Role of Library Committee in the Development of an Academic Library
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To find out the important of operation of the library committee to the development of the academic library.
- To find out the function of the library committee in academic library
- To ascertain channel of information between the library and the academic development and programs.
- To ascertain the library on collection, facility, and service policies and on new initiatives.
- To provide advice to help the library to achieve its mission and realize its strategic plans.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
DIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES TODAY
The recent rise of interest in diversity is further evidenced by a number of conferences emphasizing this topic. For instance, a 1991 preconference sponsored by ACRL’s Bibliographic Instruction Section addressed bibliographic instruction in a multicultural environment. The forum on the multicultural library, held at Bloomfield College in 1990 and mentioned above, is one of many such meetings held locally or regionally in the past year. A recent presentation at an ALA poster session received more than fifty requests for further information. In order to understand the present state of affirmative action and cultural diversity programming, librarians need to look at current programs in academic libraries. Affirmative action programs are an important component of the larger diversity effort. Who is responsible for affirmative action today in hiring for academic libraries? Since the search process is the door through which more diverse librarians must come, it is an important gateway to examine. Jeanne M. K. Boydston surveyed ARL libraries in the United States to examine their hiring practices in regard to equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. She found that all respondents had some university-level unit dealing with equal opportunity and affirmative action on campus. Still, more than half the respondents had a second agency or individual within their library with responsibility for equal employment opportunity and affirmative action.18 The entity with this responsibility was either an affirmative action officer or an affirmative action committee. As academic libraries have worked to build environments more supportive of diversity, some have made specific documents related to their programs available. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has released two parts of its diversity document entitled “Points of Intersection.” The Ann Arbor program includes staff education and a full-time diversity librarian, as well as a task force on diversity. “Points of Intersection” articulates a broad basis for academic libraries’ contributions to a universitywide multicultural effort. Many programs are described in more detail in the flyer on cultural diversity programs in ARL libraries. Examples include the creation of special positions, such as multicultural services librarian and cultural outreach librarian, at a number of universities; the establishment of committees or task forces at other universities; and the establishment of workshops to raise staff awareness and emphasize cross-cultural training.19 To summarize the main points made in the literature, in higher education as in business, attention is increasingly focusing on issues of diversity rather than on affirmative action. Although affirmative action programs remain one of the crucial paths by which institutions may increase their diversity, these- programs are still a source of ambivalent feeling for some librarians. The mechanism for implementing affirmative action policies varies from institution to institution, as does the approach to diversity programming. In general, administrative support, systemic thinking, and low budget requirements characterize successful programs.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to role of library committee in the development of an academic performance
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain role of library committee in the development of an academic library
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of role of library committee in the development of an academic library
Summary
This study was on role of library committee in the development of an academic library. Five objectives were raised which included: To find out the important of operation of the library committee to the development of the academic library, to find out the function of the library committee in academic library, to ascertain channel of information between the library and the academic development and programs, to ascertain the library on collection, facility, and service policies and on new initiatives, to provide advice to help the library to achieve its mission and realize its strategic plans. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of Imo state University. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up librarians, senior lecturers, junior lecturers and graduate assistants were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Everyone will realize that the competence of the Library Committee has a close connection with its composition. On that competence depends the achievement of school administration. A Library Committee can be a policymaking and oversight body, it can provide strategic guidance and goals for the library. At the same time it can offer practical assistance in order to ensure timely and correct information services to academic library, for instance in relation to the extension of copying rights and the particular application of copyright in a parliamentary library. The Library Committee can help to ensure the legal deposit of materials published via traditional ways or in electronic form. The Library Committee’s activities can be very positive for the library, because the results and benefits will derive from the common experience of the library and of its users.
Recommendation
- Public and school libraries should provide extended hours and services to meet the needs of their young adult patrons.
- Young adult advisory boards should be created to enhance the relationship between the library and its young adult patrons and assist in expanding the collection and services required to meet the unique needs of the young adult population.
- Individual libraries should analyze the ratio of young adult patrons to the materials available to assist the needs of that age group. Appropriate actions to overcome any identified deficiencies should be incorporated into the library’s long range plans.
- Both public and school libraries should examine the requests for and use of copy machines, computers, Internet, and other electronic media to determine the need for each item. Appropriate actions should be taken to provide access to each item on an as needed basis.
REFERENCES
- Aaron, S. L. (1972a). A review of selected research studies in school librarianship 1967-1971: Part 1. School Libraries, 21, 29-46.
- Aaron, S. L. (1972b). A review of selected research studies in school librarianship 1967-1971: Part 2. School Media Quarterly, 1, 41-48.
- Aaron, S. L. (1982). A review of selected doctoral dissertations about school library media programs and resources, January 1972–December 1980. School Library Media Quarterly, 10, 210-245.
- Adams, G. V., Jr. (1972). A study: Library attitudes, usage, skill and knowledge of junior high school age students enrolled at Lincoln Junior High School and Burns Union High School, Burns Harney County, Oregon 1971-72 (Report No. LI004365). East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 077 538).
- American Association of School Librarians & Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1998). Information power: Building partnerships for learning. Chicago: American Library Association.
- American Library Association. (1999). Partner in learning: The school library media center. Fact Sheet. Available Online July 16, 2001: http://www.ala.org/cgi-bin/reghtml.cgi.
- American Library Association. (2000). Public library use. LARC Fact Sheet Number 6. Available Online July 11, 2001: http://www.ala.org/library/fact6.html.
- American Library Association and Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1988). Information power: Guidelines for school library media programs. Chicago, IL: Author.
