Government publications in Nigeria: Problems and prospects

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Government Publications Review, Vol. 10, pp. 263-268, 1983 Printed

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0 1983 Pergamon

Press Ltd

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS M.R. Librarian,

ADERIBIGBE

Bibliographic and Research Services Department, University University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria

of Lagos

Library,

Abstract-This article describes the problems that documents librarians in Nigeria face in the management of government publications. These problems stem from inadequate publicity, poor distribution and under-use. Practical suggestions are offered towards improved management and readership of the publications.

The information sources of any government must be properly disseminated to enhance economic, cultural, scientific and technological progress. Government publications provide information on different fields of life and are therefore not only of immense value to researchers but to all library users and the public at large. Despite the inherent benefits of government publications, these publications, especially in Nigeria, are poorly distributed and under-utilized. One major reason can be attributed to lack of awareness on the part of the publishers of the importance of government publications to users and researchers. The usefulness of these government publications may not be fully exploited as a result of factors which span the reproduction, distribution and dissemination of these information resources. The problems plaguing government publications all over the world can be attributed to poor bibliographic control, inherent complexities, ineffective methods of publicity by governments, non-availability of materials through normal channels of distribution, lack of awareness on the part of users and researchers, and deficiencies in library training [l]. These problems are aggravated in developing countries such as Nigeria, where researchers may not recognize the utility value of these materials. The inability of the publishers to appreciate the significance of government publications has further resulted in inadequate publicity and poor distribution of the publications. The unfortunate consequence of which is an under-use of the vital contents of the documents. In this article, an attempt will be made to discuss the three important areas which are vital to the development of government publications in Nigeria: Publicity, Acquisition and Distribution, and Use. PUBLICITY Unlike other printed materials in a library, observations revealed that government publications in Nigeria have mostly served as “shelf dressers.” Most of the titles remain untouched throughout the year. As mentioned above, this could be attributed to various problems peculiar to government publications; the most obvious is the publishers’ insensitivity to the importance of these materials to library users, researchers, and the public. This poor perception on the part of the publishers is reflected in the inadequate distribution and lack of publicity of the sources. 263

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A vigorous publicity of government publications by the publishers would eliminate several factors compounding the problems of the publications, by educating people on the advantages and benefits of such publications. For example, many potential users of the publications are “turned off” by the word “government” in the name. This word is not attractive to Nigerians who are wary in accepting anything termed government. To this end, promotion of the documents has to start with a positive portrayal of these ” “authentic” or vital publications published by or on behalf of materials as “authoritative, the federal or State governments, their departments and agencies, on their activities and views on any subject concerning the progress of the country and well-being of the people. In promoting the publications, the mass media ought to be used. Current titles should be frequently reviewed and advertised in the newspapers like the other printed materials. Those on highly debated topics need to be sent to reputable non-government bookstores and should be kept on newsstands as this would encourage public acquaintance with them. This input required from the publishers might result in increased demand for government publications and stimulate publishers’ efforts in improving distribution and reproduction quality of the materials. ACQUISITIONS

AND

DISTRIBUTION

At this stage, it is necessary to discuss the distribution of government publications within Nigeria, an issue that has presented a lot of difficulties to documents librarians who have to scout around for the materials. The lack of an understanding of the qualities of government publications has led to many problems of which one is poor distribution. Librarians collect publications through visits to government agencies. This takes up vast amounts of time while not always yielding appreciable results. These collection trips, however, are essential since an inconsiderable number of materials come into the library through gifts, exchanges and purchase from the government bookstore. The problems of acquisition is further compounded by lack of adequate selection tools, catalogues or trade bibliographies which make the selection of current titles difficult. These problems would not have existed if the issuing bodies adhere to the legal deposit law governed by the National library decree, 1970 [2]. Despite the legal provision, the distribution of government publications still poses difficulties for the National library, which is made a statutory body by this law and which accordingly should receive copies of every government document published in the country. Other libraries have been worse situations. In fact, the name of a library which appears on the statutory mailing list does not always guarantee the receipt of the publications even after many trips to the collection centres. In order to illustrate the preceding discussion, statistical data on the distribution of government publications were collected from the National Bibliography of Nigeria from 1966 to 1979. A study of the data in Table 1 shows that the number of distributed official publications vary between 277 (34.5% of the total publications received) in 1968 and 85 (17.6% of the total publications received) in 1978. This irregular pattern, which is typical of the distribution of government publications, underscores the active participation of Nigeria in local and international political activities. In addition, the information from Table 1 does not reflect the massive publications which would have emanated from Nigeria’s involvement in major events such as the creation of more states in 1967 and 1976, and the staging of the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977. One would have expected the increasing political and cultural activities to influence the growth of government publications in Nigeria.

