This study assessed software selection and seployment sractices for library cooperation and resource sharing among aacademic libraries in South-West Nigeria. The purposive sampling technique was adopted and data collection instruments were questionnaire and interview. All of the 39 universities in the South-West zone were chosen and copies of questionnaire were administered to a representative of each academic library. 37 questionnaires were received. The descriptive statistical method of analysis was used. It was discovered that there is no form of cooperation and resource sharing among the academic libraries presently. The study recommends that National Universities Commission (NUC) should make automation a requirement for all academic libraries in Nigeria and recommend particular software(s) for cooperation and resource sharing to be possible among academic libraries among others.

Keywords:   Resource-sharing  library cooperation  library software packages  Nigeria  academic libraries  South-West Nigeria

The current trend in information technology and its relevance to the retrieval system compels librarians everywhere in the world to move from analogue to the digital systems. This is to enhance the efficiency of information management. According to Lesk¹, digital information can be accessed rapidly around the world, copied for preservation without error, stored compactly, and searched very quickly. Also technology advancement presents the library profession a platform for easy resource sharing.

University libraries in Nigeria should develop systems that will help them link online to other institutions of interest with a view to sourcing information online or creating real time access to information that will enable the faculty and student and to have access to current and up-to-date information². In essence, they should not be bound to their local book collection, but through networks, be able to borrow books or exchange documents with other libraries³.

Chapman⁴, observed that it is no longer feasible for any institution to provide all the information needs of its users while Zhang⁵, opines that we are entering the golden age of cooperation as, (a) The technology to link libraries and to make users of one library aware of the collections of others is available and getting better all the time; and (b) Economies are forcing libraries to cooperate.

The use of different library software at the same time or the same library software at different times which are not internet compatible is a major problem which the academic libraries are facing in Nigeria. The governing bodies NUC (National Universities Commission) and NLA (Nigerian Library Association) have no laid down rules guiding all university libraries in the acquisition of a particular or set of software(s) and as a result, every institution makes its choice of software, based on how appropriate it is in meeting the immediate need(s), (perceived usefulness) financial strength, and maintenance capability. The implication is that the most advocated resource sharing and cooperation among libraries become a great impossibility.

Also, problems regarding complexity and enormous task of digitisation, access to the internet, electricity supply, and skilled man power are major obstacles in the path of technological advancement in Nigeria and the academic libraries are not left out of this predicament. With this background that the researchers seek to investigate software adaptation practices and their application to library cooperation and resource sharing among academic libraries in South-West Nigeria.

The advent of library software in Nigeria, which dates back to the 1970s, had the challenge of acquiring and maintaining software packages because of cost. Even with the variety of library software available in the market, which came either as integrated or modular package, Nigerian libraries did not adopt any until 1984 when International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) library in Ibadan replaced its card catalogue with a fully computerised integrated software called, Battlelle Automated Search Information Systems (BASIS)⁸.

Academic libraries in Nigeria didn’t seem to use library software until the National Universities Commission (NUC) acquired TINLIB for only federal university libraries and UNESCO introduced CDS/ISIS. Afterwards, different software came into market resulting to lack of uniformity in the use of library software became a major problem in the academic environment militating against effective resource sharing and cooperation⁹. Zhang⁵ explained that, for any successful cooperation and resource sharing among libraries, all interested libraries must form a consortium.

Library cooperation in Nigeria has its root traced back to the National Union Catalogue (NUC) which was conceived in 1963 by the National Library of Nigeria and had 85 libraries as participants. However, the programme could not accomplish its aim because it lacked standard in the cataloguing information supplied by participating libraries⁶. Then there was the meeting of the working group on inter-library lending held at a forum of the National Library of Nigeria in 1974 at Ile-Ife and the subsequent conference on cooperation in Nigeria, held at Kaduna in 1980¹¹. The result was the NUC project which aimed at examining the possibilities of cooperative acquisition and to consider a viable framework for operating the scheme in Nigeria, this also failed⁷.

Specific objectives of the study are to:

(a) Determine the extent of automation in academic libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria

(b) Determine the library software(s) in use in academic libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria

(c) Determine the extent of use of the software adopted by the libraries

(d) Determine the level of library consortia among academic libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria

(e) Identify strategies for enhancing library automation and software adoption practices in the academic libraries

The survey method of research was adopted for the study. Respondents were chosen from Universities in the South-West geopolitical zone of the country. The purposive sampling technique was adopted and data collection instruments were questionnaire and interview. In Nigeria, there is a total of 128 universities while in the South-West zone comprising of six states of the federation, there are 39 as at the time of this study. All of the 39 universities were chosen and copies of questionnaire were administered to a representative of each academic library. 37 questionnaires were retrieved and valid for the study. The descriptive statistical method of analysis was used.

Table 1 revealed that 26 (70 %) of the respondents’ libraries were PAWLS (partial automation with library software) meaning that the libraries do not fully deploy their software to all automation operations, for example what is available, is catalogue and not content of the materials even the catalogues in some libraries do not reflect majority the library’s holding while 10 (27 %) were low automation without library software (LOWLS). However only 1 (2.7 %) was found to be full automation (FA). The Covenant University Library is automated with all routine activities computerised. It has a functional virtual library service, which gives staff and students’ access to the web public access catalogue, and other electronic resources from offices, departments and wherever there is a computer terminal which is linked to the university network.

