Librarians beyond books: Supporting the accreditation process in Nigerian universities

Editor's Note: This paper has been edited for the Bulletin from Mr. Lu's much longer submission to the SIG/III 2002 International Paper Competition, in which it was awarded first place. The original article contains numerous references to support the statistics and data presented here, but space precludes including them in the Bulletin. Mr. Lu presented his paper at the 2002 ASIST Annual Meeting. The new technological revolution with digitization, networking and information as its major features is sweeping across the globe and exerting great influence upon social, political, economic and cultural activities as well as people's daily lives. Sharing global resources requires many diverse databases. Ever since the end of the 1980s, based on their faster economic development, Southern, Eastern, Northern and Central China have started digitization of traditional Chinese information resources and have achieved a certain level of progress. There were only 806 (mainly bibliographic) databases in 1991, but they had increased to over 8000 in 2000. However, Western China, which is rich in historical and cultural resources, has lagged behind in information digitization and has been unable to turn its resource advantage into a development advantage. Western China has started construction of digital libraries, but only some traditional catalogs (with various forms of entries) and a limited number of small graphical and textual databases for local tourism or about minority ethnic group traditions have been made available. These databases also suffer from problems of uneven quality, unnecessary duplication and low rates of access and utilization. There is no authorized agency for coordination of information resource acquisition or digital base construction in Western China. Western China This paper focuses on the special characteristics and position of Western China literature resources; their distribution in major libraries in Western China; existing problems in collecting, organizing and providing access to these special resources; governmental policies and investments for information resource development; and possible approaches for developing the special resource digital databases in Western China. Western China is composed of the following 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions: Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Guangxi and Inner Mongolia. This vast area includes 53.8 million square kilometers (56 percent of the country) and 358.46 million people (in 1999), or 23 percent of the total. Western China boasts very rich natural and cultural resources. Among China's 56 diverse nationalities, 44 of them are in Western China. Western China is also the location of such important and symbolic historical cultural remains as the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the terra cotta figures of warriors in the First Emperor's Mausoleum, the ancient Loulan Kingdom, the Yuanmou Man site, the Potala Palace and the southern and northern Silk Routes. Western China Literatures as discussed in this paper refers to the following resources: Local literatures – the information of specific localities that assumes the role of carrier of their culture, comprehensively recording and maintaining the historical conditions and events related to the local politics, economy, culture, education and other important information The literature of local nationalities or ethnic groups collected and maintained in the public libraries. Other multimedia literatures to be developed in the Western China. The second category, the literature of nationalities (or ethnic groups), is the totality of the specially-featured literature resources about their history, geography, humanism, natural surroundings, economic conditions, culture and so forth formed and accumulated in specific historical periods and specific regions. Due to the special features of the social histories, economies and cultures of the minority nationalities, their historical literatures can be divided into some basic types: Orally Transmitted Literatures: A few ethnic groups did not develop writing scripts of their own in history, and their understanding of the natural world and their society was passed on generation by generation usually by means of the oral dictation. Even those ethnic groups who had their own scripts commonly resorted to oral transmission for passing on information, experience and knowledge. Simple Graphic Symbol Literatures: A few of the minority nationalities used simple graphic patterns to record and transfer cultural information. For instance, those on woodcuts, bamboo carvings, stone carvings, gravestone inscriptions, sculptures or bronze ware reflect the production, life, historical events and historical figures, religious legends and religious dances of the minority nationalities. This kind of literature can often be collected and maintained by means of replicating, rubbing or photographic copying. Textual Literatures of Minority Nationalities: Some ethnic groups used or are currently still using their own writing scripts for recording and transferring their cultural information. For example, among the 26 nationalities in Yunnan, there are 11 nationalities that formerly used 24 writing scripts. Through the reform of their writing system, currently there are 21 systems available for these 11 minority groups to use. Historical literatures written in such scripts are rather plentiful, forming, for instance, the Dongba literature in the Dongba pictographic characters of the Naxi people, the Yi literature, the Tibetan literature, the Mongolian literature, the Bai literature. Literatures Containing Cultural Information about Specific Ethnic Groups Written in Chinese or the Writing Systems of Other Nationalities: In China the writing system of the majority Han nationality is dominant, and it is directly and indirectly used for recording the cultural information of minority nationalities or ethnic groups. The huge volume of such writings is very valuable. And there are many other materials that are the object of study for scholars interested in the distinctive cultures, history and geography of Western China. These include archeological or other preserved sites and areas, as well as artistic and historical artifacts such as the oracle bone scripts, bamboo tablets, wooden tablets, silk books and their hand-sheets, block-printed copies, ancient calligraphy works and paintings, and inscription