Emmanuel Kehinde, ilorin
A University Professor of Library and Information Science, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Mrs Adetoun Omolola Idowu, has lamented the declining reading culture in Nigeria, especially among youths, whom he said now delight in social media.
Idowu, who expressed her feeling when she delivered the 200th Inaugural Lecture of the university, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, therefore sought urgent reversal of the ugly trend by the federal, state and local governments.
The don,who asked the question “Is the library still relevant as a resource to our educational system?” also challenged educators, especially librarians, to be upto- date, committed, visionary and resourceful in their duties.
Idowu said:“Primary and secondary schools should not be registered by the Ministries of Education, if the schools do not have functional libraries and trained librarians on their staff list.
“When this is done, quite a huge number of Library and Information Science graduates could then be employed to provide effective library service to our teeming youths.”
She also recommended that all academic libraries should be automated, in line with the current trend in the discipline,and urged that all academic library facilities be equipped with anti-theft gadgets to reduce loss of expensive and scarce equipment as well as resources acquired through the library.
The Professor stressed the need for academic libraries to be flexible enough to accommodate the yearnings, needs and even nuances of younger generation of users who were technology savvy, to encourage readership, especially among youths.
