CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
University libraries are those libraries that are established in the university environment such as federal, state and private universities. They are seen as an important and integral part of the university community as they primarily provide information resources for teaching, learning and research. The federal university libraries are established and funded by the federal government for the attainment of educational goals and objectives for national development. These are seen as the gateway to information for the university community and the society at large. They have the responsibility to make information resources available and accessible to users in remote time and space especially in the present digital library environment. As such, university libraries hold a very important and large proportion of the nation’s cultural heritage materials and wealth of knowledge which should be jealously guarded for posterity and future access.
In the field of library and information science, it is generally believed that the major objective of university libraries is to acquire, organize, preserve and make accessible information resources to users in support of teaching, learning, and research. Madu (2005) noted that one of the objectives of any library is to preserve information materials. Ukwuoma (2015) noted that university libraries are established to support the university’s objectives through acquisition, organization, preservation and dissemination of information resources. Therefore, libraries should not only strive to acquire information resources, but also ensure that the materials so acquired are preserved in usable conditions for generation of users.
Preservation according to Alegbeleye (2009) encompasses a wide variety of interrelated activities designed to prolong the usable life of books, archives, manuscripts and artifacts. It is the acquisition, organization and distribution of resources to prevent further deterioration or renew the usability of selected groups of materials, (Conway, 1996). According to the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA, n.d), preservation includes all the managerial and financial considerations including storage and accommodation, provisions, staffing, levels, policies, techniques and methods involved in preserving library and archival materials and the information contained in them.
Preservation of library resources is a branch of library and information science concerned with maintaining or restoring access to artifacts, documents and records through a careful treatment, protection and prevention of decay and damage. Aina (2004) noted that an important aspect of collection development management is the conservation and preservation of library resources. Higginbotham (2001) in a study revealed that conservation is occasionally used interchangeably with preservation, particularly outside the professional literature. Ramaiah (2008) concurred that the words preservation and conservation are commonly used interchangeably to mean keeping a document or an object in a sound condition for present and future use from damage, decay or loss.
The issue of preservation of information resources is central and a key factor to the existence of libraries as information repository centres. Alegbeleye (2009) maintained that preservation is an essential or core function of the librarian, archivist or information professional. Preservation is an information management process that entails the practice of knowledge selection, acquisition, storage and dissemination which has been the exclusive responsibility of library as a repository centre.
Preservation is one of the primary roles of libraries in ensuring future access and effective service delivery. It therefore includes all the managerial techniques that ensure the adequate storage of information resources for future survival and continuous access. This involves the use of well-defined techniques and strategies to prevent the original information resource from deteriorating further and to improve it to the point where it can be used again in the future. Librarians as agents of knowledge management therefore have the onus of developing an array of preservation skills, knowledge and methodologies to ensure the longevity and access to information resources.
Preservation therefore encompasses all activities required to make documentary heritage accessible for users as long as it is required. These activities require planning, beginning with knowing the technical format of the target content, (Hitchcock, 2007). Preservation also involves controlling the environment and conditions of use and may include treatment in order to maintain an object, as much as possible in an unchanging state, (UNESCO in Raju (2008). In other words, preservation refers to all specific actions, practices, measures and activities intended to prolong the life span of information resources to ensure the usability, longevity and accessibility of recorded knowledge. A lot of information resources in the present library environment are in a digital form and therefore require a proactive form of digital preservation.
Digital resources according to Das (2008) are electronic journal articles, a digitized image of a photograph, numeric data, a digital video, or a complete book in digital form. It therefore accommodates both information that was created within a technological environment (born-digital objects) and information that was obtained from analogue sources (digitized objects). They are dynamic in nature as they can
easily be accessed, manipulated, copied, stored, edited and transmitted by electronic means. They are normally referred to as e-resources (such as e-books, e-journals, e- newspapers, electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs, etc.).
Digital resources are therefore those information resources that exist in electronic format rather than in physical format. They include texts, databases, still and moving images, audio, graphics, software, and web pages, among a wide and growing range of formats. Digital resources could be “digitized materials” or “born digital”, stored on-line or available on CD-ROM or flash drive, (Harineeswaran,
2009). Born-digital materials are those information resources that originate in a digital form which include e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers, e-magazines, theses and dissertations that are primarily in soft copies etc. On the other hand, digitized materials are those materials that are converted from hard copy to digital format through digitization. They are dynamic in nature as they normally undergo constant changes by modification, deletion and insertion of content. Digital resources are therefore very important in teaching, learning and research in the present university library environment and the effective preservation of these digital resources is very paramount.
