Awareness, Better Service Delivery Driving Surge In Library Patronage-NLN

The National Library of Nigeria (NLN) says growing public awareness and improved service delivery are fuelling a surge in patronage across its branches, with over 7,000 users recorded in recent months.

The agency noted that the renewed interest reflects changing perceptions about its collections and the impact of reforms under its current leadership.

Head of Public Relations at the NLN, Mr. Vershima Orvell-Dio, stated this during an interaction with the press in Abuja.

He attributed the rise in patronage to awareness and better service delivery. “What is driving this patronage is principally awareness. People now realise that the National Library is not a place for old books alone.

“We are a repository. We don’t weed out materials just because of age but we also have new resources and services.”

He said the NLN is also making inroads into literacy promotion nationwide. According to him, more than 30 book clubs have been set up in schools, alongside over 70 literacy centers in rural areas.

“In one of our centers here in the FCT, a traditional chief who previously couldn’t speak English told us in English that he now desires to enroll in formal school. That’s the kind of impact we are seeing. Seventy people will not turn up for a program that has no value to them. We’re not sharing money there, we’re saying come and read,” he said.

Orvell-Dio further said the NLN has also intensified sensitisation workshops to address such gaps. “Most of the people doing that are doing so out of ignorance. But they are at a loss, more than we are. Without those numbers, your book is limited to your friends and neighbors. With them, everybody doing selection can come across it and look for you.”

He also noted that automation of services remains a key agenda for the current NLN leadership. With the adoption of modern library software, users can now access the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) remotely.

“If you visit our website, go to OPAC, and search for a title, it will tell you if we have it and where it is whether in Sokoto or Lagos branch. That is what automation has done for us,” Orvell-Dio stated.

NLN similarly, cautioned publishers and institutions against neglecting the use of International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) and International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSN).

He stressed that publishers who fail to standardise their works stand the greater risk of losing access to international markets.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to sanction people who fail to print or publish their books in the standard way, which includes the utilisation of the standard numbers. What we do is sensitise and guide, because without those numbers, your market is restricted.”

According to him, the identifiers are not just bureaucratic requirements but keys to visibility in global knowledge exchange. “When you publish your book in a standard manner, they have a chance of being read or accessed anywhere in the world. At the end of what we do here, we send reports to the international center of each.

“The ISSN is in Paris, France. That is where the international center is. Somebody sitting in any country can go there during book selection to acquire. It is through those standard numbers they do selections,” he noted.