Don restates call for functional libraries in schools

A library educationist at the Centre for Educational Media Resource Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, has made a case for what she calls ‘new wine school library’ to invigorate reading habit in schools.

Delivering the Faculty Lecture last week, entitled ‘New Wine in an Old Wine Skin: The Trajectory of School Libraries in Nigeria’, Dr Fadekemi  Oyewusi explained that new wine means using new ideas, thoughts, creativity or creative potential in the school library (the old wineskin), which she described as the heartbeat of academic life.

Dr Oyewusi said there should be conscious effort to change from the traditional book hub to the energetic modern schoollibrary learning environment (new wine type of library).

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She made a strong case for bringing back the school library into the Nigerian educational system, saying it is vital for children’s education not only for their personal achievement, but also for their contribution towards making Nigeria a better place to live and more competitive on the international stage.

Dr Oyewusi listed the major problems that may threaten the redesigning of the schoollibrary in Nigeria as funding, electricity supply, low ICT equipment/software proficiency, career progression, lack of cooperation from government officials/school administrators, as well as low internet connection, among others.

She also called for appropriate legislation to encourage the provision of libraries in schools, and urged education policy makers to consciously bring back the reading period to the school system and make the school library a compulsory requirement for school registration, as the National Universities Commission does for Nigerian university programmes.

“School administrators/principals should also make sure that there is a library space in their school that has a qualified school librarian,” Dr Oyewusi said further.

She noted that to shore up the waning reading habit among children, Nigerian government should build and equip libraries for primary and secondary schools and make them attractive with regular, creative programmes that could inculcate reading habits and library use.

Oyewusi also charged corporate organisations to include books donations and school library development in their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and not just to promote music or reality shows.

Parents and other community members should also be interested in promoting books and reading in Nigerian school libraries, she added.