Participants at the retreat organised for librarians and library officers]in Nasarawa and Delta States have applauded the minister of education Adamu Adamu and the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education Mr David Adajor for creating an opportunity for them to interact on hybrid library services especially in unity schools.
The director of library services in the ministry, Mr. B.O. Awunandu, who spoke on “The Imperatives of Enhancing Hybrid Library Services in the Face of Emerging Technology”, said the workshop was a wake-up call to acquire critical skills and knowledge that would make them relevant in this era of technological advancement in library services in their various schools.
Awunandu said, “Library services currently combine conventional and automated approaches and this presents novel challenges to librarians and their clientele.”
He stated that the workshop was an annual event of the ministry under Adamu Adamu to ensure that library services as one of the 10 pillars in the Ministerial Strategic Plan is strengthened by paying attention to the human element in the chain resources needed to deliver effective, quality, current and all-encompassing library services in the unity colleges across the country.
Among the thematic areas under discourse included the introduction to the use of hybrid library, challenges associated with hybrid library, resources management in a hybrid library, staff motivation and adaptation in a hybrid library, ethics of managing a hybrid library, unique library services in a hybrid library, among others.
In a communique released by the participants at the end of the retreat, they resolved that hybrid library is a new trend and a phenomenon in librarianship that should co-exist with the conventional library provided that librarians embrace the knowledge and skill of ICT.
“Adequate funding should be provided by the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Education to unity schools in the various states of the federation while there should be regular training of librarians and library officers to strengthen their capacity to cope with the emerging technological trends in a hybrid library,” they said.