Digital resources preservation according to Harineeswara and Nithyananda, (2009) is the storage, maintenance, and accessibility of a digital object over the long term, usually as a consequence of applying one or more digital preservation strategies. These strategies may include technology preservation, technology emulation or data migration. Jantz and Garilo (2005) describes digital resources preservation as the managed activities necessary for the maintenance of byte stream (including metadata) sufficient to produce a suitable facsimile of the original document and for the continued accessibility of the document content through time and changing
technology. It entails all the managerial activities taken to ensure that digital information resources are protected, maintained and safeguarded for present and future access, for effective service delivery.
The goal of any preservation program is to ensure adequate protection, long term and ready access to the information resources of any institution, (Smith, 1998). Das (2008) opined that the goal of digital preservation is to maintain the ability to display, retrieve, and use digital collections in the face of rapidly changing technological and organizational infrastructures and elements. Bellinger (1999) posit that in an era of digital immediacy, access means not just ensured availability through longevity, but immediate fulfillment of demand. Long term digital preservation for ready access is a set of processes, strategies and tools used to store and access digital data for long periods of time during which technologies, formats, hardware, software and technical communities are very likely to change. On the same note, Rothenberg (1999) also maintained that the essence of preserving informational artifacts is the retention of their meaning. This requires the ability to recreate the original form of a document and carefully maintaining its authenticity, validity, and evidential value and to enable users have easy and continuous access to digital resources.
Some of the rationales behind the preservation of digital resources is that it does not require much physical space unlike the analogue materials. It helps to ensure that the invaluable heritage resources are made available and accessible into the future. Digital preservation therefore ensures access to digital information through digital technologies. Access to digital information means a continued, on-going usability of a digital resource, retaining all qualities of authenticity, accuracy and functionality deemed to be essential for the purpose of utilizing digital resources for effective service delivery. Therefore, preservation of digital resources is a key factor to
protecting the cultural values, sustaining the present knowledge-based economy and ensuring that the heritage resources are made available and accessible to the present and future generation especially in the present digital library environment.
The present digital/hybrid library environment has increased the number of library resources in digital form. Becker (2008) revealed that an increasing part of our cultural and scientific heritage is being created and maintained in digital form; digital content is at the heart of today’s economy, and its ubiquity is increasingly shaping private lives. Hence, as digital content proliferates, the issue of preservation for effective service delivery has become a very serious challenge to libraries, information and documentation centres. Odhigba and Oshile (2006) stated that the management, organization and accessibility of information as a result of explosive output have posed a problem to scholars, librarians and other information professionals. Preserving the digital resources of today therefore remains a critical factor to ensuring a continuous access to the cultural heritage materials for effective service delivery and sustainable development. It is evident that digital resources are now forming an increasingly large part of the cultural and intellectual heritage. However, digital resources must not only be collected or created, but also properly preserved as they have different characteristics from the conventional analogue materials
Apparently, digital materials are different from the traditional paper documents in ways that have significant implications for the means by which they are preserved. Paramount among these differences is the fragility, heterogeneity, complexity and greatly reduced life span of digital information resources without some form of active preservation. Moreover, digital resources are susceptible to
change from technological advances as they are stored on magnetic and optic media that deteriorate rapidly and that can fail suddenly from exposure to heat, humidity and technological changes. In addition, digital objects are complex as a digital file could contain images, text, tables, graphs and audio components. They easily deteriorate over time owing to their complex nature.
However, digital resources are frequently ephemeral and require purposeful and proactive production, maintenance, protection and careful management to be retained. Many of these resources have lasting value and significance, and therefore constitute a heritage that should be conserved and preserved for current and future generations, (UNESCO, 2003). Jantz (2005) noted that given the nature of electronic storage technologies and the ephemeral nature of Web pages, many are doubtful that digital preservation will ever become a reality.
Consequently, digital information resources require specialized and proactive preservation techniques for sustainability. Moreover, the amount of digital data in university libraries is constantly growing so fast that the issue of preservation has become a serious challenge. Hence, for the effective service delivery in contemporary university libraries, digital resources will require a more dynamic form of preservation strategies, training, as well as effective techniques and skills in the use and management of digital technologies.
Digital technologies have opened up a number of opportunities and totally new preservation paradigm for digital resources to ensure future access and effective service delivery. The opportunities presented by the digital technologies have encouraged publishers to adopt digital delivery and to provide online access to e- journals, e-books, e-magazines and e-newspapers. Hence, majority of current journals
and books are now available online, either in parallel with a print version or as e- version (i.e. ‘born digital”). According to Igwesi (2012), digital technologies offer a new preservation paradigm and opportunity of preserving the original copy by providing access to the digital surrogate. However, the revolution of digital technologies has fundamentally modified the way information is generally managed in university library environment. Digital technologies have been instrumental in developing an array of tools and methodologies to reducing the deterioration of digital resources for future access.
