THE CONSERVATION OF LIBRARY RESOURCES IN THREE SELECTED SPECIAL LIBRARIES IN LAGOS STATENIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This research looked at Conservation of Library resources in three selected special libraries in Lagos State. Titled conservation of library resources questionnaire (CLRQ) to guide the study and survey design was used.   Six research questions were drawn containing of forty–nine (49) options was constructed and administered to a population of fifty  staff of the libraries that are involved in conservation methods of the libraries. Fifty (50) copies of the questionnaire were filled, returned correctly and used for this study.  The researcher used frequency – count and percentage to analyze the data. The result of the study showed that the conservation methods of the libraries were mainly cleaning, dusting of library materials, installation of air conditioners in the libraries and that the libraries have binding  units, regular fumigation of the library materials,  proper shelving of the books and photocopying machines.   The result also showed that the conservation method was less extent which means that enough attention is not given to conservation methods.   The study revealed that few resources were employed for conservation of the libraries resources among which are photocopying machine, good housekeeping mainly and that they lack trained conservators and equipments for digitalisation generally.  Some of the problems identified as limiting their conservation programmes include lack of  conservation policies, inadequate funding, low level  of awareness of importance of conservation among information professionals and others. However, some strategies for enhancing the  conservation of  library resources were identified to include training of personnel, regular fumigation, adequate funding, education  of  library  users,  enacting  conservation  policy  and  others.  Based  on  the findings     the study recommended strategies to enhance the conservation of library resources among which are the formulation and implementation of the conservation policy, education of the library users and training of the library staff to enhance their performance.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The library is one of the several kinds of institution, which has the primary role of acquiring, processing, organizing, conserving as well as preserving the printed and non- printed information resources or materials for the use of their clientele.   The modern library is increasingly being redefined as a place to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. In addition to providing resources, it  also provides the services of specialist, librarians, who are experts at finding and organizing information and interpreting information needs.

Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Akoka Yaba, libraries are all special libraries. According to Odumosu (1979), in Ifidon (1991), special libraries are libraries primarily designed to  serve a limited number of experts, scientists and research workers. Their holdings in general relate to some particular  subject,  e.g  agriculture,  medicine,  law  and  international  relations.  These libraries may be attached to various bodies such as a parliament, or government department, a scientific  or other research institution. As  indicated in this definition, special libraries are meant to supply detailed information in particular subject fields.

Similarly, Agada and Ehoniyotan (2006), assert that special libraries are established to meet the highly specialized requirement of professional or business groups. They agreed with Odumosu that these libraries cover a specific and definable subject field. These libraries provide information to special users in response and anticipation of

the user’s needs. They provide active services instead of waiting passively for their users to come to the library. They are service oriented. They have most restricted purpose and homogenous clientele than any other type of library and are designed to support research or business activities of the organization.

The objectives of these special libraries are to:

      Provide  comprehensive  and  balanced  information  resources  relevant  to  the activities   of  their   parent   organizations.  Produce  and   disseminate   current awareness services base on the profiles of individual users. Special libraries have developed a wide range of services to keep their clienteles abreast of new and current  development. Such services are  offered  to  the  whole organisation or tailored towards a specific group.

      Provides reference service. Special libraries offer reference and research services ranging from answering simple reference questions to undertaking complex research and literature searches. They also assist users who which to pursue their own research.

      Routing of current periodicals. Routing of current periodicals is one of the most common functions of the special libraries. The libraries periodically survey their client as to circulate them to readers as the issues arrives.

      Acquisition bulletin. Special libraries offers acquisition bulletin services to their client/users. This may be simple list of materials or may include annotation or abstracts bulletins,  news summaries, and digests and other current awareness services offered by them.

These objectives agree with the objectives of the FIIRO, NIIA and NIALS. For example, these libraries provide and maintain means  of information that are of interest to their parent institution, provide the study of the objectives of their parent institutions, get involved in preparation and publications of books, record reports or otherwise as may be desired by their parent bodies.

If the resources in these libraries are lost, the records of human civilization are lost as well.  For this reason, the challenges of conserving library resources are a crucial worldwide issue that must be addressed internationally, nationally and locally.   In recognition and acknowledgement of the importance of conservation for libraries, International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) introduced at the IFLA meeting in Nairobi (1984) the Core Programme on Conservation and Preservation (PAC) as one of  the  new  core  programmes.  The  primary  goal  of  this  programme  was  officially launched in Vienna, Austria in April 1986, to encourage and promote the development of library conservation practice in the world’s libraries.