rubbings. According to incomplete statistics, various libraries in China hold more than 2.2 million volumes of "rare" books made before 1794; 26.45 million volumes of "ancient" books published before 1911; and 6300 periodicals, magazines and newspapers published before 1949. A part of these materials has been micro-processed in libraries for protection and utilization. The statistics by the end of 1999 show that 36.3 million camera shots had been done in the whole country, involving 2349 rare books, 2160 newspapers and 8325 periodicals. Another part of these materials will be processed for safekeeping by using the digital techniques. But, only the National Library and the local libraries of Shanghai City, Zhejiang Province, Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City currently do the above micro-processing. In Western China, only Guangxi Library has established a certain number of database entries, including 560,000 catalog records, and a small number of the small-scale, specialized full-text databases. However, the provinces and autonomous regions that are extremely rich in literature resources such as Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guizhou, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia have not yet started to carry out literature information digitization. Take Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Library as an example. Its collections of Mongolian literature are extremely plentiful and are in an independent system. Among them are 7800 volumes of ancient Mongolian books and 71,200 volumes of Mongolian books published after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in addition to 6300 volumes of Slav-Mongolian books, 14,600 volumes of ancient Tibetan books and 3400 volumes of ancient Manchu books. In these collections, there are the full sets of the Tibetan version of "Ganjur" scripture and the Mongolian versions of both "Ganjur" and "Danjur" scriptures. Currently, there are 44,730 volumes of Tibetan and Chinese local literature books in Inner Mongolia that are carefully kept in the library. Through scores of years of collation and processing, the book collections in the major libraries in Western China have formed comparatively complete systems in their structures, having considerable scale and special features. They are among the most important collections of Western China literature held by libraries and our first choice for the digitization. At present, however, the level of construction and management for China's libraries is still low in comparison with that of the developed countries, and this gap is prominent in Western China. By the end of 2001 in China, there were altogether 2689 public libraries above the county level, of which 963 were in the 12 provinces and regions in Western China (2001 statistics). They held 136.8 million books of around 400 million books in the whole country. In these areas there were 13 provincial libraries keeping 24.78 million books of 132 million in all the provincial libraries in China. The problems of inadequate book collections, low book quality, poor library facilities and shortage of book purchase funds at various levels of libraries have not been solved yet. In the year 2000, 738 or 27.6 percent of the libraries in China did not purchase even one new book for a whole year; 70 percent of these libraries are located in Western China. As the pace of economic globalization increases, the Chinese government has been emphasizing the importance and urgency of speeding up information system construction to raise China's comprehensive competitiveness. The government has promulgated relevant rules and regulations and has instructed the ministries and commissions concerned to work out detailed implementation guidelines and applicable measures. The government of China has started to realize that digital libraries are key to construction of the digitalized China. Starting with the implementation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan in China, the Chinese central government has increased its investments in the construction of information resource databases, and the local governments allot large amounts of funds for basic research and development of information databases in concerted actions with the central government, which has made special-purpose financial appropriations available. By the end of 2001 the central government of China and the local governments involved had respectively made investments of 8.16 billion and 14.916 billion Yuan RMB (about 1 billion and 1.8 billion US dollars) to improve hardware in local libraries and support digitization. The National Library and the Shanghai Library consecutively launched digital library projects, and the provinces and regions in Western China also made positive responses. Nonetheless, almost all of the above support has been concentrated in the Eastern China areas. Only one project has been supported in Western China at Yunnan Provincial Library with funding in excess of 50 million Yuan (about 6.05 million USD). In May 2000 the Chinese Ministry for Cultures (Proposals Concerning Western China Development Strategies and Strengthening Western China's Cultural Construction) put forward 15 suggestions to promote the construction of a public library network system and digital libraries in the Western China areas. In August 2000 the Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out the importance of digitalization of Western China ( Proposals Concerning Scientific and Technological Work in Western China Development). The General Planning for the Western China Development in the Period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan clearly pointed out the importance of vigorously pushing forward information system construction in the large and medium-sized cities, perfecting the computer information networks and developing the public information service platforms (Leading Team for Western China Development, State Council. General Planning for Western China Development During the Tenth "Five-Year Plan," July 2002). "Proposals Concerning Several Policies and Measures for Western China Development" (Leading Team for Western China Development, State Council, August 2001) also emphasized the favorable policies adopted for the use of the state special-purpose subsidy funds both for cultural facility maintenance and for the cultural units at and above the county level in the border areas in Western China. Besides, the provinces and regions in Western China, when formulating the development