Staffing Patterns of State Colleges of Education Libraries in Nigeria

The College of Education system is one of the tripods of tertiary education in Nigeria and it has the primary role of training teachers who will be awarded the minimum teaching qualification of Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE). This certificate qualifies one to teach in junior secondary schools and technical colleges in Nigeria and it takes three years to complete. These teachers’ institutions were formally known as Advanced Teachers’ Colleges and were affiliated to different universities in Nigeria. They were later transformed into Colleges of Education under the supervision of one umbrella body known as the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) established in 1989. There are 64 colleges of education in Nigeria, classified according to their ownership; hence, we have 20 federal, 39 state, 1military and 4 private colleges of education. The state colleges of education are established and funded by their respective State governments. (NCCE, 1996, NCCE, 2002)

Academic Status and the Doctoral Degree Requirement for Promotion of Librarians in Nigerian University Libraries

Librarians in federal universities in Nigeria have had academic status since 1993. They have a research and publication requirement for promotion, and are prominent in the professional literature. While the terminal degree remains the master\u27s in library and information science, it is increasingly common for a doctorate to be required for librarian promotion in Nigerian universities. One problem with this requirement is the small number of doctoral programs in library science that are available. A survey of academic librarians was conducted. A questionnaire sought information on whether or not Nigerian university libraries have introduced the PhD as a requirement for the promotion of academic librarians and to discover reaction of academic librarians to the issue. Less than 30 percent of respondents said that a doctorate was required for promotion in their institution. Only one-third felt that it should be compulsory. Recommendations are made for helping librarians acquire a PhD if it becomes a requirement