1k001: The quantity and quality of public libraries in nigeria is poor. We should consider commencing local community book repositories and reading spaces.

The libraries collections are poor. The entire public libraries’ collections in Lagos State cannot be more than 50,000 items, considering that the public library at the headquarters in Ikeja has about 4,820 items plus a few CDs and a few textbooks in accounting and business management; Ikorodu Divisional Library has a total collection of 4,500 items. Most of the books in the libraries are secondary-school books. Information materials in local languages are available at Ijebu, Egun, Hausa, and Igbo. Computers and Internet services are very minimal at the headquarters, Ikorodu, and Ilupeju divisional libraries. Some bound volumes of newspapers are available at Mainland Divisional Library at Yaba.

Mustay: World Literacy Day just passed by and the issue of the availability and use of public libraries came to the fore again. I want this thread to serve as a database of public libraries in the country. A quick search online doesn't give you a good answer which is quite disappointing.

Consequently, for contributors who want to add the ones they know (that have/has not been previously mentioned) should please try to follow the number order and provide an address or at least, the area where this library is so that visitors to any of these places in Nigeria can seek guidance.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_of_Nigeria


1. National Library of Nigeria, Oda Road (Opposite Ondo State Law Commision), Akure, Ondo State.

2. Ondo State Public Library, St Peters Bus Stop, Oyemekun Road, Akure, Ondo State.

3. National Library of Nigeria
Festival Road P.M.B. 1, Area 2 (Near Shopping Centre) Garki, Abuja.

4. National Library of Nigeria, 227,Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos State.

5. Illupeju Public Library (not sure that's the name), Opposite LSDPC, Illupeju, Lagos State.

phiszo: Stella obasanjo library, Lokoja, Kogi State.

‘5,000 librarians need international donors for efficiency’

Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) Dr. Victoria Okojie says owing to zero budgeting and budget cuts in the country, the 1,500 Nigerian libraries and 5,000 librarians need additional funds from both national and international agencies and donors for their development.

Addressing participants at the on-going 5-day workshop on “Proposal Writing, Grant-seeking and Fundraising for Improved Library and Information Services in Nigeria,” presently holding in Enugu, Dr. Okojie said inadequate funding often crippled activities and hindered professional librarians from attaining their desired goals.

She said a yawning gap existed between professionals and donor agencies, pointing out that the essence of the workshop was to teach the participants how to bridge the gap, write acceptable proposals and access grants with which to help in developing the 1,500 nation’s libraries.

She said there are library-focused donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award and ELFL who are giving grants to libraries annually but Nigerian libraries had not taken full advantage of those opportunities.

There are presently about 5,000 librarians and 1,500 libraries in the county and efforts are being made to match the numbers with the required standard and quality, she said.

Mustay: ^^^Wow, that's news. The last time I contacted them, it required an annual or semi-annual due.

Benue library has purchased no new book in 22 years


The library has since survived on donated materials.

The Benue state library in Makurdi made its last book purchase 22 years ago during the library’s inauguration, the deputy director for the state library board, Shima Kosu, has said in a shocking revelation of the obsolete state of the facility.

Mr. Kosu made the disclosure an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, while dismissing concerns about the future of conventional libraries in a digital age of the electronic library.

He said the emergence of ICT was “actually to complement the services of the local libraries across the world” and not to clash with it.

“While the e-libraries provide a wide range of services that cover many areas on the net, the local libraries provide the hard copies of what was on the net,” Mr. Kosu said.

“E-libraries help researchers to obtain hard copies of books that were treated on the net. They are never a threat to the local libraries. Actually, the advent of the e-libraries was viewed as a threat by many, including librarians.”

The real threat to libraries, he said, is the general lack of attention from the government, who fail to provide adequate funds to purchase the latest publications for use.

The Benue library, for instance, got its last batch of purchased volumes 22 years ago, he said.

Since then, “the only lifeline for the library was between 1998 and 2006 when the Book Aid International donated new books to the library.”

Mr. Kosu said the books were supplied regardless of their relevance to the reading needs of the public.

He called on the government to step up subvention to the libraries to aid service delivery, and appealed to the Benue government to install the 50 computers donated to the library by the National Communications Commission (NCC) for commercial Internet services.

He said the library, when in use, would internally generate revenue for the institution.

He also regretted that authors were no longer complying with the legal deposits of their publications.

“Since the National Library was established in the state, authors prefer to deposit copies of their publications there.”

ConcernMan: Which kind yeye National Library Yaba Lagos. That is the worst library I have ever being to in my life. A library where library users are not allowed access inside but only read outside(under a shade). My reading table is 10x better than that library. When you even manage to go in there all you see is newspapers of Zik and Awololwo. Call that National Archive and not National Library Pleasssssssssss!!!!!!!