The Ogun government, on Tuesday, reiterated its commitment to resuscitating public libraries across the state.
Mrs Abosede Ogunleye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, stated this at a three-day workshop for librarians in Abeokuta.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop has as its theme: “Repositioning Public Libraries in Ogun State for Effective Service Delivery.”
The permanent secretary noted that public libraries in the country were battling to remain relevant, saying that they faced multiple challenges, such as the collapse of infrastructure.
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She noted that the latest advent of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which had affected the need to use books for research, also affected the use of public libraries.
She stressed the need to take proactive steps toward the resuscitation of libraries for improved standard and for them to compete with their counterparts in developed countries.
“The poor attitude towards reading by our people has grossly affected library services. Now, libraries are struggling to keep up with the many changes of technology,” she said.
In her remarks, the state Head of Service, Mrs Modupe Chokor, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Service Matters, Mr Kola Fagbohun, said that libraries were repositories of recorded knowledge.
She added that libraries had played diverse roles in the social, economic, education and cultural growth of every nation.
The head of service described the library as the gateway to knowledge and a local centre of information, even in academia.
She said that the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration would improve the standard of public libraries in the state and its output to the citizenry, saying that the workshop was a testimony to the government’s commitment.
NAN
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