guidelines adopted in the Tenth Five-Year Plan, all took information system construction as the priority for their near future work, in which resource digitization again stands at the fore. In May 2002 the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Circular Regarding Application of the All-China Cultural Information Resource Sharing Projects." The circular also pointed out that the first batch of the 25-million-Yuan (3 million USD) special purpose funds for the "Sharing Projects" arranged by the central government as well as the relevant complementary funds to be allotted by the local governments for the year should mainly be used to support Western China and other underdeveloped areas for grassroots center construction. As of May 2002, 12 libraries in Western China had been enlisted among the member libraries covered by the digitization projects. In China the state information infrastructure construction has taken shape, and the main communication network has also been established, which includes the data network, the optical fiber trunk network, the ATM network, the SHD synchronous digital serial network and the optical fiber linkage network. The wide-band networks under construction in some large and medium-sized cities in Western China will provide the necessary communication platform to carry out Western China literature resource digitization. According to Xu Wenbo, the head of China Digital Library Development Strategy Group, the targets to be achieved for the construction of databases in the China Digital Library Project include that the system should be distributed with uniform standards, be able to work on unified network platform and be expandable (Xu, W. Thoughts on Creating Digital Libraries. May 2002. Available at www.ccnt.com.cn/library/luntan/show.htm?id=20010302002). The digitization of Western China information resources should stress selection and quality rather than scope or amount of development at the initial phase. It has a very clearly defined target to enrich the Chinese network resources to allow the country's characteristics to be more fully and perfectly exposed through the global Chinese resource networks. The establishment of a special resource database in Western China is an indispensable link in the formation of the all-China Chinese database groups and similar to the construction of special databases in other regions or localities. Such databases in Western China could not be implemented independent of the general framework of the state distributed asynchronous system of the Chinese resources. Since the Western China provinces and regions are vast in area with relatively poor communications and ill-balanced development in library facilities, each library involved in the special database development and construction should assign relevant personnel to investigate local resources as their conditions allows. They should study and collect relevant information material in such sources as the cultural organizations, art groups, museums, nationality communities, religious communities and geological departments, as well as the villages in all the districts, prefectures and cities. The construction of the resource databases should be phased and layered to establish the multiple hierarchies of the database protection systems step by step. Participating libraries and enterprises should start with small special projects that can eventually converge into the state-level special information resource database group services. Some steps necessary to ensure eventual merger include the following: Each library should finish their investigations within a specific period and work out "White Paper Books for the Construction of Special Local and Minority Nationalities Literature Database." They should develop plans for "Special Resource Catalogs" at that point and proceed to build up the catalog databases for special books for their own libraries. Finally, they should sum up the raw materials, do the online checks for duplicate records to avoid repeated construction and ensure the completeness of the materials collected. Based on the China Combined Catalogs of the Local Literatures, China Catalogs of Rare Books, and the Catalogs of Literatures for Minority Nationalities, as worked out by each library with support from the literature information organizations that have completed catalog database construction for standard books, the special book catalog databases of Western China should be organized and established as soon as possible. These catalogs can be the basis of the local combined catalogs, can perfect and standardize the construction of the catalog data, promote inter-library loan and resource sharing and greatly reduce duplication of effort in database construction. The projects should comprehensively utilize the database resources established and under current construction by various literature information organizations. Asynchronous database platforms for the special resources should be constructed and the unnecessary duplication of effort by libraries should be avoided so as to form a number of special literature resource database groups in a short period of time. If a project for a specialized database has been started, it is necessary to pay special attention and ensure that the general design method and general framework planning for this digital system is in appropriate coherence with the state construction plan for digital libraries. Each library should investigate and analyze the original data available from the special full-text databases in existence or under the current construction as well as from electronic publications. There should be an appropriate way to use and catalog those non-digital media resources from radio broadcasting stations and television stations as well as from research units of various kinds, artistic groups and personages. The relevant software such as text-retrieval systems or optical character recognition could be used to do the necessary transformation and processing. The first step would be to make a great effort to produce multimedia databases with high quality content that relate to ecological tourism, ethnic culture, rare species, special minerals, flowers, butterflies, and ethnic dances, plays, operas and costume as the trial project to introduce the resources of a certain area. The resources on the Internet should be effectively organized and utilized in support of the key projects and the key disciplinary development direction to build up all the specialized databases. Scientific, standardized