Digital technology is used to refer to the ever-evolving suite of digital software, hardware and architecture used in learning and teaching in the school, the home and beyond (Ofojebe, Olibie & Akudolu, 2010). Furthermore, to achieve the aim of digital preservation, librarians need to be empowered in content, training and application of digital technologies in preservation of digital resources (Harvey, 2004). In the context of this study, digital empowerment of librarians implies efforts made towards enhancing their use of information technology to improve their skills and strengthen their capabilities in digital information management. A librarian is said to be digitally empowered when the librarian has an in-depth knowledge and competence in digitization, metadata creation, and general digital library management among other skills. This digital empowerment is quite indispensable in the present changing university library environment.
Most university libraries in developing countries have engaged in the acquisition of digital resources, changing from analogue to digital/hybrid form. Rosenberg (2005) noted that the university environment in Africa is changing. In Nigeria, the clamor in most university libraries is the digitization of their local content. This is with a view to remaining relevant; meeting up with the changing
needs of the users and to becoming visible to the Global Information Network (GIN). At different levels, university libraries in Nigeria are engaged in the acquisition of digital information resources, hence are in a digital and/or hybrid forms. But it appears that most university libraries are facing serious challenges of preserving their digital content in order to make them available and accessible for present and future use. It also appears that there is inadequate planning, poor preservation skills and techniques towards the effective preservation of digital resources. As such there is a need to develop a programme that will help reposition the librarians to acquire the skills and knowledge required for effective preservation of digital library resources.
A programme is a systematically planned work that gives details and step-by- step procedures of how to do a task or an event or a set of information and /or instructions (Olsen, Teare & Gummesson, 1996). Programme development is an ongoing systematic process that professionals follow as they plan, implement and evaluate their educational programmes. The scope of programme development may be different but the principles remain the same. The development of required knowledge, skills and attitudes by librarians for digital preservation empowerment could be attained through the development of training programmes that will help bridge the gap in skill acquisition. Anaekwe (2008) stated that training gaps create learning opportunities that can be bridged by proper design of manpower training programmes. The process of programme development involve certain procedures, which include; the identification of objectives of the programme to be developed, the contents of the programme, the instructional methods, learning experiences and the required evaluation activities of the programme (Offorma, in Onah, 2012).
Objectives are specific achievable outcome of actions taken to achieve a stated goal, usually expressed in measurable terms and subject to time limit, (Reitz, 2004).
They are brief, clear statements that describe the desired learning outcomes of instruction; that is, the specific skills, values, and attitudes learners should exhibit that reflect the broader goals. Developmental objectives of digital preservation programme for librarians is concerned with more complex learning outcomes, skills, knowledge and competencies which librarians are expected to demonstrate in varying degrees of digital library management. This can mostly be achieved through effective exploitation of specific contents of digital preservation programme.
Content refers to the specific constituent elements of a subject matter, programme or educational objectives which are used in teaching and learning activities. Content of programme development can be divided into the three domains of knowledge: Skills, Attitudes, and Values. When teaching for knowledge, the teacher can use a variety of methods, with the goal of getting the learner to actively engage in learning the material. When teaching skills, the teacher needs to demonstrate and point out important aspects, supervise the student doing the skill, or teach the student through the skill. When teaching about attitudes, the teacher needs to use methods that require the application of the attitude in particular situations (Wilburn & Wilburn, in Onah, 2012). In the context of this study, the contents of digital resources preservation programme are those steps embedded in skills, attitudes and knowledge towards achieving digital empowerment goals for librarians for proficiency in digital resources preservation and general digital library management. The proficiency in any teaching and learning situation depends on the appropriateness of the teaching or instructional strategies used.
Instructional strategies are ways through which lesson contents in any teaching activity are delivered to the students by the teacher. According to Barnstein (2006) instructional methods are techniques adopted by a teacher to deliver or impact
knowledge to the students. The author reported further that teaching methods are designed to be as interactive as possible, emphasizing small group work using relevant and practical case studies. An important part of any teaching experience is the quality of the relationship between learners and teachers. Instructional strategies for digital resources preservation programme is primarily the descriptions of the learning objective-oriented activities and flow of information among students (Kizlik,
2012). This can mostly be realized through careful selection, evaluation and utilization of the required learning content for achieving the primary goal of the programme. However, contents need to be evaluated to determine the level of their effectiveness in meeting the desired need or goal.
