Bridging the Gap between Town and Gown: Role of Librarians in Community Service Initiatives

Abstract

Purpose- The purpose of this paper was to review related literature on community service initiatives, benefits and the involvement of librarians in Community service programme with a focus on the University of Port Harcourt Community Service programme. This review was also undertaken to establish a link between the Community Service programme and purposeful librarianship. Methodology- Related literature was reviewed on involvement of academic librarians in community service programmes/initiatives in Universities with a focus on University of Port Harcourt community service programme. Findings- Community service programmes and initiatives play an essential role in linking students with host communities and provide the opportunities and prospects for the development of entrepreneurial skills. This paper highlighted the benefits of community service activities to all the stakeholders. It also exposed the problem of little or non-involvement of librarians in community service initiatives. This problem is more pronounced in Nigeria where librarians of all categories are not involved. Originality-This is a baseline review as no such paper has been written on this topic. Thus, it provides the basic information needed for further studies in this area.