TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page- – – – – – – – I
Approval Page- – – – – – – ii
Certification Page- – – – – – – iii
Dedication- – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgements- – – – – – – – v
Table of Contents- – – – – – – – vi
Abstract- – – – – – – – – viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION- – – – – 1
Background of the Study- – – – – – – 1
Statement of the Problem- – – – – – 8
Purpose of the Study- – – – – – – 9
Research Questions- – – – – – – – 10
Significance of the Study- – – – – – 10
Scope of the Study- – – – – – – – 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW- – – – 13
Conceptual Framework- – – – – – 13 Overview of Management- – – – – – – 13
Management of University Libraries- – – – – 21
The Roles of University Libraries- – – – – 23
Problems in Managing University Libraries- – – – – 28
Strategies for Improvement of University Libraries Management– 34
Theoretical Framework- – – – – – – 36
Review of Empirical Studies- – – – – – – 43
Summary of Literature Review- – – – – – 48
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS- – – – 50
Research Design- – – – – – – – 50
Area of the Study- – – – – – – 50
Population of the Study- – – – – – – 51
Sampling and Sampling Techniques- – – – – – 51
Instrument for Data Collection- – – – – – 51
Validation of the Instrument- – – – – – 52
Method of Data Collection- – – – – – – 53
Method of Data analysis- – – – – – – 53
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA- 55
CHAPTER
FIVE: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION- 64
Discussion of the Findings- – – – – – 64
Implications of the Study- – – – – – 75
Recommendations- – – – – – – – 76
Limitations of the Study- – – – – – – 77
Suggestions for further Research- – – – – 78
Conclusion- – – – – – – – – 78
REFERENCES- – – – – – – 80
APPENDIX (Research Questionnaire) – – – – – – 84
LIST OF TABLES
Table I: Douglas McGregor’s theory X and theory Y models showing the two basic assumptions about human beings – – – 40
Table II: Personal data of respondents – – – – 55
Table III: Responses on planning processes – – 56
Table IV: Responses on organisation of information resources — 57
Table V: Responses on measures employed in the
management of human resources –
58
Table VI: Responses on measures adopted for effective
control of operations – 59
Table VII: Responses on problems of library management – 60
Table VIII: Responses on means of effective management
of university libraries – 61
ABSTRACT
This work investigated the
management of university libraries in the North Central Zone of Nigeria. Accordingly,
six research objectives were drawn which include; to examine the
planning processes in the university libraries; to identify the methods used in
organising library and information resources; to ascertain the measures
employed in the management of human resources in these libraries. Others are
to: examine the measures used for effective control of the library operations; identify
the problems encountered in the management of university libraries and proffer
strategies to enhance effective management of university libraries in
Nigeria. A survey research design was
adopted for the study with a population of 51 library staff. The questionnaire titled “Management of
University Libraries questionnaire (MULQ), consisted of 77 items was the
instrument used to collect data. Data generated and analysed was presented in
tables using percentage and the mean.
Findings showed among others that each of these university libraries has
a written collection development policy, clearly developed policy statement and
goals for each section, has a written job specification for staff, prepares and
executes budget. Shelving is the most
adequate method used in organising information resources, disciplinary measures
are in place to check staff behaviour and there is regular supervision of
staff. The major problem in the
management of university is adequate funding and insufficient professional
staff. Following these findings, recommendations were made to the effect that
university management should ensure the provision of adequate and decent
library accommodation and facilities that would enhance proper storage of
library collections and facilitate library services, adequate, qualified and
competent professionals and support staff should be employed to enable the
library meet her service demand to her community, adequate funds should be
provided to the library to facilitate its services.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Libraries are traditional information service
institutions established to serve the information needs of their immediate
communities, be it national, public, academic, schools, special, research and
private libraries. The category of users
a library serves defines the nature of its collections and the type of services
offered. For a library to successfully
select, acquire, organise (process), store (preserve), retrieve and disseminate
information, there would be need for proper management of both human and
material resources. The major aim of library management is to create and
maintain a high quality service that will match the needs of its users.
Generally, University
libraries are categorised as part of academic libraries. Ekere in Department of Library and
Information Science (2006) defines academic libraries as “all libraries
attached to post secondary or tertiary institutions, such as Universities,
Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Colleges of Agriculture, and Military
institutions like the Nigerian Defence Academy, the Nigeria War College,
National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and to any other post
secondary institution”. Academic libraries are grouped into two; University and
College libraries, that is they vary and are distinct according to the academic
institutions they serve. Harrod (1995)
defines university library as a library or group of libraries established,
maintained, and administered by a university to meet the needs of its students
and members of the academic staff.