Educational evaluation according to Gall, Gall and Borg (2007) is the process of making judgements about the merit, value, or worth of educational programs. The authors went further to note that in programme development, formative and summative evaluation is involved. The formative evaluation involves determining what the goal of the programme should be while summative evaluation seeks to determine the extent to which the programme meets its goals. Wheeler in Onah (2012) noted that evaluation is a powerful device in clarifying objectives such that the objective could either be modified or replaced with more proper training contents and methods, improves the use of planned ones. Okoro (2005) posits that evaluation is the appraisal of the worth or value of a thing or certain actions and the making of appropriate decisions of the basis of such appraisal. Okoro further emphasized that the purpose of evaluation include: giving feedback, assists in improving efficiency and effectiveness of training contents and methods, improves the use of organization personnel and other resources, improves trainee’s performance and promotes achievement of the overall objective of the programme. Frequent evaluation
reinforces positive behaviour; effective job performance, and continued effective performance, (Gail, 2002). Evaluation therefore helps in establishing the efficiency, effectiveness and the appropriateness of a given process. In the context of this study, evaluation is the process of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, including policies, personnel and products to improve their effectiveness. In order to ensure the desired results of improved effectiveness of librarians in utilization of digital resources preservation programme, the programme must be subjected to validation by experts.
Validation according to Nworgu (2006) is the procedures adopted in ensuring that the instrument used measured what it was designed to measure. The validation by experts confirms the authenticity, adequacy and relevance of the digital resources preservation programme for digital empowerment of librarians. When the programme has been certified appropriate for use, it will further be developed into a package for librarians’ use in digital resources preservation. In this study, the digital resources preservation programme was packaged, validated and developed for empowering librarians in Nigerian universities on preservation of digital resources to reposition them in exploring and acquiring the core knowledge, competences and new skills required in order to remain relevant in the present competitive digital library environment. Validation by the experts needs librarians and lecturers that have work experience especially in order to ensure the authenticity of the programme.
Work experience according to Onah (2012) refers to any gained additional knowledge and skills in the course of working in a specific field or occupation over a period of time. This involves learning on the job to improve on one’s knowledge and competency in order to be equipped with the required skills and knowledge needed in the contemporary working environment. It is an opportunity to learn about one’s job
better, identify, develop, master new skills and acquire hands-on practical experience. Some work experience positions offer people the chance to try their hands at particular tasks, others simply provide an opportunity to watch and learn. However, in the context of this study, an experienced librarian is a person that possesses knowledge and skills acquired through involvement in or exposure to library tasks for eleven years or more while less experienced staff are newly employed staff who have served for less than ten years.
Owing to the invaluable benefits embedded in the digital resources preservation, it is pertinent to develop a programme to empower librarians in Nigerian universities to enable them keep abreast with the current trend in digital library management, promote maximum work output, and respond to global digital library challenges. However, this can only be attained when librarians are equipped through training on various digital resources preservation skills. The essence of developing the digital resources preservation programme is to empower librarians to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to participate effectively in the contemporary digital library environment.
Statement of the Problem
Digital resources are invaluable in the contemporary university library environment for meeting up with the teaching, learning and research activities as well as the changing information needs of users. They ensure simultaneous search, space conservation, improved library services, speedy access and easy retrieval of documents for effective service delivery.
However, the present digital/hybrid library environment has dramatically changed library operations and services. Hence, the traditional preservation processes
that characterize the conventional library system can no longer sustain the present digital/hybrid library. As such, University libraries are faced with the challenge of skillful personnel to manage the digital resources. Consequently, there has been incessant loss of huge amount of digital resources in university libraries in Nigeria. This could be attributed to the fragile and unstable nature of digital storage media, environmental threats; internal and external threat such as virus invasion, system breakdown, poor management system, fire outbreak, flood, theft and poor skillful personnel. These several key issues surrounding the long-term preservation of digital resources remain a very big challenge to University libraries in Nigeria. It is therefore pertinent to develop a digital resources preservation programme that will empower librarians to address the present problems in preservation of digital resources. This is because, if there is no adequate preservation of these endangered but invaluable digital library resources, it will lead to a catastrophic loss of our cultural heritage materials; and the existence of the library as a repository centre will be highly jeopardized.
