The Nigerian Library Association (NLA) has called on the Federal Government for urgent funding for the completion of the national library headquarters.
The President and Chairman of Council, NLA, Pastor Dominic Omokaro, disclosed this in a communique issue to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.
The communique was issued at the end of its 62nd National Conference and Annual General Meeting held in Port Harcourt.
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Omokaro said this was with a view to promoting national inclusion and diversity of our cultural and intellectual heritage.
“There is the need for government to also continue to fund the Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) to facilitate the practice of librarianship and reduce engagement of quacks to head libraries,” he said.
He also called for an appropriate library policy on the training of library and information science professional through seminars, workshops, conferences, on-the-job training, and other capacity building programmes.
Omokaro emphasised the need for the Nigerian Library Association, National Library of Nigeria and the LRCN of Nigeria to develop a framework for engaging government and the citizenry.
He said this would help promote diversity and inclusion in delivering quality library services in Nigeria.
“There is the need for the three tiers of government to appoint librarians as Senior Special Advisers(SSA) on Library and Information Development as this will galvanise inclusiveness in spite our diversity.
“There is a need for librarians to assert their professional relevance by adding the appellation of librarian (Lbrn) to their names to help deal with the challenge of employing non librarians to head libraries,” he added.
He identified challenges militating against the delivery of library services to include inadequate facilities and infrastructure necessary for effective partnership and collaboration with government.
Other challenges, he said, are inadequate funding of libraries by government and various bodies responsible for the inclusion of libraries, librarians and Library and Information Science schools, among others.