This indicated that about 75 % of academic libraries in the south-west Nigeria are automated to a fairly reasonable extent which is an improvement, compared to study by Isiaku & Ibrahim¹⁰ who found in a survey that resource sharing is practiced at a very low level in the two northern universities partly due to the fact that these institutions have failed to embrace the adoption of ICT (automation).

From Fig. 1, it is revealed that out of the 26 partial automation with library software (PAWLS) academic libraries surveyed, seven different software were identified. KOHA was the most commonly adopted software and perceived to be most available to academic libraries from South-West Nigeria universities with a total 12 (44 %). This followed in perceived affordability and availability by SLAM with a total of 5 (19 %), VTLS, Liberty3, Alice for Windows and MILLENIUM with an equal total of 2 (7.6 %) each, and KARLMARK 1 (3.8 %). KOHA appeared to be the most used perhaps because it is an open-source integrated library system and does not require fund to download and customise.

Table 2 revealed that majority of the respondent’s libraries are not fully utilising their software. Only 1 (3.8 %) of the libraries have all its collections catalogued, indexed and has all its library routine activities computerised. The remaining 25 (96 %) only have part of their total collections catalogued and indexed. In essence, they are still in the process of cataloguing and indexing their collections. However, they do not yet have all their library routine activities computerised, except for 1 (3.8 %) of the libraries that is still in the process of testrunning its software. The indication is that these libraries are automated to some extent yet the librarians are not fully utilising their platform for routine activities let alone share their resources. Nevertheless, response to interview questions revealed that beyond adequate skills and funding, there are challenges of misappropriation of the little funds that are meant for running the library and many of the universities did not consider resource sharing as criteria during software acquisition.

Finally, it can be deduced from the findings that many librarians in the South-West zone are indifferent about moving with the trend in the field therefore, not engaging in aggressive full automation exercise or the means of sustenance is lacking since they already have adopted one software or the other.

Table 3 showed the level of software use among academic libraries in South-West zone of Nigeria and that there is no form of cooperation and resource sharing taking place amongst PAWLS academic libraries in the South-West zone of Nigeria not even those using same software.

It was gathered from the interview session that the only activity that looks like cooperation is on the KOHA community platform where a co-user library can have access to a generated report of members of the community. Others on the VTLS platform claimed that efforts were made towards forming a consortium which failed because of lack of consistent power supply, fund for mechanical retrospective conversion of hard copies and difficulty in migrating from previous software due to improper conversion to MARC format (lack of IT skills).

Seven different types of software packages were identified to be in use in these libraries and it was found during the interview sessions that there is no form of resource sharing and cooperation taking place among them.For a successful cooperation and resource sharing among academic libraries in the south-west zone and Nigeria as a whole, all interested libraries must form a consortium. There should be a policy on software acquisition which should include compatibility and ease of use as criteria for acquisition so as to ensure the possibility of resource sharing among libraries.

The findings of this study is in tandem with a survey by Anasi & Ali¹² which revealed that the prospect for resource sharing among university libraries in Nigeria is high, but that factors hindering effective exercise of same include: inadequate funding, a dearth of skilled librarians, power outages, an absence of web-accessible OPACs, uneven development of libraries, and slow progress of library automation. What is referred to as lack of skills may be that the software are not easy to use as observed and recommended by Wallace & Sheetz¹³ that software developers should direct more effort on ease of use as a measure in developing software.

This study recommends that the NUC should make automation a requirement for all academic libraries in Nigeria and recommend particular software which are internet compatible cooperation and resource sharing to be possible among academic libraries. Software developers should direct enough effort at ease of usage when developing software for libraries. All academic librarians should develop good ICT skills, be well-oriented and given in-depth training on the particular software that their library is using thereby being able to maximise the use of same. Librarians should endeavour to engage in personal cataloguing of their library’s holdings rather than wait for mechanical digitisation that may never happen. Government and proprietors of tertiary institutions should give more attention to the libraries by making available better funding than is the situation presently. Finally, available fund should be well appropriated by the university authorities.

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4. Chapman, E. Buying shares in libraries: The economics of cooperative collection development. IFLA Journal, 1997, 24(2), 102-06.

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Ms Iroaganachi, Mercy A. is the Readers’ Services Librarian, Covenant University Library (Center for Learning Resources). She holds BA (Hons.) in Communication and Language Arts, and Masters Degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Ibadan.She is a Senior Resource Officer in Covenant University Ota, Ogun State Nigeria, a Certified Librarian of Nigeria (CLN) by the Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN). Her areas of interests are: Metrics/Assessment, gender studies in librarianship, librarianship/ICT, information for vulnerable groups and library administration.

Ms Iwu-James Juliana is presently working as a Resource Officer at Convenant University, Nigeria. She has done BLIS and MLIS. Her areas of interests are: Libraries and education in developing nations, corporate social responsibility, enhancing information access and use for the dyslexics, and cataloguing education.

Ms Esse Ugwunwa Chinyere is a Librarian 1 in Centre for Learning Resources, Covenant University. Her area of research interest are: Information and communication technology, user education, human computer interaction, etc.