DIGITISATION PROJECTS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTION LIBRARIES IN NORTH-WEST NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper is an empirical study that attempted to x-ray the digitisation projects in tertiary institution libraries in North-West Nigeria. Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi (WUFP) and Federal College of Education (Technical) Gusau (FCE (T)) were used as a case study. Purposive sampling technique was used to draw jive (5) sample staff from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto because it has the highest number of staff for the exercise and three (3) staff each from Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi and Federal College of Education (Technical), Gusau. Therefore, a total of eleven (11) staff were chosen as the sample for the study. The respondents composed of professional librarians and Management Information System (MIS) staff of the institutions under study. Eleven (11) structured questionnaires were distributed and all were returned and found useful for the study. The data collected were analyzed and discussed using a frequency table. The findings revealed that digitisation takes place in the libraries under study as the respondents agreed that these libraries are digitising information resources. Problems of inadequate ICT infrastructure, poor digitisation skills by library staff, poor digitisation equipment and inadequate digitisation management skills by the digitisation management stakeholders were discovered as a bane to successful digitisation projects in the institutions under study. The way forward; such as adequate staff training, funding, procurement of the state-of-the-art digitisation equipment etc were recommended.