TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page .. .. .. .. .. … .. .. .. ..i
Approval Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..ii
Certification Page .. .. .. .. .. .. ..iii
Dedication .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..iv
Acknowledgements .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..v
List of Tables .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..vi
Table of Contents . .. .. .. .. .. ..vii
Abstract .. .. .. .. .. ..ix
CHAPTER ONE
Background of the Study .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1
Statement of the Problem .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 8
Purpose of the Study .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 9
Research Questions . .. .. .. .. 10
Significance of the Study . .. .. .. 10
Scope of the Study .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 12
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
The Concept of Training and Training Needs .. .. .. 13
ICT and Archival Management Systems .. .. .. .. 22
Appraisal and Acquisition of Archival Records .. .. .. 26
Organization of Archival Records .. .. .. .. .. 31
The Storage and Retrieval Devices used in the Archives37
Preservation of Information Materials in Archives of Academic
Libraries .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 41
Review of Empirical studies .. .. .. 50
The summary of literature review .. .. .. 56
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS
Research Design .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 58
Area of Study .. .. .. .. .. .. 58
Population of the study . .. .. .. .. 59
Sample and Sampling Technique . .. .. .. 59
Instrument for Data Collection .. .. .. .. 59
Validation of the Instrument .. .. .. .. 61
Method of Data Collection .. .. .. .. 61
Method of Data Analysis .. .. .. .. 62
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Research Question 1… .. .. .. .. .. 64
Research Question 2.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 65
Research Question 3.. … .. .. .. .. .. 66
Research Question 4.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 67
Research Question 5.. .. .. .. .. .. 68
Research Question 6.. . .. .. .. .. .. 69
Summary of Major Findings.. .. .. .. .. .. 70
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Discussion of Findings .. .. .. .. 72
Implications of Study .. .. .. .. .. 75
Recommendations .. .. .. .. .. 77
Limitations of the study.. .. .. .. .. .. 78
Suggestions for Further Research .. .. .. 78
Conclusion . .. .. .. .. .. .. 79
REFERENCES.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 81
APPENDICES
Appendix I.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 90
Appendix II.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 91
Appendix III.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. 92
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the training needs of librarians for the management of archives of university libraries in South East, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A total of seventy (70) librarians were sampled in the university libraries of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Enugu State University of Science and Technology and Ebonyi State University. To find out the training needs of librarians for the management of archives of university libraries in South East, Nigeria, questionnaire and interview schedule were used in collecting data. Seventy (70) copies of the questionnaire were distributed to librarians and the data retrieved were analyzed using means scores. The findings of the study reveal that the librarians need training in acquisition, organization, dissemination tools and preservation of archival materials. Also, it discloses the challenges and strategies involved in training librarians for proper management of archives of university libraries. These challenges include inadequate training resources and funds by the host universities, lack of sponsorship, limited resources persons for training programmes and administrative bottleneck. The strategies involved in training librarians for effective management of archives of university libraries were equally revealed by the study. They are on the job training method, provision of relevant training resources, improved funding for the training programmes, vestilute e.g. computer assisted programmes, postgraduates programmes in archives management, motivation of librarians for training in archives administration, mentoring, programme instruction, simulation, lecture/classroom method and extension/correspondence. The study recommended that the librarians need training in archival science, archival soft wares including ICT facilities and preservative measures. Also, the university library administrators should assess the training needs of their staff and initiate strategies of realizing them. Finally, archival science should be accommodated as a core course in the curricula of library schools in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The university libraries are service oriented and in order to ensure effective service delivery to clients, the librarians need to be trained. The university libraries render several services to their host universities. Aguolu and Aguolu (2002) maintain that the university libraries acquire materials, published and unpublished, print and non-print in some depth and globally in almost all the fields of knowledge. Aiyegunle and Moneme (2006) gave a clearer definition of university libraries as they revealed that they are places where collection of materials are organized to provide physical, bibliographical and intellectual access to a target group by trained staff who provide services and programme related to the information needs of such a group.
Therefore, the university libraries are those libraries that are established in the universities as systematic information resource bank of recorded knowledge organized by professionals in order to serve their parent institutions. They also provide the information needs of researchers such as undergraduates, post graduates and staff. This type of library is distinct from other libraries such as public libraries, national libraries, school libraries and others. This is because they provide information materials in different formats to support teaching learning and research. The main purpose of university libraries is to support the curriculum of their host universities and also to promote research in the university communities where they exist. The university library has many divisions; these include the following collection development, technical service, public service and special collections. The archival unit of the university library is in the special collections division.
Archives are collections of historical records as well as the place in which they are kept. They are mainly the primary documents of an institution that accumulate in the course of running the institution or organization. Bellardo and Bellardo (1992:4) define archives as “the document created or received and accumulated by a person or organization in the course of the conduct of affairs and preserved because of their continued value”. Therefore, archives can be seen as a collection of records and documents in different formats which are organized and managed by professionals because of their importance to their parent institutions or organizations. Archives also consist of records that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their values. Archival materials are unique because they can only be found in a single repository unlike library materials that can be found in the collections of other libraries.
The information contained in the archives is useful for research. Styne as cited in Kemoni (2002) insists that archival information contributes immensely to research, individual enlightenment, provision of solutions to practical problems, benefits users and advances scholarship. Therefore, archival materials in university libraries are useful for legal, administrative and research purposes. These university archives play vital roles such as preserving and celebrating the history of the academic institutions where they exist. They also provide keys to unlock and examine the past and present events. The beneficiaries of archives of university libraries are biographers, documentary filmmakers, independent writers, local historians, and scholars such as undergraduates, post graduates and staff.
