Collection Development Strategies for Academic Programs
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The general purpose of the study is to examine the Collection Development Strategies For Academic Programs libraries in North West, Nigeria. Specifically, the study seeks to:
- Ascertain the availability of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria.
- Ascertain the content of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria.
- Determine the extent of application of collection development policies in these libraries.
- Ascertain the perceived benefits of the application of collection development policies in achieving the objectives of the libraries.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter is devoted to the review of related literature. It will be arranged in the following order:
- Conceptual Framework
- Review of Related Empirical Studies
- Summary of Literature Review
- Conceptual framework
- Concept of Academic Library
The Library is a social institution established primarily to collect materials, organize those materials and make them available to people preferably at the right time and in the right place, particularly in academic institutions. According to Maidabino (2011), library is the nerve centre of academic activities in any institution of higher learning. It is a depository of knowledge with varied and useful information contained in different kinds of materials. The entire library holdings are known as the library collection. Academic Libraries are libraries that are found in institutions of higher learning, like polytechnics, colleges of educations and universities. Uwaifo (2010) defines academic library as those libraries established and maintained by higher/tertiary institutions of learning such as universities, polytechnics, colleges of educations school of nursing school of health technologies, petroleum training institutes etc. According to him, academic library forms an integral part of a college, university or other institution of post-secondary education. According to Nnadozie (2006) Academic libraries are established to support their parent organizations’ functions of research, teaching and learning services. To achieve these functions, libraries are expected to put in place various services and activities that will ensure adequate reading and learning materials in various format in the libraries as such library is an indivisible factor.
Concept of Collection Development in academic libraries
According to Dara(2005),library collections constitutes the bedrock of services provided to the community by Librarians, and serves as important assets to the library. Ever before, today and always, Libraries are needed in all phases of human life and endeavours, as a person cannot outgrow the use and services provided by libraries at any time. Olden (1995) noted that library collections are essential in African schools, as they help students pass examinations or help information seekers to improve their performance. It is thus seen as a very important activity in libraries. Collection development is defined by Reitz (2004) as the process of planning and building a useful and balanced collection of library materials over a period of years, based on an ongoing assessment of the information needs of the library’s clientele. Olanlokun and Adekanye (2005) submitted that collection development is an important aspect of library services that can promote libraries; they went on to say that academic libraries need to rise up to their responsibilities by providing materials capable of supporting teaching, learning and research and also for community services. This may be the reasons why Ozioko and Ekere (2011) stated that collection development makes or mar a library collection and its services. They further stated that the skill with which those responsible for collection development carry out that responsibility is important, as their outcome directly or indirectly determine the usability or otherwise of the collection.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
Population of the study
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
The population of the study is made up of professional librarians in the academic libraries in North West, Nigeria. The reason for choosing professional librarians as respondents for the study was that they are in a good position to provide relevant information required in actualizing this research.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
The data collected for this study was presented in tables and analyzed using mean score. The presentation and analysis were based on the six research questions formulated for this study.
Research Question 1: what is the content of collection development policies in your library?
The above table presents the mean ratings of the views of respondents on the content of collection development policies among federal and state owned libraries in North West, Nigeria. According to the table, the respondents accepted that all the six items were content of collection development policies in their libraries. Item1 (3.44) was rated the highest among all the items.
Using standard deviation to compare dispersion of data among the type of ownership of academic libraries shows a greater dispersion among federal owned academic libraries as compared with the state owned libraries.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The major findings of this study are summarized hereunder:
- The findings revealed that out of six collection development policies in academic libraries in ten selected academic institutions in North West, Nigeria, aggregate of four (selection, selection criteria, Selection Procedure Statement and Collection Evaluation Methods) are available and in use, while two (Donation/Free Materials and De-Selection/Weeding ) are not available.
- The findings of the study revealed that Recruitment of qualified professional library staff by the academic libraries’ parent organizations is mostly regarded as the appropriate way of ensuring the application of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria.
- The findings also revealed that funding is the key constraint in the application of collection development policy in library in North West, Nigeria.
- Findings of this study revealed that all the seven mentioned services/objectives are positively achieved as a result of application of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria.
- The findings of the study also revealed that the six factors mentioned are applied to a great extent in collection development in academic library in North West, Nigeria.
Conclusion
Collection development policies when adequately established and applied properly in academic libraries will enhance the acquisition of current and relevant information materials that will meet the numerous users’ information needs. This study is aimed at identifying the application of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria. Literature from this studies, as well as practical practices from the areas this study was carried out, has emphatically re-echoed the critical place and role of the application of collection development policies in academic libraries. From the findings of the study, major problems that hinders the application of collection development policies in academic libraries are; inadequate professional library staff, problem of funds, the use of ICT in posting unscreened information for academic library users, negative staff attitudes/Indifference, administrative bottlenecks to policy implementation and maintenance and lack of revision policy to mention a few. Also the result from the findings, revealed that, the fact that every library needs a well laid out plan to develop virile collections, it is understood that a lot of time and energy is needed in the formulation of the policies, this should not deter librarians and collection developers, especially, if they are willing to benefit from the advantages of a well laid-out policy in their respective libraries.
The following suggestions and others were given, believing that, if they are applied, will enhance the application of collection development policies in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria and beyond. Librarians should insist on having functional policies to achieve standard library collections. Materials should be ordered for the library continuously, without necessarily waiting for a particular time, using policies. Efforts should be made by library schools to include Management and Budgeting as core courses for student’s librarians as this will help in the understanding of policies in administration. The Nigerian Library Association (NLA) should create a standard policy for academic libraries’ on their material collection development, and ensure compliance by all academic libraries for them to be of a standard and enjoy increased funding. Librarians in the North West, Nigeria should strive to be participating in workshops, and seminars particularly, on methods of improving collection development policy, by doing so, their libraries’ collections would meet the needs of the users. Efforts should be made to recruit more librarians so as to meet the needs of library users in academic libraries in North West, Nigeria.
The researcher conclusively, suggest that for application of collection development to be meaningful and realistic in academic libraries, officers in-charge of collection development need to be committed, appropriately trained formally and informally, and also be willing to spend considerable time and energy to develop useful and relevant policies. Above all, developing the policies is not an end in itself; the policies are to be followed in the collection building process. The importance of application of collection development policies to libraries in developing its collection makes it imperative that academic libraries should treat this aspect of librarianship services with utmost seriousness.
Recommendation
Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations are made.
1) Librarians should insist on having functional policies to achieve standard library collections.
2) Materials should be ordered for the library continuously, without necessarily waiting for a particular time, using policies.
3) Efforts should be made by library schools to include Management and Budgeting as core courses for student’s librarians as this will help in the understanding of policies in administration.
4) The Nigerian Library Association (NLA) should create a standard policy for academic libraries’ on their material collection development, and ensure compliance by all academic libraries for them to be of a standard and enjoy increased funding.
5) Librarians (in the North West, Nigeria) should strive to be participating in workshops, and seminars particularly, on methods of improving collection development policy, by doing so, their libraries’ collections would meet the needs of the users.
6) Efforts should be made to recruit more librarians so as to meet the needs of library users in academic libraries.
7) Enough Funds should be made available to parent organization (appropriately) to facilitate application of collection development policies in academic libraries
References
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