Implementation Of Virtual Library Project In Nigerian Colleges Of Education, Challenges And Prospects

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Digital Library System (DLS) extends and integrate approaches adopted in traditional libraries as well as in distributed information systems, to yield high-end information systems, services and institutions.  Here we will explore some of the parts or components of digital libraries and discuss several of the developments in this emerging field.

Building a comprehensive digital library system will help users to manage all phases of the information lifecycle.    Of particular importance is to simplify the authoring and creation process so that wider population can participate by adding all types of multimedia content directly into digital libraries.  Downstream access allows readers to benefit from this type of computer-mediated communication, across time and space.  Ultimately, it is believed that knowledge will be shared and then lead to yet another cycle of discovery, authoring and utilization that is facilitated by digital libraries.

Times are fast changing; we now live in a jet age which is mainly characterized by rapid changes in technology, lifestyle and value.  This is indeed an age of information explosion.

One of the major inventions that have driven the world to a fast pace of technological advancement is the computer.  The computer is primarily an electronic information processor that is rapidly changing the way we acquire, organize, recall, access, analyze, synthesize and apply information.  The effectiveness with which the information is generated and communicated determines the rate of progress of a society and the fulfillment of its people.  Modern society is information driven and information today is a universal need.

The Library as an important and integral component of a higher institution has offered opportunity for students and staff to explore and expand their minds (Blau, 2004). It could be said that the library has become a focal place for enrichment, entertainment, education and empowerment through knowledge. In striving to serve its client, there is need for a library to clearly understand the continually changing needs of its constituency, from undergraduates, graduates, , academic staff and even school age children and local citizens (Blau, 2004). Despite the processing and propagation of library resources, a key trait of a university library is the services based around personal interaction between users and the library staff. Libraries should make sure that these services show proper levels of customer care and that the information given to the users is useful and at the right level (Loughborough University Library, 2005).

Mitchell (2008) has rightly said that today’s reference librarians are actively engaged with the many emerging new processes by which learning occurs. Further, reference librarians in academic and research libraries are actively engaged with the many emerging new processes not only by which learning occurs, but also by which research is done. To be successful, today’s reference librarians need to not only understand but also embrace current and emerging technologies affecting reference functions and the information needs of library users.

The unprecedented pace of technological change in the development of digital information networks and electronic services in recent years has helped to expand the role of the academic library. Once only a storehouse of printed materials, it is now a technology-laden information network where students can conduct research in a mixed print and digital-resource environment, experience the use of advanced information technologies, and hone their computer skills. The provision of reference services has been, and still is, at the heart of all libraries in every sector be it academic, public or special. Until the internet changed forever the way we access information, it was the exclusive responsibility of the “Reference librarian” to provide information directly to the client (Weddell, 2008).

Moreover, computers have affected the ways which people use information.  It has changed the rate of work done, the method for accomplishing the work alongside the relationship among the people carrying and using the information.  However, computers and libraries are not left out in the utilization of computer to carry out their day-to-day activities especially as it concerns the amount of information generated.  Libraries have evolved over the years which gave rise to digital/virtual libraries.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Most university libraries in Nigeria have been using ICT in the provision of services and in the management of their collection. This is a shift from the traditional method. The impact of ICT on library services cannot be overemphasized, however, there are numerous problems with the traditional libraries.  These in-adequacies are enumerated below.

1. The users of the traditional library need to go the library physically which most times could lead to congestion of the library?
2. Inability for the library resources to be accessed 24/7.
3. The library resources cannot be simultaneously used. It is one at a time.
4. Traditional libraries are limited by storage space.

It is therefore against this background that the researcher seeks to investigate the challenges and prospects of implementation of virtual library project in Nigerian Colleges of Education using a case study of College of Education, Gindiri of Plateau State.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY         

The aim of this study is to investigate the challenges and prospects of implementation of virtual library project in Nigerian Colleges of Education using a case study of College of Education, Gindiri of Plateau State. Specifically, the objectives of the study include to;

1. To assess the benefits of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State.
2. To identify the challenges of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State.
3. To determine the prospects of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State.

1.4  RESEARCH QUESTION

The following research questions are formulated to guide this research:

1. What are the benefits of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State?
2. What are the challenges of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State?
3. What are the prospects of implementation of virtual library project in College of Education, Gindiri Plateau State?…………….