and normalized digital database construction is the fundamental element of network information dissemination. Standardization in libraries in Western China has lagged behind that in other parts of the country, especially with respect to seeking, collecting, cataloging, indexing and managing local literatures. The literatures of nationalities and their ancient books, in most cases, were handled by different libraries in different ways. Up to now, nearly all the classification systems seen or heard of in other parts of China such as "Four-Division Classification," "Liu Guojun Classification," "Pi Gaopin Classification" and the "Dewey Decimal Classification" have been adopted to classify the collections of special literatures in the libraries of Western China, including those at the provincial level. To implement the digitization of the ancient book resources as national legacies, the first problem that must, therefore, be solved is the normalization and standardization of cataloging methods. In China, the State Standard Commission should provide the solutions ahead of the schedule for the digitization. For instance, it should work out the ancient book and literature classifications, ethno-nationality literature cataloging and indexing methods for unified use across China. In addition to meeting the literature processing standards, database construction must also be in compliance with the relevant network transfer protocols such as X.25, TCP/IP, ATM and DTM, as well as utilizing standard digital literature formats such as MARC, JPEG, GIF, PNC, PDF, MPEG-X, TXT, REALMAIDIL and MOV. It also needs to employ such mature network information processing tools as XML and the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol, which are in global use. Special database construction involves a great amount of ancient literatures and various kinds of unique and rare copies of books, and the information carrier forms include and bamboo and wooden tablets, silk books, books and books. in the of digitization, the problems that the libraries in Western China with literature – standard and protection – they also special These include data standard and for the relevant ancient books, the databases for literature written in the traditional Chinese characters and those in the and choice and classification for the ancient Chinese in the digitization of the local ethno-nationality the normalized and standardized software for processing nationality or ethnic writing scripts is also The and implementation of and have a and fundamental role in database construction in Western China and for its quality and level. can avoid the of repeated construction by and can reduce and the for data and libraries and in the with the technological and new and will also be and all of literature digitization, network system software and hardware should be done in and standard and and space should be for and in the Special literature databases are the important parts the general databases. have a with database and their data and data should have very In the database should be taken for database space planning and database management of the data data and data will be very important to future database the digitization of the literatures and their cultural resources, the will be put out in the form of databases. There is no these databases and other information systems in respect to the for system resource the to on various system and in The databases are for after so they must also very and each digital has for its The first is management as in the of the All-China Literature Resource The second is the distributed management Each member library is the and it the networks to complete and data The of this is to the local software and hardware some choice of the raw material for their databases and their implementation of and processing not be of The management is the of the distributed management in of the and The distributed management should be adopted it is much more for the current and future distributed database development for digital library resource databases in China is both of technological and the conditions in China, There is no for that can central databases. There are no special at the A distributed the to make use of the and space available on and of within the networks to complete library processing work that requires great amounts of database on the by through services. The and used by distributed are and the location of distributed on the networks and the systems in use are all to distributed have on the networks. Resource is the most part of digital library and it is also the of the digital information platforms The development of digital libraries can the of each resource and the construction of databases that their special features. protection for literature resources and them from large of resources on the of and various kinds of media resources around different areas and the of resource the standardization and normalization of the literature the of network and computer in library construction and Based on these the of this through his and of the existing conditions in Western China, including problems in library construction here, has formed the following should be construction planning should be worked should be made to converge and the raw material of the resources. methods should be Construction should be and through an effort be able to the and the in the construction of the digital libraries in Western China. should be that in Western China there are very rich and ecological resources as well as their literature, especially the resources. with the development and transformation of economy, society and cultures, especially with the and in the scope and of the of people, the resources in Western China are the of and that in other developing should utilize all means to develop and promote the Western China resources, to turn its resource into the development and to to the great of Chinese information resources.