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Government publications in Nigeria Table 1. Government Publications Distributed between 1966 and 1979 Year 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

Major Events Military government established following a military coup Creation of twelve states from the three regions

New military administration assumed power Seven more states created The second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture Government elected under an executive president

Number

Percentage

243

28.3

263 277 263 164 168 247 245 228

38.6 34.5 42.8 20 32 39.5 33.6 30.8

116 168

24.8 29.84

144

85

32.8 17.6

146

23.7

Many articles on resolving the poor distribution of government publications have made little impact. This inadequate distribution of materials has been blamed on several factors. Ogunsheye, in her study, blamed inadequate receipt of these materials on non-compliance with the depository law [3]. Olaitan blamed the problems on flaws in some of the laws dealing with the publications [4]. Stanley, in her own investigation, observed that less than half of government documents are recorded in the National Bibliography because of the failure of the publishers to comply with the publications law [5], while Alabi called for an enforcement of the publications law [6]. In order to arrest the situation, it is necessary for librarians to organize and form a cooperative front with the publishers, towards better distribution of the publications. Regular interaction should be organized between the publishers and librarians through meetings, seminars, workshops, and lectures for the purpose of discussing and solving problems of government publication in Nigeria. This type of open communication and interaction would also allay the fear of cessation, suspension, resuscitation or change of government serial titles which often occur in the handling of government publications by the publishers. Furthermore, the printing activities of federal and state government printers and in-house publishing activities of federal and state government agencies and departments should be centralized. The Government Printing Office in the federal capital should monitor, standardize, and coordinate the activities in the other offices. Government publications’ supply divisions should be established by this office to serve as sales and distribution sections of government publications throughout Nigeria. Included in the function of this division would be the production of trade bibliographies, sales lists, or comprehensive and up-to-date selection lists which should be sent to libraries and other relevant places. To this end, the Government Printing Office needs to constitute a separate advisory body to monitor and regulate prices of government publications, reproduction quality, customer service and other relating problems. Active communication and interaction of Librarians and representatives of the Govern-

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ment publications supply division could improve the services given by the two groups; improvements ought to be enhanced and sustained through feedbacks. This would help to resolve the existing distribution problems, and government documents published in the country would be more easily available to documents librarians. USE The lack of publicity and poor distribution of government publications result in poor use of government publications. Also contributing to the unimpressive usage of these sources, is the “special handling” afforded government publications by librarians in most depository libraries. This treatment renders the materials “disadvantaged.” Some of the special considerations are: 1. Segregating government publications from the general collection and making them elusive to users and researchers. 2. Failing to maintain qualitative and not quantitative collection. Many libraries welcome all materials sent to the library without being guided by any collection policy [7]. 3. Differing classification schemes are used in organizing government publications making interlending and exchange very difficult and almost impossible in some cases. 4. Restricting access to the publications through the adoption of closed stacks system. In some libraries these materials are strictly for reference whereas others allow restricted loaning. Acquaintance with the materials is thus discouraged. The culmination of the treatment given to government documents, and the other plaguing problems discussed above, is reflected in the use of government publications at the University of Lagos research and Bibliographic Services Department. Access to government publications in this library is restricted and the materials are for reference only. Admission of undergraduates to use the collection is permitted on the submission of filled out request slips. Faculty members and post graduate students only fill out a register. To illustrate the poor use of these publications, a request slip count is used as the measuring device for the peak month of May, from 1979 to 1981. The number of government documents requests made in that month of each year is compared with the total request slips for that month (see Table 2). A total of 1,343 request slips were submitted during the month of May in 1979, 1980 and 1981 for materials in the research library comprising government publications, maps, archival materials, non-print media, manuscripts, etc. Of the 1,343 slips filled out, the total for May 1979 was 370, while 472 was recorded for the same month in 1980, and 501 in 1981. The number of government publications slips filled out during the same month was 71 for 1979, 56 for 1980, and 71 for 1981, with some of the slips carrying one or more requested titles as reflected in the list in Table 2. Thus, out of the total requests for the peak month of May (corresponding to examination period), in three consecutive years, the percentages of government publications were 19%) 12% and 14%) respectively. This is clearly a demonstration of under-use of the government publications as compared to the other publications in the collection. In order to improve and sustain good use of government publications, the problems discussed in this article have to be eliminated. If government publications cannot be integrated into the general collection, they should be kept on open shelves and allowed to circulate. This will not only encourage use, but will serve as exposure for these vital publications. The immediate clients of the collection and members of the public should be allowed ease of access to any library’s government publications collection since they are public

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Government publications in Nigeria Table 2. Government Publications use at the University of Lagos Library