Many studies conducted have recommended the need for ICT training for librarians but there is no clear-cut programme for such training. Presently, there is no such uniform package available for this programme to articulate the digital preservation empowerment skills and knowledge needs of librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. Most university libraries in Nigeria, are acquiring digital resources at various levels. Consequently, Librarians are expected to acquire both practical skills and theoretical knowledge for effective management of these resources. Unfortunately, most librarians are deficient in the requisite practical skills on preservation of digital resources. This is obvious from the rate digital resources are lost in most university libraries. Hence, it is pertinent to develop a programme
(package) to help address the skill deficiency in digital resources preservation. Therefore, the development of a digital resources preservation programme for digital empowerment of librarians is the focus of this study.
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to develop a digital resources preservation programme for effective service delivery in federal university libraries in Nigeria Specifically, the study sought to:
1. Determine the objectives of digital resources preservation programme for digital empowerment of librarians in federal University libraries in Nigeria.
2. Find out the possible content of digital resources preservation programme for effective service delivery.
3. Determine the instructional strategies for the digital resources preservation programme
4. Find out the evaluation strategies that could be used to evaluate the level of achievement of digital resources preservation programme for librarians.
5. Develop a draft digital resources preservation programme for librarians
6. Validate the draft digital resources preservation programme for effective service delivery for librarians.
Research Questions
The following questions were formulated to guide the study:
1. What are the objectives of digital resources preservation programme for the digital empowerment of librarians in University libraries?
2. What are the contents (skills and knowledge) of digital resources preservation programme for librarians?
3. What are the instructional strategies that are suitable for the digital resources preservation programme?
4. What are the evaluation strategies that could be used in evaluating the digital resources preservation programme?
Significance of the Study
It is expected that the findings that will emanate from this work will be of immense benefit to the following group of people: institutions, library administrators, digital library management staff, general library staff, students and researchers.
The findings of this study are intended to provide effective guidance to institutions who are involved in the creation and/or acquisition of digital information resources on the best practices for preservation of digital resources. The findings will help them to know the various operations, steps and skills required for effective preservation of digital information resources.
This work will also serve as an invaluable resource to library administrators to plan and adopt effective strategies that will guide them on how to preserve their digital resources. It will help them to adopt a proactive strategy for training and re- training librarians to be active participants in preservation of digital resources.
The findings of this work will serve as an eye opener to the digital library management staff as it will reveal to them the best practices and steps needed for better preservation of digital library resources. It will also reveal to them the skills required to effectively preserve digital resources in the library.
The contents of the programme if effectively utilized by teaching library staff will serve as a training manual and a guide to inculcate the required skills and knowledge to their students. It will also reveal to them different instructional strategies for effective teaching. It will help to keep the general library staff abreast of the various skills needed to enhance their performance in digital resources preservation activities. It will also help the librarians to acquire the knowledge and skills capable of making them digital library managers in order to remain relevant in the modern-day digital library environment. Moreover, the findings of this study will be useful to the general library staff as it will equip them with the knowledge and skills required in overcoming the various challenges of preservation of digital information resources. It will reveal to them the best methods and practices of handling and preserving digital information resources in their libraries.
The findings of this work will serve as a vital information resource and a reference material to researchers especially in the area of programme development and preservation of digital library resources as it will help in widening their horizon in this area. Above all, the findings of this work will in no small measure contribute to building a body of literature on the theme in the field of library and information science. It is also expected that the findings of the study will help to further sharpen the focus of the study of any researcher with keen research interest in developing and packaging of programmes for skill empowerment of the people.
Theoretically, this study is based on the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model and Tyler’s Curriculum Model. These models provided the theoretical significance for this study. Through the models, the theoretical base of the digital resources preservation programme is established and the steps in curriculum development models will be of benefit for developing the digital resources preservation programme for Librarians in Nigerian Universities. The OAIS reference
model provides a framework for the understanding and increasing awareness of archival concepts needed for long term digital information preservation and access; it provides the concepts, terminologies, and defines the environment necessary to support a digital repository and the interaction within the library environment. Through these models, the theoretical base of the digital resources preservation programme is established and the steps in OAIS reference model will be of benefit for developing the digital preservation programme for librarians in Nigeria. Hence, the findings of this work will help to substantiate these theories.
Scope of the Study
The study is delimited to development and packaging of digital resources preservation programme for digital empowerment of librarians in University libraries in Nigeria. The development and packaging focused on the objectives, contents, instructional strategies, and evaluation strategies for the programme.
The study covered six federal university libraries from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The university libraries chosen were based on their level of involvement in digital library development. These include: University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Jos (UNIJOS), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ABU), Bauchi, Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria, and University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT). The population scope covers the academic librarians involved in the preservation of digital resources in federal universities in Nigeria.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION PROGRAMME FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA
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