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to measure the competencies of libraries in Nigerian universities, identify constraints to their performance and recommend infrastructures and competencies required. Institutional accreditation has compelled academic libraries in Nigerian to improve their quality, competencies and performances for accountability.Design/methodology/approach– A questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. The population of the study was all the university librarians in the 89 universities in Nigeria that the author selected from federal, state and private universities. Of the 81 sets of questionnaires emailed, 49 were returned, which represents a 60.5 per cent response rate and provides the working population of the study. Data were analysed using frequency tables, simple percentages and bar charts.Findings– The results indicate that academic libraries and librarians in Nigeria are competent in three key areas – educational roles, professional development and research. However, they are not very effective in the provision and use of library resources in cyberspace, adequate funding, collection development and information technology skills. The main constraints are: poor Internet penetration, low bandwidth, unreliable power supply and weak Internet proficiency. This paper suggests that adequate funding, benchmark performance and multi-skilling can serve as strategies against these constraints in developing regions.Practical implications– This study contributes to library staff assessment because it links strategic objectives to performance measures and associated long-term targets. It broadens issues which affect sustainable performance in academic libraries in Nigeria, as well as in Africa and other developing countries.Originality/value– While performance measurement is well established in developed countries, it is less or not so well established in Nigeria and other developing countries. The current research seeks to develop a performance measurement framework for academic libraries that is testable and expandable to Nigeria and the whole African context.

Introduction: This paper examines the provision of digital information resources in academic libraries with focus on university libraries in Nigeria. Method: A descriptive survey design was used. The population of the study was 744 certified academic librarians working in the three tiers of universities (federal, state, and private) as contained in the list maintained by the Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Analysis: The data were analyzed quantitatively through the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS), using percentages, mean scores, and standard deviation. Results: Access to digital information resources in libraries is low due to non-implementation of real time provision of information resources to users, emanating from lack of library management software that would drive the process, professionals’ lack of skills in implementing digital information services, and lack of relevant formal institutional digital information provision policies. Conclusion: Embracing real time digital library services is essential to ensure effective provision of access to information for users. The solution lies in subscription to library management software and developing the capacity of the librarians for its effective implementation.

This study examines undergraduates’ awareness, accessibility and use of Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) in federal universities in South West, Nigeria. The total population of this study was twelve thousand, eight hundred and fifty six (12,856) undergraduates of the federal universities understudy. A sample of420 respondents was drawn from the total population using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected for this study was analyzed using simple percentage/frequency counts and weighted mean. Findings from this study revealed that undergraduates’ in federal universities, to a very great extent, are aware of the types of electronic information resources that are accessible for use in their university libraries in South West, Nigeria, also the study found that the extent of undergraduates’ accessibility of electronic information resources in federal university libraries in South West, Nigeria is very high, that undergraduates’ in federal universities in South West, Nigeria use electronic information resources for: Accessing useful and relevant databases not subscribed to by the library; Access online/electronic news; Gaining access to information material not available in hard copies among others. The following challenges were faced by undergraduates’ in their effort to use the library: Poor maintenance of electronic information resources; Lack of training for students on the use of electronic information resources and erratic power supply among others. The following were suggested to improve on accessibility and use of electronic information resources by undergraduates’ in Nigerian universities: the library management should try as much as possible to acquire and make recent electronic books and journals available or students since their level of accessibility and use are very high in federal universities in South West among others.

In order to avoid total collapse of the entire university community, every University library needs total and adequate attention as it is regarded as the most essential part of any academic institution. The aim of the National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation exercise in Nigerian universities is to achieve a uniform Maximum Academic Standard (MAS). To ensure that the process meets up with the set goals and objectives, this study examined NUC accreditation as a means of assessment and improvement of libraries in Nigeria. In this study, a descriptive survey design was adopted and the total enumeration technique was used to select 41 Heads of Department in federal university libraries in South-East Nigerian universities as the sample population. Questionnaire rated using the 4 point scale was used for data collection which was analyzed using mean scores. The outcome of the findings showed that accreditation exercise is very beneficial to the libraries in terms of increase in acquisition of library information resources, subscription to internet and online database, employment of adequate and qualified staff, procurement of library equipment. The result also indicated that when there is no accreditation, the libraries are not given adequate attention in terms of funds resulting to inadequate library services and resources, no acquisition of new library resources, no procurement of library furniture and poor maintenance of library equipment. The study therefore recommends that NUC accreditation exercise should be a continuous process in Nigerian universities and there should be a parameter of enforcing the release of 10% total budget for institutional recurrent expenditure as stipulated. The researchers concluded that regular accreditation is required for improvement of libraries.