The main purpose of the university library
is to support the objectives of the university, which is to promote teaching,
learning and research. Thus, the library
is meant to serve the undergraduates, postgraduates, lecturers, researchers and
other members of the university community. Achebe (2008) asserts that the
materials are diversified to support teaching and other programmes students and
teachers are engaged in.
A university library is regarded as the heart
of the intellectual life of the university.
The quality of a university is measured largely by the quality of its
library. Azikwe, in Aguolu (1997),
pointing out the importance of university libraries declared that “the
development of the universities will depend to a large extent upon the provision
of fully-equipped libraries and laboratories… we cannot emphasize too
strongly the paramount importance… of building up of a university library”.
The fact is that no university can exist
without a library. Since the university is meant to teach, and carry out
research; it will have to rely solely on the library, which is the custodian of
knowledge. For the undergraduates, the
library is supposed to provide information materials and services specifically
designed to meet their learning information needs, and for the postgraduate
students, teaching staff and research fellows, the university library is
supposed to provide information resources and services of sufficient quality
and diversity to assist them in research and teaching.
In most universities, there is always a large central
library, often spoken of as the main library of the university, and there are
often smaller ones at the faculty and departmental levels. The main library coordinates the activities
of the smaller ones. For a university
library to perform its several functions, its collections must not only include
books but other information materials such as general and specialised reference
collections, made up of encyclopaedias, journals, newspapers, manuscripts,
government publications, historical maps, theses, audio-visual and digital information
materials, etc.
University library collections are usually large, they
relate their choice of acquisitions to the programmes of teaching learning and
research in their institutions; the academic level of the material naturally
varies according to the levels of users.
For a university library to
properly organise such large collections for easy accessibility by the various
group of users, it must have highly qualified librarians that will carry out
such tasks in each departments of the library.
That is why the highest calibre of librarians is usually found working
in university libraries, with specialization in different fields and specific
aspects of Library and Information Science.
Such tasks can be performed through selection, acquisition,
organisation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information to library
users. This can only be achieved through
proper management.
The concept “Management” has been defined by many
authors, though using different approaches, but all geared towards the same or
related meaning. Macfarland (1979) in Obi (2003) defines management as “the
process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate purposive
organisations through coordinated, cooperative human efforts”. This definition implies three (3) ideas;
firstly, management is dynamic, secondly, management activities are continuous,
thirdly, managerial action directs and controls the nature, extent and pace of
activities in the organisation.
According to Fayol in Wales (2010), “To manage is it
forecast and plan, to organise, to command, and to control”. The Wikipedia (2010) defines management as
“the guidance and control of action required for executing a programme, also,
with the individuals charged with the responsibility of conducting the
program”. This implies that, for
management to be effective there needs to be some type of defined approach or
system in place. This system becomes the
plan and management is guiding others to follow the plan. It points out that this is where most
managers fail, because they have no plan or system. As a result their actions seem random to the
people they are managing and this leads to confusion and disappointment. This is why it is important for business
managers to have an employee manual providing direction; managers will struggle
to be fair and balanced in dealing with employees. Shead (2010),
management characterises the process of
leading and directing all or part of an organisation, often a business, through
the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, intellectual or
intangible)…. He further defines management thus:
Management in all business areas and
organisational activities are acts of getting people together to accomplish
desired goals and objectives. Management
comprises planning, organising, staffing, leading or directing, and control an
organisation (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for
accomplishing tasks.
This definition of management addresses accomplishing
work through other people. It stresses
the activities that are necessary for reaching particular goals. The process of achieving the objectives of
the business organization by bringing together human, physical, and financial
resources in an optimum combination and making the best decision for the
organization while taking into consideration its operating environment.
For the purpose of this
work, one can simply define management as the process of getting things done
efficiently with and through other people.
This can be achieved by setting and achieving goals through executing
the five basic management functions: planning, organising, staffing, directing,
and controlling, that utilize human, financial and material resources. Thus, no organisation like the university
library can operate successfully without proper management.
Harrod, (1995), defines library management as “the
technique of organising priorities, motivating staff, securing resources, and
evaluating performance in order to obtain the optimum efficiency and benefit
from a library services”. Library management is defined using the five
management principles: planning, organisation, staffing, directing and control.