The study and practice of organizing, preserving and providing access to information materials in archives is known as archival science. There are different types of archives and they include academic archives, business archives, government archives, church archives, non-profit archives (repositories within non-profit establishments), web archiving and public archives. Academic archives exist in universities and other higher institutions. Examples of some of these archival materials are: minutes of meetings of university council, committees, senate, faculty boards, congregation, clubs and association. Others are bulletins, conference papers, research reports, photographs, lectures such as inaugural lectures, legal documents (agreements, copyrights, deeds, instrument of gift and bequest), bibliographies, convocation order of proceedings, speeches, financial records, video and sound tape recordings, students associations and alumni publications etc. These archival materials are housed within the library and managed by librarians.
The management of archives of university libraries involves directing, controlling, appraising, acquiring, accessing, organizing, preserving information materials with enduring values in archives. Management as defined by Hornby (2000:717) “is the act of running and controlling a business or similar organization”. The librarians in archives acquire, organize, disseminate, and preserve archival resources in order to ensure that the information needs of all its users are met. Acquisition is a process of identifying, scrutinizing and procuring records with continuing values. These materials are usually organized by librarians and organization is grouping and describing archival materials in accordance with the basic rules of arranging archives. Moreover, information dissemination is vital in archives of university libraries using dissemination tools. Dissemination tools are those devices used to store, retrieve and spread or make information materials easily accessible to clients. It is also pertinent that archival materials are preserved and preservation of archival materials is a process of maintenance and restoration of archival materials in their original form. Other duties of librarians in archives of university libraries include: appraising records for permanent preservation and safeguarding, cataloguing and classifying archival resources, arranging records for easy retrieval, providing access to records and documents, creating current awareness services about their materials (selective dissemination of information) and also keeping records accurately. They render these services to provide support to the entire university community such as undergraduates, post graduates and researchers.
Seemingly, most librarians do not have adequate training in acquisition, organization, dissemination and preservation of archival materials since administration and management of archives and records is an elective course and not a core course in library schools in Nigeria. Moreover, in this era of information and communication technology, archival services can be upgraded using ICT facilities such as archival soft wares.
Information and communication technology is defined by Ajayi (1999) as cited in Akor (2010) as a new way of storing, processing and transmitting information through electronics and telecommunication. Nsude(2010) defines Information and communication technology as the mechanism to process, store, preserve, transmit and retrieve information. Archival soft wares are those ICT facilities such as internet soft wares that can facilitate the work flow in the archives of university libraries. It is against this background that training of librarians for archival management system becomes crucial.
Training aims at improving one’s capability, capacity and performance. It will help the librarians in the university libraries to appraise records efficiently for permanent preservation because some records have historical and long-term values. Also, training is very vital to these librarians because the archival services are specialized services to clients. Most of their materials are highly confidential for example, examination results of past students such as undergraduates and postgraduates, appraisal records, etc. At times the archivist needs to interview a client before offering service to the client. Also, archives are not lending library but reference library only. The archivist provides access to delicate information materials which requires special and careful handling for examples: manuscripts, photographs, maps, microforms etc.
The acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies which results from the teaching of vocational skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies is known as training. Hawkins (1986:872) defines training as “the process by which one is trained for a sport, contest or an occupation”. The Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English language (1994:1503) also defines training as “the education, instruction or discipline of a person who trains or that which also trains”. Therefore, training is the process of imparting knowledge, basic skills, instructions, and also practical skills on individuals in order to prepare them to carry out expected responsibilities in an organization or institution.
It is not only initial training that is useful but also continual training in order to ensure, maintain, upgrade and update one’s skills as the job progresses. Training of librarians for proper management of archives of university libraries will boost confidence in the entire system. It will also ensure efficiency and competency in discharging duties in archival sections of the university libraries. Training can place or move librarians to the peak of their working career and the librarians are expected to keep archives under physical and intellectual control. They are information professionals who are highly trained in library and information science which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those who have information needs. Librarianship means the art and science of selecting, acquiring, organizing, describing, classifying, administering, preserving, conserving, utilizing books, journals, non book materials including the dissemination of information and knowledge. Librarianship as a profession has been associated with collection of books but in this 21st century, librarianship has advanced from collection of books to provision of information in different formats such as audio recordings, video recordings, graphic materials, microforms, bibliographic databases, web searching, and digital resources.
If the librarians in archives of university libraries fail to manage archives well, the implication is that information materials will be inaccessible. Hence in-house cataloguing schemes are invented and used differently in various archives of university libraries while most archival documents are labeled and kept in boxes. In archives of university libraries, proper preservation of information materials is vital and remains a challenge. The archival materials are likely to deteriorate if not preserved for future generations. Ibegwam (2010) opines that archiving and digitizing of valuable library materials prolong their life span. Also, Popola as cited in Zaid and Abioye (2009) maintains that in the developing countries like Nigeria, the information professionals such as archivists cannot fail to admit that much valuable heritage materials are lost due to ever increasing deterioration, lack of coordination in handling records and absence of legal policies. As a result of that proper training of librarians in ICT, acquisition, organization, dissemination and preservation of archival materials is inevitable.