Library resources refer to all those media for storing information such as textbooks, journals, newspapers and magazines, patents and standards, handbooks and manuals, directories, gazetteers, encyclopaedias, atlases and maps calendars, and diaries, vertical  files,  theses  and  dissertations,  tapes,  video,  films,  optical  discs,  cassettes, magnetic tapes and  microforms (Popoola, 2003).  Similarly,  Dike (1993)  see  library resources in three broad categories. The categories are non-fiction print media, which include reference materials like dictionaries, encyclopaedias, biographical sources, almanacs and yearbooks, geographical sources, directories, handbooks and guides, manuals,  bibliographies, indexes and  abstracts.  Other  categories of non-fiction print

media according to her is literature and audiovisual materials that come in the form of three dimensional aids, display boards, graphic materials, pictures, over head projector, opaque projector, slide projector, filmstrip projector and films.

Conservation according to Popoola (2003), may be defined as policies and operations embarked upon by the managers of libraries and with the aim of increasing the life span of their information resources by preventing damage or remedying deterioration. It  may  also  be  seen  as  direct  physical  intervention  arresting  or  slowing  down deterioration of library resources.  According to Harrison (1992), conservation is about good housekeeping, learning how to handle and store resources to do the least damage, not subjecting it to unnecessarily heavy use and ensuring that backup or safety copies exist.  Conservation is  a  preventive  but  active  measure,  for  doing  something to  the material; not putting it in the wrong environment, not handling or touching the surface or running material through faulty equipment which will scratch and damage it.

The ultimate goal of any library conservation is  to make resources accessible and at the same time, ensure its long term survival.  The open access to library resources lead to the increased demand for the use of these library resources which is paper material resources.    The  search for  cheaper paper  to  meet  the  increased demand  led  to  the manufacture of paper from ground wood pulp in later part of 19th century.  According to Foot (1994), increasing demand for paper and advances in science and technology transformed  paper  making  from  a  craft  into  an  industrial  manufacturing  process. Different raw materials and new processes produced paper that is chemically unstable and that will deteriorate over time.  This deterioration is accelerated by light, heat, and

humidity.  The increase in atmospheric pollution has increased chemical deterioration of

paper, while the growth in library use has caused greater mechanical breakdown. Even if kept in a perfect environment and left untouched, mechanical wood pulp paper will break down eventually.

Most large libraries acquire and organise hundreds of thousands of books and documents on  such  paper  and  we  are  therefore  faced with  very  large conservation problems, so large that traditional conservation techniques and hand treatments can no longer keep it at bay, left alone solve it.   For decades, libraries have been looking for quicker and cheaper treatments and for ways to deal with large number of books and documents.  Today, a number of conservation practices are available, some well tested, others still in experimental stage.  Some conserve resources content through reformatting; others conserve the format as well as the content. When these practices are adopted by any  library,  the  benefits cannot  be  overemphasized.   These  according John  (1986), provide an extremely attractive strategy by stabilizing less-used books in an acceptable environment.  Conservation practices are able to establish priorities based upon use by concentrating  their  efforts  on  the  prime  use  collection.     An  acceptable  storage environment would include; a low fire/flood risk building with optimum security system,

low temperature and humidity controls (60-65o and 40-50% humidity); staff access only

for shelving and retrieval purposes.

Sule and Ademu (2005) observe also that conservation practices of library resources leads to the security of man’s recorded knowledge.   Through the process of conservation man has been able to put the record of the past, the present into safe places. It ensures the continued and effective exploitation of resources in any given library. Effective conservation practices of library resources creates awareness and consciousness

that leads to the establishment of written conservation policy and programmes, formulation of conservation commission and conservation unit within libraries. Conservation practices  leads  to  the  development  of  the  consciousness  of  resources handling and the sustenance of a good library housekeeping programmes.

More so, conservation practices ensure the continued supply of information for the writing of history of nations, for research purposes and for posterity.  When there is a good  conservation practices  of resources, efforts will  not  be  waste on replacement. Resources, which should have been expended on replacement, are channelled to the acquisition  of  new  resources  to  enrich  the  existing  collection.    The  life  span  of collections, books, journals, monographs audio-visuals etc are safeguarded through instrument of conservation.