This study was designed, to determine the influence of the academic variables on ICT utilisation for agricultural research in Nigerian universities. Stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents from two federal universities in each of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, thus a total of twelve federal universities were used for the study with 471 of the total of academic staff in faculties/schools of agriculture in the twelve universities sampled. A set of questionnaire tagged Academic Staff Variables and ICT Utilization for Agricultural Research Questionnaire (ASVICTUARQ) was developed and used for the study. The research questions were answered using mean. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test Ho1 while Ho2-Ho5 were tested using t-test. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Major findings of the study showed that: Agricultural disciplines, age, gender, and rank do not reflect any significant difference in lecturers’ use of ICT for agricultural research in Nigerian federal universities, but academic qualification was found to show significant difference. Based on the above findings, it was strongly recommended that universities should increase access to ICT facilities for all academic staff.Keywords: Academic staff variables, ICT, Agricultural Research, Nigerian Universities

Accreditation is a valuable resource for medical laboratories. The development of quality systems based on ISO 15189 has taken place in many laboratories in the European countries but data about accreditation remain scarce. The EFLM Working Group "Accreditation and ISO/CEN standards" conducted a survey that reviews the current state of the accreditation process in European countries. An on-line questionnaire was addressed to delegates of 39 EFLM scientific societies in March 2014. One answer by country was taken into account. The survey was dealing with mandatory status, number of accredited medical laboratories in each country, possibility of flexible scope and concerned medical fields. The status of point-of-care testing (POCT) in each country was also studied. Twenty-nine responses (74%) were registered. All the assessed countries (100%) have begun an accreditation process in various ways. All the national accreditation bodies (NAB) offer or are working to offer an ISO 15189 accreditation. The accreditation process most often concerns all phases of the examination and various medical fields. Medical laboratories are responsible for POCT in 20 (69%) countries. The accreditation process for POCT, according to ISO 15189 and ISO 22870, is also developing. While there are several variations in the approaches to accreditation of medical laboratories in the European countries, the ISO 15189 accreditation project has been widely accepted. The use of a unique standard and the cooperation among countries due to scientific societies, EFLM, accreditation bodies and EA enable laboratory professionals to move toward uniform implementation of the accreditation concept.

The purpose of this paper was to study the provision of library and information resources and services to meet prisoners’ information needs in south east Nigeria. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. The design of the study was a descriptive survey while the population comprised of all the prisoners in all the prisons in south east Nigeria and the welfare as well as library workers of these prisons are the population. The sample size was 722 including 708 prisoners and 14 library and welfare workers of out of a population of 6404 prisoners and library and welfare workers in the prisons under study, representing 5% of the population. Purposive random sampling technique was used to select the prisons that have libraries. A structure questionnaire titled Provision of Library and Information Resources and Services to meet Prisoners’ Information Needs Questionnaire (PLIRSPINQ) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) schedule were the instruments used to generate data for the study. Descriptive method of analysis was used in answering the research questions. The data was analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the data from the Focus Group Discussion was qualitatively analyzed. Findings show that most of the prisoners were male while very few were female; there are few middle aged and very few elderly with majority of them being youths. Findings also showed that the varieties of library resources and services as well as human resources provided are grossly inadequate considering the population of the prisoners. Findings showed that a number of strategies could be used to enhance the provision of library and information resources and services to meet the prisoners’ information needs. They include liaising with public libraries, NGOs, religion bodies, legal practitioners, liaising with professional bodies like the library associations, granting the prisoners more access to information and developing new and using existing guidelines to prison library services.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the activities surrounding university accreditation in Nigerian Universities. The Nigeria National Universities Commission developed a benchmark minimum academic standards (BMAS) requirement to ensure conformity with minimum standards and to promote quality and ascertain the standard of the courses thought in terms of information resources, quality of personnel, and teaching environment, so that university products (students) can meet the demand of the ever-changing labour market. Accreditation aims to guarantee that the higher institution delivers satisfactory to these three cardinal goals. University library plays an important role in the accreditation process of any program, and without well-equipped library services and resources, hardly any program will sail through the accreditation process.