Title National Development Plan Official Gazette [Federal and States] Federal Public Service Review Commission Report Proceedings of the Constituent Assembly Economic Indicators Nigerian Port Authority Annual Report Nigerian Enterprises Promotion decree Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research Annual Report Statistics of Education in Nigeria Population Census of Nigeria Nigeria Police Force Annual Report Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Central Bank of Nigeria Economic and Financial Review National Policy on Education Annual Abstract of Statistics Digest of Statistics Nigeria Trade Summary Central Bank of Nigeria Annual Report National Accounts of Nigeria Recurrent and Capital Estimates (Fed/State) Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Bulletin Economic and Statistical Review National Electric Power Authority Annual Report Federal Civil Service Rules Federal Ministry of Labour Annual Report Federal Ministry of Trade Information Bulletin Federal Ministry of Mines and Power Annual Report Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (Midwest) Annual Report Federal Civil Service Newsletter Federal Civil Service Manpower Statistics Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Bulletin Understanding the Land Use Decree (Cross River) Federal Military Government’s Views on the Report of the Committee on the Nigerian Financial System

May 1979

May 1980

11 21 1 1

4 16

May 1981

6

1 6 1 3 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 4 2

1 1 1

-

-

-

1 3

1

6 4 2 2 4 1

I 1 34 6 2 2 2 -

I 1

1 1

1 I 1

publications and the most authoritative avenue for finding out about the political, economic and social progress of the country. Also, classification and bibliographic description of government publications should be standardized. The National Library of Nigeria could take the lead in this area by introducing uniform methods of organizing these materials to aid interlending. Qualitative assistance to users is of optimum importance to the use of these sources. In this respect, emphasis should be placed on proper staffing of documents collections by capable and well trained staff. Pre-programme experience of library work needs to be made compulsory in Nigeria library schools since practical aspect of the training is very important and should be given particular attention. As observed by Varnet, “almost all advanced degrees (the MLS included) are research-based. As a result, the practical and service aspects stressed in American Librarianship are found lacking” [S]. Thus, the education of librarians and library assistants should be planned towards the attainment of more rewarding results. Furthermore, continuing education of documents librarians after the basic training should be

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enforced to encourage innovation and productivity on the job. Their attendance and participation at relevant conferences, seminars, refresher courses for the discussion of vogue themes and developments should be of primary importance. Finally, microformatting of government publications should be explored in order to improve services to users and ensure better management of available shelving space [9]. RECOMMENDATIONS The above discussion is intended to highlight the state of government publications in Nigeria-the major issue being the need to emphasize the importance of publicity for materials in the collection. This requires continuous commitment of effort and resources in order to achieve positive results [lo]. Publishers of government publications and documents librarians also need to cooperate in aggressively publicizing the materials. In this respect, effective promotional literature should be distributed and the public ought to be educated on the importance and use of government publications. The mass media and other educational guides to documents could be useful in realizing this objective. Furthermore, orientation for users and the public should be organized with government publishers in active attendance. It is important for libraries carrying government publications to produce accession lists of new additions to their collections. These could be circulated among the users, fellow libraries and the publishers. This gesture would go a long way to demonstrate the publishers the importance documents librarians attach to government publications received from them. The National Library of Nigeria would then be concerned with coordinating the activities of these libraries with a view to producing weekly or monthly and annual cumulations of the national bibliography in the area of government publications. And, finally, Nigeria Library Association should play a leading role by setting up an active division of government documents with the responsibility of disseminating proper guidelines for improving the management of government publications. REFERENCES Federation of Library Association and Institutions. Draft medium-term programme 1981-85: 1. International Working document for 47th General Council Meeting. Leipzig, 17-22 August 1981. 2. National library decree. The decree stipulates that 25 copies of federal government publications and 10 copies of state publications should be sent to the director of National Library of Nigeria. Official Publications: Problems, Its Generation, Control, Accessibility 3. Ogunsheye, F.A. “Nigerian Government and Utilisation.” Proceedings of the preparatory workshop on African Government Documents. Tangier (Morocco), 7-l 1 June 1976. Laws in Nigeria, 1950-1971,” Nigerian Libraries 8 (1972): 35-44. 4. Olaitan, M.O. “Publication Nigeria Libraries 9 (1974): of Nigerian Government Publications,” 5. Stanley, J.L. “A note on the Acquisition 63-65. International Library Review 13 (July 1981): 301-190. 6. Alabi, G.A. “Nigerian Legal Deposit Publications,” Documents Collections,” Microform Review 9 (Fall 1980): 209-219. I. Hernon, Peter. “Functional 8. Varnet, Harvey. “Transplanted to Nigeria,” The Simmons Librarian 13 (1981). Documents Collections,” 213-217. 9. Hernon, Peter, “Functional Co-ordinated Library Promotion,” Journal of Librarianship I3 (1981): 227. 10. Cronin, Blaise, “Nationally