Preservation and Management of Audio-Visual Materials in Nigerian University Libraries (Published)
As higher education institutions increasingly integrate multimedia resources into academic and research ecosystems, university libraries face mounting pressure to develop sustainable strategies for preserving and managing audio-visual (AV) collections. This pressure is particularly acute in Nigerian academic settings, where resource constraints often impede the establishment of robust preservation infrastructure. This qualitative descriptive study examined preservation and management practices for audio-visual materials across three federal universities in South-South Nigeria—the University of Port Harcourt, University of Benin, and University of Calabar. Through semi-structured interviews with 24 purposively selected library personnel and direct observational assessment, identified the range of AV collections maintained, documented existing preservation practices, evaluated infrastructural capacity, and mapped critical operational challenges. Findings indicate that while participating libraries maintain diverse and valuable AV collections—spanning educational media, research outputs, institutional records, and broadcast materials—preservation efforts remain fragmented and underfunded. Both conventional and digital preservation approaches are employed; however, their effectiveness is significantly undermined by inadequate financial resources, insufficient ICT infrastructure, irregular electricity supply, persistent skills gaps, and the absence of comprehensive institutional preservation policies. This study concludes that meaningful progress requires coordinated institutional investment in preservation technologies, sustained professional development initiatives, the formulation of explicit institutional preservation frameworks, and strengthened collaboration among academic libraries at regional and national levels. It was therefore seen that audio-visual preservation must be reconceptualized as a core institutional responsibility rather than a peripheral library function.
Keywords: audio-visual materials, digital preservation, institutional repositories, preservation infrastructure