TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
Paper—————————————————————————
i
Approval
Page———————————————————————— ii
Certification
————————————————————————- iii
Dedication
————————————————————————— iv
Acknowledgement——————————————————————- v
Tables
of Contents——————————————————————- iv
List
of Tables————————————————————————- vi
Abstract—————————————————————————— vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study———————————————————— 1
Statement
of Problem—————————————————————- 4
Purpose
of the Study—————————————————————– 5
Significance
of the Study———————————————————— 5
Scope
of the Study——————————————————————- 6
Research
Questions—————————————————————— 6
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual
Framework————————————————————– 7
Empirical
Review——————————————————————– 20
Summary
of Literature Review—————————————————— 20
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN
Research
Design———————————————————————- 22
Area
of Study———————————————————————— 22
Population
of the Study————————————————————– 22
Sample
and Sampling Techniques—————————————————- 23
Instrument
for Data Collection—————————————————— 23
Validation
of Instrument ———————————————————— 23
Method
of Data Collection———————————————————- 24
Method
of Data Analysis ———————————————————— 24
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS
Kinds of disaster prevalent in academic libraries in Nasarawa State— 25
Causes of Disasters in academic libraries in Nasarawa State——- 27
Consequences
of disaster on the collection and services of academic libraries in Nasarawa State——————————————————————– 28
Disaster control measures employed in the libraries.——————- 29
Suggested
solutions to the problem of disasters in Academic libraries in Nasarawa State.———————————————————————- 30
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
Discussion
of Finding—————————————————————- 32
Conclusion————————————————————————— 36
Implication
of the Study————————————————————- 37
Recommendations——————————————————————– 37
Suggested
Areas for Further Studies ———————————————— 38
Limitation
of the Study————————————————————– 39
Summary
of Study——————————————————————- 39
References—————————————————————————- 41
Appendix
“a” Questionnaire ——————————————————– 44
LIST OF TABLES
Table Item Page
Table
‘A’ type of disasters that prevalent in academic library in Nasarawa State———————————————————– 26
Table ‘B’ The cause of disaster to library collection in academic library— 27
Table ‘C’ The consequences of disaster to
library collection and services in Academic library in Nasarawa State.————————————- 28
Table ‘D’ Disaster control measures employed in the libraries ———— 29
Table ‘E’ Strategies to prevent disaster in academic library.—————— 30
ABSTRACT
This study set out to examine
disaster control measures in academic libraries in Nasarawa
State of Nigeria. It was guided by five
research questions which sought to identify the types of disaster prevalent in
the academic libraries; causes of those disasters; preventing occurrence of
disaster in their collections and measures academic libraries would use to cope
with disasters if it eventually occurred. The study was a descriptive survey of
five academic libraries in Nasarawa
State. The total
population from all the five academic libraries respondents are fourty seven
(47) and the whole population was used for the study. Data was generated using
questionnaires administered on the Librarians and library officers in five
academic libraries. Simply frequency tables and percentages were used for data
presentation. The major findings of the study were as follows: the greatest
damage to collections was from theft, followed by mutilation of libraries
materials, water incidence, insect attack, and rodents; invasion. There had
never been any fire incidence, non deterioration of audio-visual materials and
any form of earthquakes in any academic library in the State. Most libraries
were not very ready to cope with disaster since most did not have any
comprehensive disaster plan, did not ensured there collection, only few that
collaborate with essential service departments. The following recommendations
were made based on the findings: staff should intensify surveillance of reading
areas and carrels particular towards the close of library hours. Electronic
theft detection devices should be installed library administrators should
ensure that libraries have comprehensive disaster plans. Each of the libraries
should have members of disaster reaction team. They will be charged with the
responsibility of taking care of the library if disaster occurs, and the staff must be well
trained in areas of preventing and controlling of disaster. There should be
collaboration between the library and essential services like fire service,
security and telephone service. The library and its holdings should be
adequately insured.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of
the Study
Academic libraries exist in
institutions of higher education such as University, Colleges of Education,
Colleges of technology and polytechnic. These are largely tertiary educational
institutions usually available after secondary education.
The need for well developed
libraries is inexorable greater in Nigeria than in advanced countries.
We cannot expect an excellent academic programmed in any educational
institution without the support of a well equipped library. University,
colleges of Education and Polytechnic are not adjuncts to their parent
institutions, but integral parts of them.
Professor Alex Kwaanpong, former
Vice- Chancellor of the University
of Ghana once declared:
“The university library is the
heart, if not aorta, of any University, and its academic health, intellectual
vitality and effectiveness, therefore, closely depend on the state of health
and excellence of its library. An inert and moribund library invariable means
an inert and moribund university.
Again the centrality of the
University library in the intellectual life of the university is epitomized in
the off quoted statement of the British
University grants
committee.
“The character and efficiency of a
university may be gauged by its
treatment of its central organ, the library. We regard the fullest provision
for library maintenance as the primary and most vital need in the equipment of
a university. An adequate library is not only the basis of all teaching and
study, it is the essential condition of research, without which additions
cannot be made to sum of human.
The university, college or education
and polytechnics library must posses a minimum number of books and current
periodicals, let alone other types of information resources in certain
subjects, to be able to satisfy the basic information and bibliographic needs
of students and faculty in those subjects. It is the size of a collection
combined with its quality that ensures its adequacy, which has thus both
qualitative and quantitative dimensions.
