Book Scarcity In Nigerian University Libraries:A Menace To Effective Research, Teaching And Learning

Abstract

Book scarcity is an unhealthy development any university library would want to disassociate from. This ill wind started blowing around the libraries in 1982 when Nigeria's economy started nose-diving. Books are indeed very useful in a child's healthy upbringing, exploration into the lives of a people, development of thinking ability, determination of a nation's value system, supporting curriculum development and provision of yardstick for assessing quality of scholarship in the universities. Book scarcity has persisted due to poor funding of education by Federal Government, frustration of authors, violation of copyright laws and committing of library crimes by library staff and users. This situation has affected educational standards such that over 100 courses offered in the universities in 2005 were refused accreditation. Nevertheless, the internet and electronic publishing promise modification, Recommendations were made for improvement.

JORIND Vol. 4 (2) 2006: pp. 92-97