SECURITY PROBLEMS IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES OF HIGHER INSTITUTION OF LEARNING
ABSTRACT
This study concerned the security problems that confronted academic libraries in Imo state University library, research questions for the study were constructed.
The description survey method was used on the total of 50 staff, this 50 staff were made up from the Imo state University libraries.
The sample and sampling techniques was done in a systematic way, it was found that the major cause of security problem was high cost of books and periodicals, it is also found that the major source of loss in academic library was stealing the library materials.
Finally, it was discovered that the highest measure taken to reduce loss was to employ qualified security staff.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 OVERVIEW
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Security is the activities involved in protecting of country, building or person against attack or danger. The use of closed access by the libraries in medical time gave an indication that owners of libraries were security conscious, hence they used it as a means of safeguarding library materials over the years people realized that running libraries on closed access did not allow library users to make the best use of library materials, this was because library patron or users were always constrained even when they know that they were not in the mood to read at that time.
This limitation and development in technology coupled with the various revolution taking place, the world over made the libraries to discover that many reliable book materials were either mutilated or stolen while the non-books materials become targets of thieves who vandalize them, the rate at which these materials were getting lost made libraries involved security measures to check the trend.
Libraries become involved in extra expenses by employing security men who conduct physical search on the patrons, there security men and women are stationed in conspicuous areas of the library and they went through all materials being checked in and out of the library.
The fear for the security of library resources has always been a reach one such as the fear that even in Egytian and monastic libraries valuable materials were held in chains for example “in ancient Egypt, writing on papyees and leather was restricted to tonbs and temple achieves rooms under lock and key to prevent them from theft”. This type of problem on library resources is not a new phenomenon in the history of librarianship, the introduction of face and open access to materials gave way to anti-social or antiregulatory library behaviour towards the library resources and even to staff themselves.
W.A Akinfolarin “Towards Improved Security Measures in Nigeria University Library” African Journal of library and information science 20 no 1 (1992) 51. Thompson and care recorded that materials on open access were at greater risk in Cambridge university library than those issue on request.
Many anti regulatory behaviour are real and as discussed, many of them have become the talk of the day in the universities. Patrons tend to steal multilate or vandalize library materials, staff who serve theses patrons find themselves exposed to greater risk as a result of nature of their job.
Having observed these various security treats to library materials while undergoing patrical librarianship academic library resource is becoming increasingly everyday. It becomes necessary to critically examine the cause of the security problems in the academic libraries sources of loss of library materials and recommend measure, which if taken by the library were drastically reduce the security problems.
