Setting Up and Managing ICT Laboratory in a Nigerian Library School: Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Experience

Abstract

This paper discusses the setting up of an ICT laboratory in a Nigerian Library School with special reference to the Department of Library and Information Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The ICT laboratory was set up by the Emporia-Nigeria Project, an educational partnership between Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) in Emporia, Kansas, USA and three peer institutions in Nigeria: Bayero University, Kano, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the University of Maiduguri. The four-year project was sponsored by the Bureau for Cultural and Educational Affairs, College and University Affiliation Program of the U.S. State Department. The School of Library and Information Management of Emporia State University on its own donated computers, networking kits and provided the training for the project and training for the laboratory supervisors in the library schools both in Nigeria and at Emporia State University, USA. The paper highlights how the computers donated by the Emporia-Nigeria Project and those of the Management of Ahmadu Bello University were networked by the trained laboratory supervisor and connected to the Internet free for use by the students and staff of the Department.

Afr. J. Lib. Arch. & Inf. Sc. Vol.15(1) 2005: 51-58