The academic libraries need to
protect their resources and collection from disaster. This, therefore, implies
that the information resources these building holding could be at risk in the
event of a disaster. Morgan and Smith (1997) state and library resources are
very valuable either for the information they contain or for their physical
beauty. The materials are meant to be a sources knowledge, pleasure and
assistance for generations to cone. Libraries house and protect materials which
by the very native are very susceptible to disasters. Academic library collection
could be easily lost in a disaster and a nation stands to loss greatly if
theses are no arrangements to prevent or mitigate the consequences of disaster.
Mathew (1994) who asserted that survey have shown that some sort of disaster in
libraries almost inevitable. There is no any comprehensive document on disaster
control in Nasarawa
State. That is why, the
researcher want to find out measures academic libraries use to control
disasters in their libraries
Across the world, disaster has devastating
results due to inadequate preparation to control and manage it. The impact of
disasters, usually spontaneous and severe, is often irreparable. Library
materials are particularly vulnerable to the effects of disasters. Alegbeleye
(1993), citing League of the Red Cross defines disaster as a catastrophic situation in which the daily
ways of life are suddenly disrupted and people are thrown into confusion and
suffering and as a result need protection and other necessities of livelihood.
Alegbeleye(1993) cites McIntyre
describes disaster as “an event, the timing of which is unexpected and
the consequences seriously disruptive”. Blagg (2007) sees disaster as “an
occurrence that causes death or destruction”. From the definitions above, the
researcher understands disaster as an unexpected event, catastrophic, accident,
destruction to human life and properties.
Akussah
and Fosu (2001) citing Anderson
and McIntyre and relating disaster more closely to libraries, define it as an
unexpected event with destructive consequences to the library materials.
Another definition offered by Mathews and Eden
(1996) see library disaster as any incident which threatens human safety and
damage library buildings, collections, equipment and systems. Alegbeleye (1993)
writes that library disaster could be tragedies that befall libraries,
archives, registries, electronic data processing centers, others, whose records
and documents are destroyed. A disaster results in sudden removal of records
and documents from accessibility and use.
Libraries
provide an ideal environment for the initiation of fire as they contain
combustible matter and materials that support burning like books, computer,
carrel, wooden shelves. Fire incidents in libraries partial or total results in
burning of books. Smoke, heat and water can cause great damage. Smoke leaves an
unpleasant odour that can inhibit the use of books. Soot may cover the books to
such extent that they could be unusable and may be discarded. The heat that
accompanies the smoke can make the paper very brittle and consequently shorten
its life span. Water used in extinguisher to suppress fire, often compounds
damage as the books soak a considerable amount of it, which may cause their
eventual destruction.
Fire
disaster has been destroying libraries for time immemorial. In Nigeria, Alegbeleye (1993) reported that the
library of the Institute
of Policy and Strategic
Studies, Kuru, was destroyed by fire in 1987.
Resources
in libraries have been damaged by water in form of rain, flood, and water
leakage through roofs, blown off roof, faulty air condition system, burst or
leaking pipes, or event from water used in putting off fire in case of fire out
break. In Nigeria,
Leaking roof destroyed books and teaching aids of the Federal Ministry of
Education library in 1987. Library materials were also destroyed at the Nigeria
Forestry Research Library by heavy rainfall. There was flooding through the
roof during renovation in 1988.
Akinforlarin
(1992) writes that all over the world, the problem has reached the point where
students do not care being seen by others in the act of illegal removal of
library resources. Ancient libraries had to chain their collections as a result
of this problem (Jackson,
1990). Libraries have adopted various strategies to minimize the loss inflicted
on their collections as a result of stealing. Some of the measures include
- Surveillance of stock and reading areas by staff
- Use of human security guards at the library exit
- Instillation of burglary proof on all doors and
windows
- Educating users on how the library suffers when
theft and mutilation occur
- Electronic alarm system on all books (Kaufman,
1995; and Ozioko 1997).
Library materials have some biological agents
that attack its collections. Varieties of insects have been identified as enemies
of library materials. The most common of these pests are cockroaches,
silverfish, termites and moths. They can attack collections, causing extensive
damage. Prevention of insect attack in libraries according to Alegbeleye,
(1993). Can be approached through the following measures:.
- Good library building design, with require building
materials.
- Regular monitoring of the collection to spot areas of
their activity.
- Keep all insects out of buildings by use of pesticides
and modern pest-control to eliminate, when even they are detected.
Rodents
like rats, mice and squirrels causes a lot of damage to library collection as a
result of chewing off electrical wire and destroying materials of nesting
purposes defecating and urinating on them. (Plumbe,1964;Parke 1986;Alegbeleye,1993).
The
wide range of non-book materials like computers, video tape, cassette etc. the
following have been listed as sources of damage to audio-visual materials:
fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity, dust, sunlight excessive fluorescent
lighting, incorrect shelving and careless handling by librarians and users.
(Agayi, 1988 and schuller,1996)
From
the disaster mentioned above, if any affects a library, there is bound to be
destruction of library collections or structure. Rare and some times
irreplaceable materials that cost large sums of institutional money could be
destroyed. Albuquerque
(2004) reported that after a library has gone through disaster, recovery work
takes a lot of time of librarians and patrons who serve as volunteer workers in
the rescue operation. It also involves a lot of money, labor and very valuable
materials that may be hard to replace if damaged beyond repair. There is need
to plan ahead, not only to minimize permanent damage or loss to a collection,
but also to try and prevent disaster from occurring. They advised that
librarians should not only play an active role in developing disaster plans,
but should be realistically prepared, if the worst happens.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
DISASTER CONTROL MEASURES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN NASARAWA STATE
