The Effect of Librarians’ Knowledge and Funding on Preservation and Conservation Practices in Public University Libraries in Nigeria (Published)
Librarians down the ages have been charged with the responsibility of managing information resources and the library users. One of the management practices in the library is preservation and conservation of library resources which is aimed at ensuring the longevity of the library resources. This is a critical concern at this period of dwindling budgetary allocation to public universities where subtle fund is release to the library for the purchase of resources and therefore little or no chance should be given to deterioration. This study therefore investigates some of the key preservation and conservation practices in public universities in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 183 respondents. Questionnaire was used for data collection and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The finding revealed that the knowledge level shown by librarians towards the preservation and conservation of information materials was relatively high and the level of training for staff and funding of conservation and preservation practices in the selected university libraries has improved greatly when compared with previous studies of conservation and preservation. The study recommends that the library management should maintain and improve on the pace of funding and training of staff on preservation and conservation practices in public university in Nigeria.
Keywords: Conservation Practices, Funding, Librarians’ Knowledge, Nigeria, Preservation, Public University Libraries