‘Students have right to demand for books they need’

The Chief Librarian of the University of Abuja, Dr Ifeoma Roseline Echezona, has said that students do not know their right in the use of library as they can demand for books they need if they cannot find them in the facility. “When they search for a particular book they need and cannot find it, […]

The Chief Librarian of the University of Abuja, Dr Ifeoma Roseline Echezona, has said that students do not know their right in the use of library as they can demand for books they need if they cannot find them in the facility.

“When they search for a particular book they need and cannot find it, they have the right to tell us they need such book and that is why the selection comes from the faculty,” she said.

Speaking to Daily Trust in an interview, the chief librarian said the only time they interfere is when they get list of old materials and “we will use the opportunity to tell them it has to be current materials because we cannot use university money to buy obsolete materials.”

She explained further that they may not have all the books but the university is trying to remedy that.

“Even the ones we buy, how many of them are using them. We have books but I won’t say all the materials you may need are here. No, the only way we can know that we don’t have these books is when you complain,” she said.

Dr Echezona said the rate of students and other library users had dropped as many do not make use of the books that are made available for them due to emerging technologies such as smart phones and other electronic gadgets.

“Many students have not registered with the library despite all the effort and lectures we are giving them on the use of the library. Some of them do not even know what we have here in the library,” she added.

On use of e-library, she said: “If you don’t have the university’s email you cannot use it or access it. It is configured in such a way that the university wants every student to have its official email so that when you come you will use it and that helps to keep record of the number of students using our materials.”

While advising students to make use of what they have because there are lots of things for them, she said for first year students, the first point of call is the reference material like encyclopedia, newspapers and materials that will give them introduction of what they want.

However, she said they are making efforts to come up with some innovative things to bring students’ attention back to the library, such as creative room with television where they can watch films or play games and canteen where they can eat and still go back to reading their books.

On challenges facing the library, she said paucity of fund, low bandwidth and shortage of staff, noting that the university had not recruited for some time now.