This study investigated the factors for the development of electronic library in university libraries in Southern Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design with a population of 107 which comprised all the systems librarians, electronic librarians and digital librarians in the federal, state and private universities in Southern Nigeria. An online questionnaire using Google form was the main tool for data collection with a total of 107 librarians who responded appropriately. The study revealed that ICT tools, information resources and facilities were used for the development of e-library in university. The findings also showed that there was a general consensus among the respondents concerning ICT tools and resources that were used for the development of e-library such as: CD-ROM, wireless network, and interactive board, office and electrical equipment, information resources (e-book, e-journal, e-newspaper) and subscription to databases. The findings further revealed that funding, authentication, digital preservation process, copyright issues, training, and ease of access were challenges affecting the development of e-library in Nigeria. The researchers therefore recommended that universities, colleges of education and polytechnics in Nigeria should endeavor to develop its e-library by considering the findings in order to achieve its mandate of delivering quality information services to the library patrons.

This study investigated the challenges associated with information literacy and seeking patterns of entry-level academics in federal universities in North-Central, Nigeria. Information literacy is essential for academics to effectively navigate, evaluate, and utilize information resources in the modern digital age. However, entry-level academics face unique barriers to developing these skills. The study employed a descriptive survey design, utilized a structured questionnaire validated by experts and administered to 384 randomly selected entry-level academics across seven federal universities. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics and findings revealed key challenges such as inadequate ICT facilities, insufficient training programs, lack of access policies, and limited awareness of open-access resources. Conversely, mentorship by senior colleagues, institutional support, regular training, and motivational incentives were identified as highly appropriate strategies for addressing these challenges. The study concluded that entry-level academics struggle with systemic and resource-based barriers that hinder their ability to acquire the needed skills for optimal functioning. The study recommended that the federal universities in Nigeria should provide an enabling environment that encourages regular training and continued mentorship with an efficient reward system as motivation, and the government should improve on funding for infrastructures/facilities, acquisition of information resources, and training for capacity development for all academics to improve research productivity in federal universities.

Universities in Nigeria have historically faced underfunding, and at an operational level, compete for attracting the best pool of students, achieving the highest grades. Adequately funded universities not only ensure a higher standard of University curriculum, but also have the potential to result in competitive advantages over other universities. Nigerian universities function with the shortage in key educational resources, such as research materials, library facilities, science lab equipment, and suffer the consequences of underfunding. In this study, the problem of underfunding in Nigerian federal universities, its effect on the University central administration, and its relationship with external actors was explored. Employing resource dependency theory, the researcher considered external environmental factors such as alternate financial sources and competing organizations. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to examine the Ahmadu Bello University as a case study. The central research question was: What are the organizational and systemic factors in the Nigerian Federal University system that impact funding management by University administrators? The four sub-questions which guided the study focused on: the role of University personnel in resource acquisition, the impact of the external environment, the alternative revenue generators explored by University administrators to overcome underfunding, and the experience of University administrators as they contend with the impact of underfunding by the Federal Government. The study found that University administrators at ABU require training on securing alternative resources. This research has also identified administrative practices that help federal university personnel, on a broader scale, to function in an environment of financial uncertainty.

This study investigated the factors affecting technology skills, and job performance of library professionals in selected public universities in southwest Nigeria with the aim of finding out the level of technology skills, and job performance of the library professionals. Twelve public academic libraries comprising state and federal universities were selected for the study, and the total enumeration technique was adopted to examine 376 library staff consisting of academic librarians and library officers. Questionnaire was used for the data collection. Descriptive analyses were employed, and the results were presented in tables using frequency counts and percentages. It was found from the findings that the majority of the respondents were self-efficient in handling the technology facilities while some were just craving self-technology development. Erratic power supply and inadequate funds, among others were factors affecting the technology skills and job performance of the library professionals. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that library management should prioritize the constant acquisition of technology facilities, continuous ICT training be organized for library professionals, adequate funds be allocated to the libraries, and the factor of erratic power supply be resolved by providing stable power supply.

