Challenges of Twenty-First Century Academic Libraries in Africa

Abstract

Twenty-first century academic libraries worldwide have fundamentally transformed in the past two decades. Most traditional library services have been transformed to e-library services. Some of the notable major developments in the academic libraries include online scholarly communication, mobile technologies, social mediation application, digital curation and preservation. To fit into this new information landscape, academic librarians have assumed new roles. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the recent trends in academic libraries, changing roles and skills of academic librarians and discuss the challenges faced by librarians in academic libraries in Africa. The paper also offers recommendations to overcome some of the challenges. This paper is based on desktop review of relevant literature and the authors' views. The findings reveal the major challenges in academic libraries in Africa as: chronic financial constraints and inadequate basic infrastructure, insufficient ICT infrastructure, poor library and information science curricula, slow acceptance of open access resources, resistance to change, and difficulty in the importation of books and journals. It is hoped that the findings of this study would help policy makers, administrators and other key stakeholders to develop effective strategies to address them. In addition, the findings are significant to academic libraries and librarians that are planning to transform to modem academic libraries.

Keywords: Twenty-First Century Academic Library, Paradigm Shift, Recent Trends, Challenges in African Libraries, Africa.