ifidon as its pioneer librarian from 1982-1997 and it current university
librarian is Dr. (Mrs.) J. I. Aba. The library occupies a two story building
situated at the middle of the school, it is stocked with over 280,000 (two
hundred and eighty thousand) books and non book materials on various fields in
line with the academic programmes of it parent institution. The library also
have an E-library at the middle floor of the library, using SLAM (Strategic
Library Automation Management) as it Library Application Software (LAS) for the
automation of the library operations.
The main library buildings has a sitting
capacity of over 500 (five hundred) readers at a time and carrels for academic
staff there, are also over seven other outreach libraries established within
the university community to facilitates all academic related activities
(Osawele, 2015).
Benson Idahosa University Library
The Benson Idahosa University Library
occupies a three story circular building situated opposite the central Administration
building. The library is fully air-conditioned to enhance maximum comfort for
serious academic and research activities.
The library commended in 2002 after the
appropriate endorsement of the Nigerian universities commission. The library
serves as the hub around which the academic activities in the university
revolve. The library has a stock of over 42,014 volumes of textbooks and
reference books. It subscribes to about 317 current journal titles with the 204
foreign titles and 113 local titles.
University of Benin Library (John Harris
Library)
The university’s main library, the John
Harris Library began with the inception of the university in 1970 at the
Ekehuan Road Campus. The library was named after the pioneer librarian,
Professor John Harris, from New Zealand.
The library is an ultra-modern building with
central air conditioning. The building is designed to seat about 700 readers.
It provides photocopying, duplicating, laminating and binding services. The
library has been computerized.
Today, academic libraries are struggling to
keep their place as the major sources of inquiry in the face of emerging
digital technology. Library consumers (especially the digital natives) have
high expectations from the librarians and information professionals than ever
before in order to access the right information and knowledge in the right
format and at the right time from wherever they are (Jain, 2013). The
invaluable importance of library digitization such as it improves speedy access
to library materials, several users can access the same information materials
the same time without hindrance, it eliminate the problem of distance, improve
library visibility and effective preservation of library resource and improved
library services, etc, have made this become one of the major impetus for
change in academic libraries in the digital age for the adoption of ICT and
digitization of library resources.
Although
an impressive effort has been made by Nigerian university libraries in
digitizing their local contents all over the country, yet progress has been
significantly slow. However, scholars have observed that it is always
misleading to assume that the introduction of computer-based library (digital
library system) provides perfect and trouble free information management possibilities.
These perceived problems could be attributed to a number of challenges.
Knowledge of these challenges is essential for
any university to be aware of in the course of digitizing it collections. It is
obvious that there is still a gap which needs to be filled in order to achieve
effective digitization initiatives in academic libraries in the country. Hence,
the need for this study. which intends to examine the prospects and challenges
of digitization of academic library resources for effective services delivery.
The objective of this research is to
investigate the prospects and challenges of digitization of academic library
resources for effective service delivery. The specific objectives include to:
1.
Ascertain
the purpose of digitizing library resources in the schools under study.
2.
Ascertain
the resources to be digitize
3.
Reveal
the facilities and equipment used for digitization
4.
Ascertain
the level of digitization skills possess by the library staff.
5.
Identify
the challenges affecting the digitization of library resources.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the
following research questions are asked.
1.
What are
the purposes for digitizing library resources?
2.
What
are the resources available for digitization in libraries?
3.
Are
there facilities and equipments for digitization in libraries
4.
What is
the level of digitization skills possessed by the library staff?
5.
What
are the challenges or problems affecting the digitization of library resources?
This research covers the following academic
libraries in Edo State, Nigeria: Ambrose Alli University Library, Ekpoma (AAU),
Benson Idahosa University Library, Benin (BIU), and University of Benin Library
(John Harris Library), Benin (UNIBEN).
Furthermore, the study will unravel: purpose,
facilities used in digitization; types of resources digitized, extent of
digitization skills possessed by the library staff under study and challenges
associated with the digitization of library resources.
The essential value of digitization of
academic library resources are the ability to preserve information resources,
providing a platform for share-ability and duplicity of data; quick access to
information in a digital format from remote location. In view of this, it is
hoped that the finding of this research work will be of benefit to the library
administrators, library system analysts and digital library management staff;
library scholars and researchers, student of LIS profession and the general
library users.
The findings of this study will help library
heads/administrators to adopt effective strategies that will help them enhance
their digitization practices in libraries. The system analysts and digital
library management staff (and managers) will also find this work useful. This
is because it is expected that the findings of this work will be useful as to
the best practices involved in digitization process, designs, programming and
their formation of strategies that could better enhances digitization.
Furthermore, the findings of this study will
be useful to the university management board, library head and the entire
library staff as it will help to reveal to them the extent of the digitization
project in their library. In addition, the findings of this study will be of
benefit to the library users (library community) as it will reveal to them the
various library materials that are available for digitization and when fully
digitized will enable them carryout effective teaching, learning and research
activities.
This work will be a vital source material to
researchers (LIS researchers) especially in the area of digitization of library
resources, as it will help in widening their horizon in the knowledge of
digitization in libraries. It is also hoped that the finding of the research
will serve as a template for further study to be carried out in the area of
digitization.
The researcher encountered a number of
problems in the course of carrying out this study. The time frame to carry out
the study was rather too short; there was also financial constraint and access
to relevant information sources were major challenges encountered.
i.
Digitization: This entails all the sequence involved in
the course of converting conventional information materials into machine
readable format (digital format).
ii.
Digital Library: Is a collection of documents in organized
electronic form, available on the internet or on CD ROM disk.
iii.
Institutional Repository: A repository established and managed by
public or private institution.
iv.
Academic Library: Academic library can be defined as libraries
attached to tertiary institutions with the primary aim of supporting its
learning, teaching and research activities.
v.
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT): It is an omnibus
term that combines computer and telecommunication technology; it is concerned
with the technology used in handling, acquiring, processing, storing and
disseminating information.
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