This study was explored the assessment strategies and practices used and adopted by bachelor’s degree in accounting colleges at federal public and state universities in Brazil for collecting, monitoring and information sharing and actions related to the students monitoring, through the analysis documentary analysis of their institutional portals and Course Pedagogical Projects (PPC). The first point of this research, of exploratory behavior, and with a qualitative approach, it were collected data and information, and the procedures were shared into three stages: in the first one, it was looked for electronic addresses of Higher Education Institutions (IES), through the electronic address of the Ministério da Educação (MEC), to identify federal and state universities by names and electronic addresses, handed out by regions and states, to verify those that offer the Bachelor's Degree in Accounting graduation. After, it was verified each website to identify those that use institutionalized policies for help and be close to the students, which are published online. In the second stage, documentary research was carried out in the PPCs, in order to verify how the graduates monitoring is described in these documents and which strategies and actions were defined for this purpose. In the third stage, interviews were conducted with the college coordinators and presidents of Structuring Teaching Centers (NDE) to understand the effectiveness of this monitoring way, as well as the information use. To do all this, it was used a Discursive Textual Analysis to interpret, based on the information reading on the IES websites and in the respective PPCs courses and, to identify and analyze the different policies for graduates monitoring possibly developed by the colleges. It was found that, among the 73 (seventy-three) Brazilian federal and state public universities that offer the Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, in 124 (one hundred and twenty-four) campuses, only 4 (four) federal universities and one state public institution satisfy fully with the deliberations established by the National Higher Education Assessment System (Sinaes) regarding the Monitoring of Graduates. They are the Federal Rural University of the Amazon (UFRA) on the Tomé-Açú campus (North region); the Federal University of Cariri on the Juazeiro do Norte campus (Northeast region); the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, for the four campuses Campo Grande, Corumbá, Nova Andradina, and Três Lagoas (Central-West region); and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis campus (South region), and the State University of Tocantins (Unitins), Paraíso campus (North region). It was found that the five HEIs have electronic portals with updated information, with written and video testimonials, about the perception of graduates regarding the adherence of academic and professional performance, when they hold positions and functions in the accounting area. In these websites are shown data collection instruments and disclose results about graduates through tables and graphs. The analysis of the PPCs showed that among the 124 campuses that offer Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, a total of 35 (thirty-five) of them do not publish their PPCs; 68 (sixty-eight) of them publish their PPCs, but do not have specific content for discussion about monitoring graduates. In the end, only 21 (twenty-one) colleges include a specific section in the PPC text to present how the monitoring of their graduates is conducted. Talking about the assessment of the Graduate Monitoring Policy, with respect to professional integration, information is collected through online forms and questionnaires and through face-to-face interviews when it is possible attending in events promoted by the college. To promote the participation of graduates in the HEI and the courses, the PPCs report actions such as maintaining updated records; conducting satisfaction surveys and professional monitoring; as well as promoting exchanges between former students and publicizing the integration of graduates into the job market. Participation in events such as meetings, extension courses, training and lectures, and use of facilities such as libraries and laboratories in some HEIs are also encouraged. As actions for the continued education of graduates, the following stand out: meetings, extension courses, training and lectures aimed at graduates; encouraged entry into HEI master's programs and postgraduate courses in general. However, the PPCs do not mention actions to show about employers' perceptions regarding the alignment of academic training with the professional performance of graduates. Comparatively with the use of information collected and disseminated about graduates, the interviewees' reports confirm its use for monitoring and evaluating the quality of education, directing events and for evaluating the PPC.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the management of records in Nigerian universities, in line with the Management Information Systems (MIS) programme put in place in federal universities by the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National University Commission to ensure effective and efficient decision making, based on available data. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on the management of records in Nigerian universities. Findings The study reveals that records management programmes or policy on records are not available in Nigerian universities; hence the administration of records is without recourse to the principles of records management. There is no University Records Manual, no records retention and disposition schedule, personnel handling the records are not trained in records management, inadequate facilities for the preservation, storage, and retrieval of records, no filing manual, inadequate computers to manage the volume of records generated and the attitude of administrators towards records and records management constitute the problems of records management in Nigerian universities. Originality/value The article notes a number of recommendations made to improving records management practices in Nigerian universities. The university management and administrators and personnel handling the records should develop a positive attitude towards records and implement records management programmes in Nigerian universities. Records have “life”, and should be allowed to live through their life cycle process. Above all, the use of these records in solving problems and taking far-reaching decision, will reduce crises in Nigerian universities.