Echezona (2009) and Ngalla (2007) described planning role in the library that
it entails laying the platform on which all other roles are played. This involves defining the objectives,
developing strategies, determining the staffing and library services, laying
down policies and procedures for attaining the objectives and preparing budgets. When the planning stage of management is set
right, there is the need for the organisation role to be effective.
Wikipedia (2010) also
describes library management as the issues involved in managing a library. Such
basic issues include:
- Planning the acquisition of materials
- Classification of materials
- Preservation of materials
- Borrowing materials
- Developing and administrating library computer systems
The short term library
management issues include; book processing, selection, ordering, receiving, checking,
stamping, classification and cataloguing, labelling, preparation for
circulation, jacketing, final inspection and stacks maintenance.
While long- term issues in
library management include issues like:
- Planning of the construction of new libraries
- Extensions to existing ones
- Building maintenance
However, no
effective management can be operational in any library set up if the objectives
are not clearly formulated and well understood by staff and patrons. The primary objectives of a library as
enumerated by Ifidon and Ifidon (2007) are to:
- Provide informational materials for all the patrons of
different levels
- Provide general reading materials for personal
self-development and
- Co-operate with other libraries with a view to developing a
network of informational resources that will be at the disposal of all users
regardless of distance.
They further stated,
“These objectives are equally translated into Collection Development
department, Technical Services department, Research Collection and Systems
Development department and Readers’ Services department. Each of these departments is further
organised into divisions and units. The existence of these objectives compels
the managers to think of how to realize them, i.e. the human and financial
resources they require and the target date for achievement.”
After the formulation of
the objectives, the next step is planning.
It involves the interpretation of the objectives into an effective
action plan. In planning, library
managers take into consideration the needs of their library users and the
requirements of materials and human resources, the new technology and other
resources in the external environment, since most libraries depend solely on
government for financial support.
Universities have institutional autonomy that gives them the freedom to
allocate financial resources based on internally established priorities, and
because of the competitive demands on the limited budgets, academic departments
and faculties tend to lose sight of the academic support role which the library
plays; its budget is easily diverted to other purposes with repose, Ifidon
(2007). In this case, the university
Librarian would have no option than to respond to any change that occurs during
the planning stage.
Organisation is all about
the organisational structure of the various sections of the university library,
it also involves the processing of library and information materials such as
cataloguing, classification, digitization, shelving, indexing and abstracting
and preservation of information resources. Staffing entails the personnel
component of the university library, recruiting enough professional staff that
would enhance the provision of library and information services, organising
training programmes for better job performance and retention of staff. While the control role is all about regular
inspection of all the activities of the library staff, as tasks are assigned to
them; the librarian should guide and correct them where necessary, this is to
ensure that quality services are provided by the library.
The most serious challenge facing the university library
managers is securing constructive change and improvements in the library
performance. Every organisation must
grow and develop in order to successfully accommodate a changing environment,
and libraries are not exception. (Guskin and Marcy (2002) opined that:
If libraries are to succeed as active partners
in the institutional programmes of universities, they must be sensitive to
changing conditions both within their internal structure and external
environment…. Also, the library must
move toward a more assertive role within the community it serves, influencing
university plans, programmes and priorities rather than simply coping with
events as they occur.
The management of university libraries has
become increasingly important because of their growing size and complexity,
there is high demand of their services, yet the cost of library and information
materials is beyond their budgets. Hence
the need for the library managers to confront the challenge to maintain the
operations, services, and collections in the face of the rising cost and
relatively stable or declining budgets.
This can be achieved through proper planning; especially making choices
and setting priorities for the expenditure of increasingly limited
resources. Saka (2010) says “in every
organisation or institutions, there are various objectives set aside to be
achieved”. These objectives could be
adequately achieved when human and material resources are properly managed.
For the purpose of this
study, management of university libraries can then be described as the process
of achieving the objectives of the university library by planning, organising
priorities: motivating staff, acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval, and
dissemination of information, and consequently, evaluating the performance of
staff. This can only be accomplished by
performing the management functions of planning, organising, staffing,
directing, and control of library activities. Management of university
libraries is all about setting desired objectives, leading or directing library
staff to work towards achieving the desired results, which invariably will help
the university realise its aims and objectives.
Statement of the Problem
MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA
