Collection development in an African academic library during economic depression: The University of Lagos library experience

Librur.v.-lcqctisirions: Prucrice & Theory. Vol. Printed

in the USA.

II, pp.

103-111. 1987

All rights reserved.

Copyright

036-G6408/87 S3.00 + .OO % 1987 Pergsmon

Journals

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT IN AN AFRICAN ACADEMIC LIBRARY DURING ECONOMIC DEPRESSION: The University of Lagos Library Experience

S. OLAJIRE OLANLOKUN H. S. ISSAH

University

of Lagos Library

Yaba,

Lagos

Nigeria

Abstract-Library development in Nigeria started with the Lagos Book Club in the 1920s. This grew into a subscription library in the 1930s and thereafter resulted in the establishment of various types of libraries in the country. Academic library development began with the establishment of the University College, Ibadan, in 1948. The College Library also served as the national library for the country until the National Library of Nigeria took over these functions in 1970. The University of Lagos was established in I962 to provide general and professional education. The collection development policy was to provide materials in support of the programs offered by the university through book purchase, exchange, and legal deposit. The economic fortunes of the country have reflected on the collection development in the University of Lagos Library. The oil boom period witnessed active collection development. With the decline in oil fortunes, the economic depression set in, and this has had an adverse effect on the materials acquired by the library. The volumes added to the University of Lagos Library fell from 17,264 in 1976-77 to less than one-third that number seven years later. Government economic policy measures such as strict foreign exchange regulations, introduction of import license for books, import duties, and other measures have affected book acquisition. The importance of a free flow of information for effective library service in institutions of higher learning is highlighted.

103

Ltd.

104

S. 0. OL.QiLOKUN

and H. S. ISSAH

INTRODUCTION Modern library development in Nigeria can be said to have begun a little over half a century ago. The Lagos Book Club was formed in the 1920s by a group of colonial expatriate civil servants and a few Nigerians. Later, in 1932, the Book Club received a grant of $6,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Lagos Library was inaugurated in June 1932, and was essentially a subscription library, as members paid to make use of its services. The British colonial government made its own contribution to library development. It established a library in Lagos in 1943, which served as an information centre during the Second World War. When the war ended the British Council established libraries in Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan, and Benin City; the cities where the regional governments were based. The libraries provided books and general reference materials which were made accessible to civil servants and others who required information. Academic library development in the country began with the establishment of the first University College, Ibadan, in 1948. The library became the torchbearer and leader in the West African region. It performed some of the functions of a National Library before the country eventually established one. The University of Ibadan library was instrumental in ensuring that a Publication Ordinance was enacted. The Nigerian Publications Ordinance of 1950 made it compulsory for publishers to deposit two copies of each book published in the country in the University of Ibadan library. The library started publishing “Nigerian Publications” in 1953. This publication contained a list of materials received by the library under the Publications Ordinance of 1950. The National Library of Nigeria was established, and it opened to the public in 1964. It took over the publication of “Nigerian Publications” under a new title, “Bibliography of Nigeria.” With the attainment of political independence by Nigeria on October 1, 1960, the need for higher education for its citizens became imperative. It became apparent that more institutions would be required to provide trained personnel for all sectors of the economy. The Nigerian Federal government appointed the Ashby Commission in 1959. The Commission was to conduct an investigation into the country’s needs in the field of post-school certificate and higher education over a twenty-year period. The Commission submitted its report in September 1960. It recommended the expansion of the student population, and it also recommended the establishment of more universities to meet the manpower needs. Three universities were recommended; for the Northern Region, the Eastern Region, and the Federal University in Lagos [l]. Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, and the University of Lagos are the immediate results of this Commission’s report. From 1948 to 1960 the University College, Ibadan, represented the only University in Nigeria. Today there are 23 with significant growth taking place throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The subject of this paper is the University of Lagos Library. We shall briefly discuss some of the factors that contribute to having a good or poor library before we focus on the University of Lagos Library and its collection development.

ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

University libraries are established to support the teaching and research objectives of their institutions. The ability of the libraries to fulfill their goals and objectives depends on a number of factors. Prominent among these are:

Collection

and Development

in an African

105

Library

1. Financial support from the governing authority, 2. The place accorded the library by the institution’s management, 3. The degree of cooperation received from the teaching and research staff in book and journal selection, and 4. General enthusiasm for efficient library service. Libraries are vital to progress and development. They are especially important in developing countries where the need to catch up with more advanced countries becomes not only a necessity but at times an infatuation. The need for the production of high-level manpower, for research into local problems, and for helping local industries in regard to manpower training and research accentuate the role of university libraries in both developed and developing countries. The Carnegie Corporation’s report on research libraries put into focus their role in development. It states that: Scholarship

in all fields, the scientific and industrial

address public problems at all levels of organization, individuals

to pursue their own intellectual

ity of published

information,

pensable to the preservation Together,

vitality of the country,

concerns depend to a significant

which is the substance of research libraries. and transmission

of knowledge

they are essential to the advancement

the excellence of scholarship

the national capacity to

and perhaps the most important.

of learning,

the ability of

degree on the availabilThese libraries are indis-

and to the creation

of new knowledge.

and the quality of each directly affects

and research.[2]

The university library has been described as the custodian of the world’s actual knowledge and the reservoir of this potential knowledge [3]. Thus, the library preserves and makes available the results of research already conducted and provides facilities for the extension of the frontiers of knowledge. University libraries play an important role in education, information, and the generation of knowledge. They may not be able to perform their functions efficiently because of factors both internal and external. Writing on some of these, Moran maintains that the library: ...

relies on publishers for books, microforms

stacks, computers and other equipment,

and audiovisual

materials,

on manufacturers

and on library schools for professional

of these areas will directly affect the ability of a library to achieve its objectives. changes in the interests and needs of library are examples of phenomena cult for the library

Decreased funding,

users, and the increased cost of books and equipment

which have occurred

to operate

for book

staff. Changes in any

outside the library

and which make it more diffi-

successfully.[4]

Libraries in developing countries have other issues to take into consideration apart from those raised by Moran. Local contribution to world publishing is infinitesimal. Nigeria produced 2,316 titles in 1980, 1,150 in 1981, and 1,666 in 1982 compared with the USA’s 86,374 in 1980, and 91,517 in 1981 [j]. Developing countries’ economies are very vulnerable, and they have the herculean task of finding foreign exchange to pay for books and other imported items. Thus, they guard jealously the foreign exchange available, with the result that other commodities in governmental purchasing often take priority over books. When all these things are taken into consideration, one can visualize the problems of academic libraries in a developing country where huge foreign debts and a depleted treasury call for frugal financial management. This paIjer will be concerned with the collection development in one Nigerian academic library. Some of the issues discussed are applicable to many of the academic libraries in our country and perhaps some of the other countries of the Third World.

106

S. 0. Ot4YLOEUN

and H. S. ISSAH

BRIEF PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF LAGOS

The University of Lagos was established in 1962 by the Nigerian Federal government. It started with the faculties of Business, Social Studies, and Law, as well as a Medicai School. In 1964, the faculties of Engineerin g, Science, Arts, and Education were added. It now has eight faculties: Arts, Education, Social Studies, Business Administration, Law, Engineering, Science, and Environmental Design, in addition to the IMedical School. This paper will focus on the Main Library, which is the central library for the institution. The other libraries in the University of Lagos Library System are the Medical Library and the Faculty of Education Library. The Main Library is responsible for the acquisition of books for the Education Library while the Medical Library acquires its own books and journals. The Main Library has a total floor area of 63,000 square feet with a capacity for 800 readers. The student population has risen to over 12,000 [6]. Some basic guidelines were established in 1963 for the acquisition of materials. These include: I. The library should acquire a large and varied collection of reference and bibliographic materials. 2. Establishment of an audio-visual unit for reading and listening to materials in the nonbook form. 3. Establishment of a photographic department to make copies of books that cannot be lent either to members of the university or to scholars from other institutions. 4. Setting up departmental libraries where these are essential for the work of the departments. The Main Library would house the Main collections for all subjects, and the departmental libraries would acquire only books and journals needed for reference in connection with experiments. 5. Establishment of a bindery to bind and repair al1 types of printed materiais [7]_ The collections in the Main Library have grown to over 260,000 volumes in almost a quarter of a century. A Reprographic Section has been established, and this takes care of photocopying for both staff and students. The departmental libraries have not taken off. Only the Faculty of Education Library and the Medical Library, which came into being at the inception of the institution, are retained. There are, in the various departments, coilections of books and journals which cannot be described as libraries; and, financia1 constraints make the hope of full-fledged faculty libraries a dream of the future. A Bindery Section was set up and has been responsible for binding books, journals, students’ projects, theses, and dissertations.

COLLECTION

DEVELOPMENT

The Main Library has a Book Selection Committee composed of academic library staff. These committees help the Acquisitions Librarian in the development of the library collections. The educational background of each academic library staff member determines committee membership. Those with science backgrounds are placed in the Science and Technology Selection Committee while those in the Sociai Sciences take up book selection in that area. The committees cover the various subject areas of interest to the programs offered in the Main Campus and research interests of staff. Recommendations are made for books and journals, and these are sent to the University Librarian who finaily decides what should and should not be acquired. The Committees’ recommendations are supplemented by those of the fac-

ulty members to whom publishers’ catalogues and new book and journal announcements arc routed. The Acquisitions Librarian keeps a profile of the university teachers and research Eellovvs, who constantly receive publishers’ catalogues and announcements from the library to assist their recommendations for purchase. They are implored to grade their recommendations in order of priority-A, B, or C. The faculty members are also encouraged to send unsolicited lists of titles of books and journals that they want the library to acquire. Members of the university community are usually informed of the status of their book recommendations periodically-whether they are in the library already, on order, or recently received and awaiting processing.

ACQUISITIONS

THROUGH

EXCHANGE

PROGRAhIS

The library has exchange programs vvith reputable libraries all over the world. The overall number of eschange partners at the time of writing stands at 376, of which local partners account for 106 and overseas partners account for 270, or over two-thirds. The total number of active partners is 105, with 30 local and 75 overseas. Prominent among the local partners are institutions of higher learning who exchange the publications of their institutions, staff and others published in their locality with those of the University of Lagos. Some examples of the local partners are: I. 2. 3. 4.

University of Ife, Ile-lfe, Nigeria University of Maiduguri, Nigeria Balewa College (formerly Federal University of Technology, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Active overseas 1. 2. 3. 4.

partners

include

Bauchi),

Nigeria.

the following:

University of London, Great Britain National University of Singapore University of California (Berkeley), U.S.A. Adelaide University, Australia

The library is a depository for some organizations like the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the Lagos State of Nigeria. About 27 percent of the total library collections of over 260,000 volumes were acquired in a seven-year period (see Table 1). The library no doubt benefited from the country’s economic boom period. The decline started in 1980-81 and no one can say when the “good old days” will be back. Table 2 shows the materials received and accessioned from 1976 to 1983. The breakdown for the various disciplines is shown. The Acquisitions Section recorded the largest number of books received from its suppliers (both local and overseas) from 1976-1980. The confidence of the suppliers was high that the library would be able to pay, a confidence which became shaken with the depression setting in. The largest of the suppliers were based overseas. Blackwell North America and B.H. Blackwell supplied about forty-five per cent of the total number of books received during the period. Oceana, an American publisher and book supplier, accounted for about fifteen per cent; Swets

10s

S. 0.

OL.WLOtCUS

and H. S. ISS.%H

TABLE 1 BOOKS RECEIVED FRO>I 1976-1953 Year

\‘olumes

.Accessioncd

1976,77

17.261

1977,’ t8

10.018

197s:i9

12,138

1979’80 198OG1

15,461

lPSlG3

1.914

1982 ‘83

5,060

S.584

Source: Accessions Register 197’S1983

Zeitlinger in Europe took about ten per cent, while the renlaining thirty per cent were local Nigerian book deafers as welt as small book agents from Asia and other Third World countries.

COLLECTION

DEVELOPMENT

IN THE 1980s

The country’s dependence on oil for its revenue and the global oil glut which began in the Iast few years have had a devastating effect on all sectors of the economy, including the library. The library budget, which rarely came under the axe, became susceptible to the epidemic that engulfed the country’s economy. The stringent foreign exchange regulations imposed by the government to conserve money and make the most efficient use of what is available have changed the fortunes of libraries. Hitherto, foreign book dealers provided over seventy per cent of the book needs. They sent books to the iibrary, and these were paid for after they had been received. This credit faciiity was stopped, and the library was asked to prepay its purchases. Processed invoices certified for payment remained in the files of the commercial banks until enough money was made available by the Central Bank in foreign exchange. What was more, import duties were imposed for the first time in 1982. Instead of the problems of acquiring books from abroad abating, they seem to be increasin g. In 1984, Import Licence was introduced for books. Anyone who wanted to import books had to obtain a licence; foreign exchange would be allocated to back this up. The licences were issued in the middle of 1984, and they expired at the end of the year. This is apart from the heavy documentation involved, the taking up of insurance, and pre-shipment inspection processes which made importing books from abroad an unpleasant task. The university administrators were not unaware of the problems that the library faced. In an address to a Congress of the Standing Conference of African University Librarians held at the University of Lagos in 1984, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor described the predicament of libraries in acquiring books in the following vein: At present in Nigeria

pre-shipment

inspection,

the use of Form XI, and the general scarcity of for-

eign exchange have caused the inflow\ of books, documenrs and journals virtual srandsrill or ar best to a trickle. for economic available

. . . The

and social progress, is in one sense largely a transfer

through

books,

documents

from abroad to come to a

transfer of technology on which we all pin our hopes

and journals.[8]

of information

much of which is

17,264

16,766

Total Non-lhok Grnnd 7‘0~1

Sot. Science

Science

imx\ C‘l~llllll.

Law

Ihsiness Educalion Engineering Env. Design Gcncrol

Arts

1,569 I.328 2.490 I.229 2,929 795 1,499 I ,097 59X 1,431 2,209 17.264

I ,63X 1,297 2,476 I.179 2.921 77x 1,474 996 5X9 1,330 2,078 16.766

L

Africvi~~ L

Volume

Title

19761977

Subjw

July, June.

X.512

419 961 662 777 84X 594 362 547 I ox I.414 I.820 X.512

Title

July, June,

10,018

521 1.196 699 858 929 611 456 724 I22 I.730 2,172 10.01X

Volulllc

l977197X

I ,3x0 521 1,002 I.503 254 629 635 324 I.131 55X 952 9.979 76 10.055

Title

June,

July,

I.506 I ,(x)5 I.250 2.146 56X 933 x47 5x1 I.337 693 I.196 I2.062 76 12.13x

Volulllc

1979

197X-

197%

I I .X62

2.020 I.339 7x1 I ,X59 6X4 I .W6 709 934 464 x73 !,I03 I I .X62

Tills 5x4 I.155 699 945 770 652 x33 605 62X 574 502 7.947 7,947

15,461

Tillc

June,

July,

x.5x.l

004 I.247 731 I.062 7X5 6X0 9 I2 060 6.53 63X 612 X.584

Volunlc

IWO19x1

BY SUBJECT

2,412 I .68X I.043 2,325 956 I.240 966 I ,20x 597 I.067 1,959 15.461

Volulllc

Jtlnc. 19x0

Jllly.

TABLE 2 BOOKS RECEIVED-ANNUAL SUMMARY I’M-

363 456 53x IO0 I31 IX-I 5x 531 723 3.725 I2 3,737

279 362

I‘illc

73 6 I3 XI? -1.1197 I7 -1,914

0 I7 596 IO6 20 I 56 I

JO’)

-1x-l

-124

Vl~IIIIIlC

.lllllc. IW

July,

Tillc

JIW.

vol~llllc

I’M3

.ItlI\, . 9 19x1-

L:

2 =

r: c_

110

S. 0.

OL.ANLOKUN

and H. S. ISSAH

The library has to compete with importers of other materials like machinery, spare parts, and essential food items. Previous purchases of books already received when credit was given were yet to be paid for after over two years. Understandably, this created a problem of confidence between the library and its established book dealers abroad. Some wrote and complained about the high interest they had to pay on the bank loans they took to supply and the adverse effect of this on their businesses. Some have sent messages to their embassies to help in recovering their money. One of the dealers in a correspondence had this to say: .\lany

titles have been received on standing

. You {bill

order

outstanding

debt.

permanently

open if we are not able to actually

orders ever. future.

remain

1 feel

open with

appreciate

the publishers. the standing

supply

the volumes.

and therefore,

that in the absence of any indication

we shall cancel

\\ hich \\e have stock-piled

that it will not be possible

from

volumes

. uill

pending

settlement

to keep all these standing For the moment continue

you that payment

of the orders

your standing

to be received.

How-

can be sent to us in the near

orders.