Statement of the Problem

The  Federal  Institute  of  Industrial  Research  Oshodi  (FIIRO),  the  Nigerian Institute  of  International  Affairs  (NIIA),  and  Nigerian  Institute  of  Advanced  Legal Studies (NIALS) libraries have existed for more than three to four decades now. Over the years, they have obviously accumulated a lot of information materials on various subjects in  support of the  research activities of the  specialized users.  A great  deal of these materials are press clipping, government gazettes, United Nations documents, treaties with  other  nation  of  the  world,  photographs,    priceless  collection  of  African  and European Legal materials, also materials from America, Asia and other parts of   the globe. Others includes materials in areas of food science, engineering development and

fabrication,  and  so  on  which  are    either  old,  rare  or  so  specialized  in  format  that conservation is imperative if the contents must be preserved for future generations.

Unfortunately,  nothing  is  known  about  the  conservation  methods  of  these libraries. It is possible that the libraries may not be doing the right things to ensure the longevity of  the information materials. If the right conservation methods are not applied, these libraries  face the  risk of losing much of  their materials, which as is the habit in humanistic research, the older the better.

The holdings of these libraries according Sahoo (2009) are priceless heritage of mankind as they contain  facts, ideas, thoughts, accomplishment and evidence of human development in multifarious areas, ages, and directions as well as to the generation to come. And to loss such resources is simply irreplaceable. .Therefore, conserving these intellectual, cultural heritage becomes not only the academic commitment but also the moral responsibility of repositories.

That is why this study of conservation of library resources in these institutes is important and timely so that this ugly consequences will be averted and enable the institutes employ the various option to salvage the exiting resources so that they can still continue to perform their roles to the parents organizations.

Purpose of the Study

The  main  purpose of the  study is  to  investigate the conservation of Library resources in the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), The Nigerian institute  of  International  Affairs  Victoria  Island  (NIIA)  and  Nigerian  Institute  of

Advanced Legal Studies Akoka Yaba (NIALS) Lagos. However, the specific purposes of the study are as follows to:

1.  Identify  the  methods  of  conservation  of  Library  resources  Federal  Institute  of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), The Nigerian institute of International Affairs Victoria Island (NIIA) and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Akoka Yaba (NIALS) Lagos state.

2.    Examine the extent of conservation of library resources

3.  Identify the resources employed in the conservation of the resources

4.    Ascertain the benefits of conserving library resources of the libraries

5.    Determine constraints to effective conservation of resources in the libraries.

6.    Determine  strategies  for  improving  the  conservation of  library  resources  in  the libraries.

Research Questions

The research questions guiding this study are the following:

1.  What are the methods of conserving library resources in Federal Institute of Industrial Research  Oshodi  (FIIRO),  The  Nigerian  Institute  international  Affairs,  Victoria Island (NIIA) and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Akoka Yaba (NIALS) Lagos state?

2.  What is the extent of conserving resources in the libraries?

3.  What are the   resources employed to conserve the Libraries resources

4.  What are the benefits of conserving library resources?

5.  What are the constraints to effective conservation of libraries resources?

6.  What are the strategies for improving conservation of   libraries resources?

Significance of the Study

The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), The Nigerian institute of International Affairs Victoria Island (NIIA) and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Lagos, all plays very important role in support of services in the accomplishment of research mission of the Institutes. It should therefore be of interest to all the stakeholders in the Institute by ensuring that the library resources are well conserved for as long as possible to make them viable for research purposes. The findings of this study are expected to be of beneficial to the governing council of the institutes, the librarians, the research fellows, the staff members and general public. It is envisage that the study will help to sensitize the top management staff of the institutes about the true state of the conservation resources of the libraries on what they need to do to improve them so that they will be saved from destruction and still continue to render services to the users. As a source of empirical data, the study is expected to help the librarians or library administrators to identify the flaws in the conservation methods of the library resources and also suggest measures which can be taken to correct them, to enable the librarians device more cost-effective and future oriented policies for securing the resources. The information generated by the study will be of help to top management of the institutes in making a case for better funding of the libraries to the governing council. It will also help them bid towards formulating a credible policy in conservation programmes that will safe guard the libraries resources for future use.

Moreover, the findings of the study will be useful to the entire library staff as it will help to reveal to them the state of conservation methods available to enable them embark on training that will enhance their services to the research fellows and library

users. In addition, the findings of the study will be of benefit to the research fellows as it will ensure access to the quicker and better services. And generally the findings of the study will help the general public have easy access to the information in the  libraries, that will be useful in research studies and learning.

Scope of the Study

The research work covered the following special libraries in Lagos state, Nigeria, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS). The respondents include all the library staff members that are involved in the project. Furthermore, the study is limited to the conservation of library resources in the libraries of these institutes.

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