The automation of academic and special libraries in Nigeria: the state of the art

Abstract

The paper examines the state of library automation in academic and special libraries in Nigeria. As a background, an attempt was made to present efforts made by different bodies and institutions in the country to automate their entire library systems. Also disclosed are the reasons why the libraries opted for automated systems, the successes achieved by some of the libraries in automating their systems, and the problems faced by the libraries who succeeded in automating some of their systems as well as those who are still in the process of doing so. Considering the fact that the automation of library systems in Nigeria has spread from academic and special libraries to the public, and there are also a number of companies/institutions engaged in the provision and servicing of computer hardware and software including management information systems, the paper concluded that the future of library automation in the country is bright.