The library remained helpless, as all the processes necessary to effect payment from its end had been carried out while the external bodies- the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank- have the power to see the money paid out to creditors. Herein lies the dilemma of the library. The argument that health and other equally sensitive sectors should take precedence over importation of books continues to be made much to the chagrin of librarians, who feel that books are as important as any other materials deemed essential. The library is now finding its book budget, which was sacrosanct before, being cut like any other budget items. Department heads are asked to reduce their budgets by ten to twenty percent. This is at a time when student enrollment has increased tremendously and library equipment like shelves, card sorters, stylus pens, catalogue cabinets, and trolleys are becoming very difficult to come by (and when they are available, the prices of some have doubled within a few years). Parcels of books, which were received in large quantities a few years ago, now come too infrequently. Periodic visits to local bookshops and government printers to purchase locally published books and the few titles published abroad which managed to get into the country have became the major means of getting new materials into the library. Gifts from renowned institutions like World Bank, Ford Foundation, the British Council and individuals have helped the library add invaluable materials to its collections.

IS THERE ANY SILVER LINING? There has not been a shortage of ideas on how to solve the book problem of the country. Undoubtedly, the problem is acute at the tertiary level. It has been suggested that the National University Commission be allowed to have a bulk sum of money in their accounts in some of the countries where they have their offices- London, New York, Ottawa, Cairo, and New Delhi. Funds were provided to these offices in the past, and some university libraries used the funds provided to pay for their books and journals, but this practice never took root as a well-established policy. Another suggestion is the involvement of the country’s Central Bank in the purchase of books so that the accounts of the institutional libraries would be under the watchful eyes of the bank’s officials who would also do the auditing [9]. Some have called for the setting up

Collection

and De\elopmenr

in an .African

Library

III

of a body like the National Book Supply Company, specifically charged with bulk book supply, as this would ensure economies of scale and high discount from the suppliers. A librarian could also be appointed as a director in the National University Commission to look after the interest of the university libraries and coordinate all purchases [lo]. Another suggestion is that the university teachers should develop standard texts for the use of the students. This would reduce total dependence on foreign-oriented texts. Local publishers could also obtain the rights to publish international tertiary textbooks which have been published in the developed countries. They could also be encouraged with the right incentives to develop tertiary texts so as to boost this aspect of the publishing industry. Still, even when all these were done, books published abroad would be needed because higher educational institutions cannot afford to be cut off from the knowledge from the outside world. Knowledge is universal, and any attempt to halt a free flow of information in the form of books and journals, especially in the areas of science and technology, will only result in mediocrity and retrogression. Government pronouncements in recent times show that those in authority are aware of the problems; all the same, governmental regulations make tertiary books scarce and expensive. The peculiar problems of libraries in higher educational institutions have to be examined critically so that academic libraries are not subjected to slow death through governmental regulations, and educational programs are not frustrated through inadequate and obsolete library collections.

REFERENCES I.

In~estmenr

in Education-The

Nigeria(The 2. Carnegie

Report of the Commission

Ashby Commission).

Corporation

rersirypresidenrs.

Lagos,

of New York.

Federal

of New York,

3. VVilkins. E. H. “The university library and Scholarship.” 4. Xloran,

R. F. “Improving

Harvard

of Education,

Certificate

and Higher

Education

in

1960.

Research universiries and rhe nurioual interest: n reporr from fifteen WI;-

Sponsored by Carnegie Corporation

in u university. Cambridge,

on Post-School

Ministry

University

organizational

In: Harwrd

New York,

Ford Foundation,

1977. p. 90.

Universiry Librocv: Thep/uceoJ’/he

libror)

Press, 1950.

Journal of Academic

design of academic libraries.”

Librarianship,

6.

(1950). 140-143. 5. Publishers Weekly. September 13. 1985, p. 98. 6. L’niversiry of Lagos Calendar, Lagos, University of Lagos 1983184. 7. University of Lagos, University Library Annual Report. 1963, pp. 3-1. 8. Aderibigbe,

A. 6. Welcome address by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor,

the 7th Standing

Conference

sity of Lagos, April, 9. Banjo, I(1982).

A. 0.

of African

University

Libraries,

University of Lagos to the delegates attending

Western

Area SCAULVVX,

held at the Univer-

1984. p. 3.

“Effects

of government

policies on library acquisitions

in Nigeria.”

Lugos Librarian Vol. 9 No.

pp. 13-18.

10. Ike, A. 0. “Acquisition of Federal University sity Librarians

practices and problems in West African of Technology

Western

Area

Lagos,

Bauchi.” 1984.

Paper delivered

University

Library:

at the Standing

the case of the new Library

Conference

of African

Univer-