AVAILABILITY AND REMOTE ACCESSIBILITY OF ACADEMIC LIBRARY SERVICES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the state of operations of academic library services in the Nigerian Federal Universities by assessing the existence of functional library websites and remote availability and remote access to library services during the COVID-19 lockdown. All the academic libraries in the 43 Federal Universities form the population of the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample all the 43 academic libraries. Results indicated that 10 (23.3%) of the libraries had no functional websites while 33 (76.7%) of the libraries had websites and subscribed to various e-resources some of which were library Internet Protocol (IP) restricted. With regard to the availability and remote access to information resources, 17 (39.5%) of the libraries had websites but had no online information services available and none remotely accessible to users from remote locations. Three (7.0%) of the libraries had very few digital resources, and they are remotely inaccessible. Only 13 (30.2%) of the libraries provided tangible information sources that were available online and remotely accessible during the lockdown. It was concluded that many academic libraries in Nigeria failed to provide remote library and information services during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and this would force users to access other unverifiable sources of information

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TOWN AND GOWN: ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMMES

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to review related literature on Community Service Programme and the involvement of librarians in such initiatives, with a focus on the University of Port Harcourt. This review was also undertaken to establish a link between the Community Service Programme and purposeful librarianship. Related literature was reviewed on the involvement of academic librarians in Community Service Programme in Universities with a focus on University of Port Harcourt Community Service Programme. It was observed that Community Service Programmes play an essential role in linking students with host communities and provide opportunities and prospects for the development of entrepreneurial skills. This paper highlighted the benefits of community service activities to all the stakeholders. It also exposed the problem of non-involvement of librarians in community service initiatives. This problem is more pronounced in Nigeria where librarians of all categories are not involved. It was, therefore, recommended that librarians should be actively involved in the design and implementation of the Community Service Programme in universities. In order to bridge the gap between town and gown, this paper also recommends the establishment of a functional Community Information Resource Centre with a library. This is a baseline review as no such paper has been written on this topic. Thus, it provides the basic information needed for further studies in this area